Kurdish Democratic Party Celebrates 55th Anniversary

U.S. Newswire 
16 Aug 13:39 

Kurdish Democratic Party Celebrates 55th Anniversary; Cites U.S.-Enforced No-Fly Zone
As Key To Iraqi Kurdistan's Future 
To: National Desk 
Contact: Farhad Barzani of the Kurdish Democratic Party USA, 
202-331-9505 

WASHINGTON, August 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Kurds today celebrate General Mustafa
Barzani's founding of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) fifty five years ago. Since then,
the KDP has been the vanguard of the Kurds' struggle to preserve their dignity, human
rights, and cultural vitality. 

Over the decades, the KDP has accomplished this despite the relentless persecution of Iraqi
Kurds by Saddam Hussein's regime. Among this campaign' s darkest chapters: the 1983 
"disappearance" of 8,000 Barzani Kurds and the 1988 Anfal operations that killed 180,000
people - more than 5000 of them through chemical and biological agents. Yet since the 1996 
passage of UN Security Council Resolution 986 (called the "oil-for-food" program), the
Kurds of Northern Iraq are not just surviving, but succeeding at building a tolerant,
prosperous, and free society. This flowering of democracy in Iraq has occurred because of
the 13 percent proportional share of Iraqi oil revenue that the Kurds receive through the
oil-for-food program. Moreover, American and British enforcement of the no-fly zone is
"absolutely key to the success that is Iraqi Kurdistan today," said KDP-USA representative
Farhad Barzani. 

Today Farhad Barzani also said, "For more than half a century, the KDP has fought for Iraqi
Kurds' legitimate rights and consequently enjoyed support from Kurds worldwide. Today in 
Iraqi Kurdistan, the KDP is a bulwark against an Iraqi regime that seeks to extinguish our
freedom -- if not our lives. In December 1999, KDP leader Massoud Barzani told the
Kurdish National Assembly that Iraqi Kurdistan was and would always remain a multiethnic
and religiously diverse society. With ongoing, active and vigilant Western-enforcement of
the no-fly zones -- and the establishment of no-drive zones -- the Iraqi Kurds can continue to
build the sort of peaceful, participatory society of which any nation would be proud." 

Today the KDP fights for the emergence of a federated, democratic, Iraq. According to
Barzani, "The KDP is working within the Kurdistan Regional Government to create a
vibrant civil society in the north. We hope Iraqi Kurdistan is a model that can one day teach
a united Iraq how to transition from tyranny to democracy. In late May, Iraqi Kurdistan's
Dohuk and Irbil provinces held internationally-monitored elections in which 15 political
parties participated. Unfortunately, a California-style blackout seems to have rolled across
the U.S. media grid, and no one noticed that the first free and fair election had occurred in
Iraq since 1957."

Barzani added that "The Iraqi regime is unhappy about democracy and prosperity on its
doorstep. For this success to be sustained and enhanced, we need U.S. help. Americans need
access to observe and help strengthen our burgeoning civil society. The no-fly zone must be
preserved to protect men, women, and children from more chemical weapons attacks. If
Iraq's army rolls in, as many as 3 million refugees will stream for Turkey and Iran, creating
a crisis of unimaginable proportion. And northern Iraq must continue to receive its fair share
of Iraq's oil revenues through the oil-for-food program." 

The Kurds are the largest nation in the world without a state.
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