A Blunder or a Stroke of Genius
- KurdishMedia.com - By Hishyar Abid
- 07/02/2011 00:00:00
Gorran Movement issued a statement last Saturday, calling for the current Kurdistan Parliament to be dissolved, a caretaker cabinet to replace Dr. Salih’s government and new elections within 3 months. The statement was issued in an allusion to the spreading protests that have swept the Tunisian President and driving the beleaguered Egyptian President, not to mention elsewhere in the region. The statement was carefully worded to generate maximise havoc and still leave ample room to steer events into calmer waters when required. The demands were clear and radical, just like the one that the Egyptian youth are so doggedly persisting upon. But the statement ended with an invitation to the other parties to support these demands. There were no calls for demonstrations or any form of protest.
The reactions were predictably strong. A join t statement by KDP and PUK condemned the statement and accused Gorran by deliberately provoking public unrest, in a clear attempt to pre-empt the perceived threat, they warned the leaders of Gorran that they will be held responsible and would stand trial for “any event, small or great, amongst the people, government offices, [party] bases, the banks, the visitors and friends of Kurdistan, any event at all, direct or indirect”. The Region Prime Minister, Dr. Barham Salih, was swift in his condemnation too. Having freshly returned from Davos, he defended his cabinet record and condemned the statement as “unrealistic and unjustified demand” issued by a group of “despondent” that wishes to “disrupt our lives and future”. Many frenzied interviews with mainly PUK officials carried similar threats of uncompromising. The Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) were put on full alert in Sulaimaniy. There were reports that President Barzani has dispatched a battalion to Sulaimaniy, presumably to protect KDP bases. All the cash was removed from Sulaimaniy banks. PUK deployed tanks on the hills near Gorran’s base and installed snipers on the surrounding buildings. The tension was so palpable that you could cut the air with a blunt knife.
Mr. Nawshirwan Mistafa, the leader of Garran, unfazed by these threats, came on TV the next day and put a defiant but assuring performance. He explained away all of their fears and managed to defuse the tension with a single interview.
The reactions, primarily from PUK leaders, spoke volume. They didn’t know what was coming next, but expected that the statement would be followed by outpouring of demonstrators into the streets of Sulaimaniy in a fashion not dissimilar to Tunisia and Cairo. They expected that, because they knew that the public are extremely unhappy with the conditions and fed up with corruption, just as the Tunisian and Egyptian are, if not more so. They also knew that Gorran has the public support to start the demonstrations. THEY knew that all along, but now, thanks to the statement by Gorran, everyone else now knows that THEY KNEW. And that was the aim of the statement. Truly a stroke of genius.
- KurdishMedia.com - By Hishyar Abid
- 07/02/2011 00:00:00