The Kurdish Flag: A marketing scheme keeping the KDP-PUK tyranny alive
By: Meriwan Rashid
Tags: Krg, Iraq, Protest, Kurdistan, Flags

A protester runs through teargas as Kurdish security forces approach during anti-government demonstrations in Sulaymaniyah on Dec. 11, 2020. (Rebaz Majeed/VOA)

If you ask most Kurds what 17th December, Kurdish Flag Day, means to them, most of them will respond with common buzzwords such as “freedom” or “sacrifice”. And perhaps that was its initial meaning. For many, including myself in my younger days, the flag symbolized a haven — protection from its surrounding enemies. A symbol telling the world of our existence, and indeed the sacrifices of its people that made such an existence possible. One cannot deny, nationalist or not, the importance of these sacrifices that led to some form of autonomy for the Kurdish people inside Iraq. The formation of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in 1992 was a step forward, but I would need more than two hands to count the number of steps taken back since then.

At the time of writing, Kurdistan (and Slemani province in particular) has witnessed weeks of protests amid the current economic crisis that has led to unpaid salaries of civil servants. This is an unsurprising development considering the bloating of the public sector (a condition put in place by the government) and the lack of economic diversification. Protestors, mostly youth, have been killed (ten people to date), wounded, or arrested. Some of them were journalists and activists. Coverage of the protests continues to be suppressed. Freedom of the press continues to take a hit and reach new lows, with a major opposition news network, NRT, being threatened with shutdown due to the network’s persistent coverage of protests (the age of social media will save these facts from being lost and ensure they do not become another Tiananmen Square). Rather than address the concerns and needs of the people, the government has chosen force. It did not matter whether the protests were peaceful or violent, as the response was emphatically the same. You may be led to believe that the other provinces, Erbil and Duhok, do not share the same concerns as the people of Slemani. But the more likely explanation is that they simply know what the response from KDP military units will be should demonstrations take place, as the lethal consequences in Slemani would suggest.

The KRG has attempted to deflect blame on the current economic crisis to the Iraqi central government’s failure to send the KRG’s allocated budget. While the central Iraqi government is comically incompetent, corrupt and weak, there is no question that the KRG’s corruption is the primary force behind Kurdistan’s dried-up financial reserves. Instead of investing in its population and public services, the KRG has channeled national resources toward buying mansions and cars, rewarding loyal cronies, silencing critics and monopolizing industries. This is the result: cities dotted with money laundered construction projects and businesses — and unaffordable ones at that. You know it is bad when you see expats from America and expensive European countries dumbfounded at the high cost of living in Erbil, despite the low quality of services citizens receive from the state. I could not sum up the Kurdish capital in a more accurate way than Michael Rubin did: “Erbil has become a city of first world restaurants and third world hospitals.”

Meanwhile, while innocent Kurds are denied their right to protest, the region celebrated Flag Day, which was established in 1993 by the Kurdistan parliament. It was simply another opportunity for the KRG to flex its PR muscles to give the false narrative of a “prosperous” Kurdistan Region. But Flag Day is not their only source of distraction. The KRG decided to focus on a recent YPG clash on the border with Syria than the deaths of peaceful protesters. Make no mistake, this is exactly the sort of distraction the KRG leaders needed — one they hope would redirect the fury of the people towards a so-called outside enemy. It would be nice if someone reminded them that the YPG is part of the SDF in Syria, an ally of the US-led coalition fighting ISIS. Where was this energy when Turkish air forces reconvened their bombing of the Kurdistan Region (supposedly targeting the PKK) this summer, resulting in civilian casualties? That should give you an idea of where the KRG’s loyalties lie.

The KRG may not be very good at governing a region, but they have certainly mastered the art of propaganda and PR campaigns, which has undoubtedly helped them accumulate substantial funding from Western nations. Their tireless PR campaigns have led to outside perceptions of the Kurdistan region as a safe and rosy oasis within the desert of doom that is the Middle East. Judging based on conversations with expats I have met in Kurdistan, foreigners visiting or living in the region certainly take a long time to discover the hidden reality (if they ever find it), masked finely by high end restaurants, hotels, malls, and mega construction projects. Furthermore, countless tweets from KRG officials are just examples of how the KRG attempts to use the flag as a tool to provide a false narrative of prosperity and coexistence in the region, a ploy designed to stir sentiments of a jaded population that would rather have food on their tables than see a flag waved in their faces. The myth of coexistence in Kurdistan and Iraq in general is a topic worth exploring at some point.

