Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch
Dec7, 2001

On the behalf of the Swedish Prime Minister, Göran Perssons, a Swedish government representative 
said in a letter sent to some members of the Kurdish community in Sweden that the Swedish
government considers that the Kurdish issue in Iraq should be settled within a regional framework and
through political and democratic means, reported by the PUK Arabic language electronic newsletter,
Anba’ Kurdistan, on 29 November.

Mr Perssons was answering to a letter sent by members of the Kurdish community in Sweden
regarding their concern about the critical situation of Iraqi Kurds, particularly those living under the Iraqi
government-controlled areas in Iraqi Kurdistan, and the uncertain future of the region.

The letter said that the states where Kurds live, including Iraq, should establish democracy, and that
the Swedish government encourages political reform, democratic change and respect of human rights.

In a speech made at the Olof Palmes Foundation on 28 November, the Swedish Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Anna Lindh, said that in case of the lifting of sanctions, imposed on Iraq since its invasion of
Kuwait in August 1990, the responsibility of the protection of Kurds would go to the United Nations,
reported by Anba’ Kurdistan dated 3 December.

So Far, Sweden has been the only country to call for granting a status to Iraqi Kurdistan, within the
territorial framework of the Iraqi state.

Last October both Mr Perssons and Ms Anna Lindh officially received the head of the Kurdistan regional
government, led by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Mr Nechirvan Barzani. As the Kurdistan Regional
Government web site reported on 27 October, “in both meetings, the Swedish officials reaffirmed
their commitment to continue their political and humanitarian support of Iraqi Kurdistan through their
UN and European Union membership and welcomed closer cooperation and contacts in the future.”

The Iraqi Kurdistan region came under Kurdish control in 1991 in the aftermath of the Gulf War. In
May 1992, parliamentary elections were held in which eight political parties participated and over
1,150,000 people voted. In June of the same year, a regional government was established in the
regional capital, Arbil. Three month later, in September, the newly elected parliament passed a
resolution, calling for a federal status for Iraqi Kurdistan within the state of Iraq, rejecting separatism.
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