Congratulations to the three new non-Belgian Arab-Muslim ministers and to the Belgian people for this wonderful achievement. My dismay about the Arab and Kurdish authorities in Iraq grows every day!

The views expressed in this op-ed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of SyriacPress.

By Joseph Sliwa former Member of Iraqi Parliament, al-Warqa Democratic Bloc leader

The newly formed Belgian federal government includes three Arab-Muslim men and women, one Iraqi and two Moroccan (under-)ministers. I congratulate them and the Belgian government for this achievement.

But its impact extends beyond Belgium and is important for the world because if the Belgian people would have had the same mentality as the majority (although not the whole) of the Arab-Islamic people, then the Belgian people must have done a very big favor for Muslim Arabs when the Belgian government allowed non-Belgian and non-Christian ministers to permeate and fully participate in a predominantly Christian-Belgian society.

Lets look from this perspective to the countries ruled by Arab Muslims and with an Arab Muslim majority population; there, when a non-Arab non-Muslim minister – who is the initial settler and owner of the land and who lived on that land for thousands of years, well before the Arabs – wins or holds a place in their government, that minister is deprived of any own will. His or her people’are merely assigned a set number of confiscated and controlled quota seats. The world should thank them for having done non-Arabs such a great favor.

This is unfortunately the approach of most Arab-Muslim governments towards non-Arab components in Beth Nahrin (Mesopotamia) and in general in the rest of the Middle East!

The great tragedy in Beth Nahrin is that the Kurdish federal government is endowed with this very same mentality and approach. Where Kurds have always resented being ruled in name of Arabism and Islam by Iraqi regimes and governments, and where Kurdish authorities always criticize the authority of both Sunni and Shiite Arabs, they follow the same approach, and even worse in some cases, now that they have authority in their hands.

Indeed, the paradox is that the Kurdish federal government has the same mentality, the same approach, and uses the same methods against the non-Kurdish components in northern Iraq. It subjects them to Kurdish control and Kurdification practices, to demographic change, and to the imposition of patchy policies!

Once again, I want to congratulate the Belgian people for this wonderful achievement. They have wished to include immigrants on the basis of a genuine original belonging to the country. They have sought to diversify and built an inclusive country.

Belgium has mirrored the arrival of the Kurds to the lands of Mesopotamia. Their history there does not exceed 1400 years. Belgium has realized that the solution for a just society lies in preserving diversity and the respect of the peoples for each other – respect for a people who have an exceptionally long history and heritage, strength and will, and particularity. Belgium has realized that a just society is not in falsifying history, distorting the heritage of civilizations, or reducing peoples to unpalatable political terms. Some of the Arab chauvinists, both Sunni and Shiite, represented by authoritative personalities and their followers, as well as some of  the Kurdish chauvinists and those who who applaud them, try this often. They are lies and do not deceive us!

Disclaimer: translated from the original Arabic. Here