Sadly, the KRG PR machine has ostensibly fooled foreign missions in Erbil. Instead of issuing a message of concern or condemnation, the US and UK consulates joined the KRG in condemning a recent alleged YPG attack on the Peshmarga, resulting in three casualties (the YPG denies these allegations, citing miscommunication between the two sides). There was not a single comment provided from UK or US missions on the violent response to protests, aside from a few afterthoughts and vague retweets on Twitter regarding media freedom, suggesting that the KRG continues to be in the good books of the world’s superpowers. The sooner the superpowers realize that the KRG leadership does not represent the interests of the Kurdish people, the better. It may sound quite pathetic or weak to appeal to outside powers to help the Kurdish people, but a people abandoned by its own leaders have no choice but to use any available channel to get their message across.

Perhaps superpowers are aware of the reality but choose inaction as Kurdistan is a convenient buffer zone in a region of geopolitical complexities and general hostility towards the United States and its allies. Now that is a narrative that makes more sense, because one cannot assume that American leaders are ignorant despite their classic blunders in foreign policy.

For me, what flag you live under should not matter. Living in a state that provides you with meaningful opportunities and rewards merit rather than lackeys is what should matter. A country where state monopoly over every industry and piece of land does not exist. A country where having different views, even controversial ones, should not lead to punishment. A country where you can criticize the government openly and without fear. A country where transparency and accountability exist. Why should one care about external enemies when the main threat is inside their borders, on the very streets of Erbil, Duhok and Slemani? What use is nationalism here aside from a few empty buzzwords more fitting in works of fiction? Of course, public employees are entitled to receive their salaries and should be awarded them on time. However, the issues in this country stretch beyond unpaid salaries.

If you ask me what this flag or Flag Day means to me now, I only have a cynical answer to give. Of course, I find the idea of dedicating a day to a flag to be ridiculous and unnecessary, but that is a conversation for another time. I have already written about my observations and opinions concerning Kurdistan (link here), and I am tired of repeating the obvious. The terrible irony is that nobody has done more to impede the “Kurdish cause” and potential independence and nobody has disrespected the Kurdish flag more than the Kurdistan Regional Government itself. To them, the flag is merely a disguise intended to conceal the real flags they pledge allegiance to, the green and yellow flags of the PUK and KDP. The Kurdish flag is only a show, with its puppeteers basking in the yellow sunshine and green grass, leaving only a sea of red for its people. Maybe that should be the new interpretation of the flag’s colors. The flag is after all a symbol reduced to a marketing scheme that is flaunted in the faces of people to tap into their innate feeling of Kurdish nationalism during times of trouble.

But the people are now starting to see that the flag is porous. The sun in the middle is starting to fade, and the darkness is beginning to appear — the treachery of its own government no longer hidden. External forces — PKK, Baghdad or otherwise — can no longer mask it. This is a flag won at a high price and thrown away so cheaply, and used instead against its own people. With that said, the people have also themselves to blame for continuing to support these leaders and buy into their propaganda, happy to obey and follow for minimal gain. Despite rightful concerns surrounding fixed elections, the two main parties continue to accumulate enough support to remain in power, and that needs to change (for starters). To make matters worse, having generally hostile and despotic neighbors such as Turkey, Iran and a militia-ruled federal Iraq has served the KRG very well, diverting public criticism and outrage to those more powerful nations and hence oiling the cogs in the propaganda machine. Unsurprisingly, external forces have been blamed for Kurdistan’s current economic plight.

My hope lies in one area. There are younger generations of technologically geared people with access to almost every available information at their fingertips and who may not be easily swayed by KRG propaganda. There is nowhere to hide. Alas I will not hold my breath for a great disillusionment to begin any time soon, as the KRG still seems to have strong allies in the realm of social media. They come in the form of blue tick accounts with a large following, who predominantly come from a Kurdish diaspora background. Whether intentional or not, they are undoubtedly part of the propaganda machine who look for any opportunity to retweet or “like” posts made by official KRG sources to win points but remain silent in the face of obvious mishaps and incompetence by the government. It is these accounts that are followed by foreign missions, consulate staff, organizations and companies, and hence become the distorted lens through which many international actors and other Kurds view Kurdistan. In case you needed further proof that it was Kurds who stood in the way of Kurdistan’s prosperity all along, those accounts may give you an idea. What a mess we are in.