Will Iraqi Kurdistan Teach Turkey About Freedom of Speech?

The questions are both simple and immediate. Will the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) seize its opportunity to teach the government of Turkey about freedom of speech? Will the KRG demonstrate that it is Iraqi Kurdistan, and not Turkey, that is the leading example of democracy, human rights and freedom of speech in the Middle East? Will the KRG choose to serve as an example for Turkey and others? As reported by Kurdish Media, the Arabic News, and AINA, on December 1, 2005 Amnesty International and the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN started an official public campaign to free Dr. Kamal Sayid Qadir. Dr. Qadir is allegedly being held by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) for writing articles critical of KDP officials, including KDP leader Massoud Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government. Dr. Qadir, aged 48, was allegedly arrested on October 26 by members of Parastin, the security intelligence service of the KDP, because of articles he had published on the Internet in the weeks prior to his return to Iraqi Kurdistan. He has been detained incommunicado in Iraqi Kurdistan ever since. At approximately the same time, and as reported by The Independent and the Mail and Guardian, in Turkey the trial of one of the world's leading novelists, Orhan Pamuk, was adjourned for seven weeks on December 9, 2005 when the judge said the prosecution could not proceed until it had been approved by the Ministry of Justice. Mr. Pamuk was accused of "denigrating Turkishness" for stating that 30,000 people have died in Turkey's Kurdish conflict and that a million Armenians were killed in Turkey during the First World War. Mr. Pamuk's trial has raised concerns that Turkey, which wants to join the EU, might not introduce the reforms needed to bring Turkey in line with European freedom of speech. Similarly, there are concerns that the continued detention of Dr. Qadir will jeopardize support for Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkey's adjournment of Mr. Pamuk's trial for seven weeks has provided President Barzani and the Kurdistan Regional Government with an excellent opportunity to establish, by way of contrast, which State best exemplifies democracy in the Middle East. One can only hope that they seize the opportunity.