KDP leader raises the Catalan flag

By Solin Hacador:

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) head of foreign relations, Mr. Hawrami,has shown his sincere respect for Catalan flags. Mr. Hawrami with Solin Hacador raised both the Catalan national and Barça’s flags at his office, based in Erbil city of Kurdistan, on 28th October 2013.

It is very important to show respect for the national flag of all countries. The respect for one’s country is not only shown in one’s actions and words but also through one’s flag.

The national flag is an important symbol of any country. It is considered an honour by citizens to learn what it is and how to respect it properly. It is not a political symbol. It is a symbol that each person should respect, for it represents the honour, courage and sacrifice of those who struggled to preserve the ideals on which country was founded: Freedom, justice and opportunity for all.

It is important to build up strong political and economic relations with foreign countries. It is important because this makes for agreement and peace between nations.

In this sense, Mr. Hawrami is doing his best to improve the position of Kurdistan in general.

Raising the Catalan flag

Southern Kurdistan is a friend and reliable partner of all countries in the international community, actively taking part in international and regional cooperation processes. This is being done to stabilize and sustain established international relations. It is done to develop relations with countries and territories in the world, as well as international organizations, while showing respect for: each other’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity; non-interference in each other’s international affairs; non-use or threat of force; settlement of disagreements and disputes by means of peaceful negotiations; mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

It was said a few years ago that if the human race is wiped out in the next 50 years it will not be because of disease or an asteroid hitting the earth, but because of foreign policy and international relations. The reason for this because thousands of nuclear weapons exist and more countries are trying to acquire them, while suicide terrorist strikes come without warning and thousands die each day from poverty caused by the way the international system operates. We need to know about and understand international relations.

There are some common sufferings between Catalans and Kurds in term of dictatorship – such as Saddam Hussein and Francisco Franco. Both nations were subjected to civil wars, torture, assassination, imprisonment, exiled from their culture, language prohibited, etc. Happily they both gained their autonomy.

In the first third of the 20th century, Catalonia several times enjoyed and lost varying degrees of autonomy, like other parts of Spain until the Second Spanish Republic confirmed the autonomy of Spain’s traditional autonomous regions, including the autonomy of Catalonia and the official use of its language. Like Madrid, the Basque country and much of Spain, Catalonia fought hard to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the devastating civil war of 1936–1939. With the defeat of the Spanish republic by the right wing forces of Francisco Franco, autonomy was cancelled and regional languages like Catalan were made illegal. A great effort was made by Franco’s regime to crush all regional cultures, languages and identities within Spain, but without success. The Catalan language, like other regional languages, continued to be used in private.

Raising the Barca flag

In the years after the civil war, life was difficult. With Spain devastated and cut off from international trade by boycotts, Catalonia, as a commercial and industrial center, suffered severely. The economic recovery was very slow and it was not until the mid-1950s that the economy reached the pre-war levels of 1936. In 1959–1974 Spain experienced the second fastest economic expansion in the world in what became known as the Spanish Miracle and Catalonia prospered greatly from the expansion as Spain’s most important industrial and tourist zone. In 1975 Franco died, bringing to an end his dictatorial regime, and in 1978 Catalonia voted overwhelmingly for the new democratic Spanish constitution that recognized Catalonia’s autonomy and language.

On 23 January 2013, parliament approved a declaration asserting that Catalonia is a sovereign entity. This should lead on a referendum for independence from Spain.

Finally, I would like to state that men are the actors of politics. Some men are more active than others. The ones who succeed, can drive their country into paradise and the ones who fail, can drive their country into hell.  Our successful politicians are driving Kurdistan into paradise.

I would like to thank Mr. Hemin Hawrami for everything he has done for beloved Kurdistan.