Arwand Rizgar – Activist
The unchecked spread of illegal weapons in Kurdistan has turned violence into an everyday reality. Civilians are killed in broad daylight on the streets, in front of cameras, and under the indifferent gaze of a government that seems more invested in issuing empty statements than enforcing real solutions. Despite repeated claims of efforts to curb the spread of arms, it is no secret that those in power are the very ones facilitating the distribution of weapons, ensuring that chaos remains a tool at their disposal.
A young man with nothing but a cart and a dream struggles to make an honest living, yet he faces more obstacles from the system than criminals carrying guns do. If he cannot find safety in his own homeland, how can any of us hope for a secure future? Kurdistan has tragically become a land of perpetual mourning, where each day begins with the same grim expectation: more bloodshed, more injustice, and more broken families.
Beyond the daily tragedies caused by state-sanctioned impunity, an even more dangerous reality lurks beneath the surface: the deeply embedded corruption that fuels lawlessness. The very figures who claim to uphold freedom and justice have, in reality, suffocated both. The Kurdish leadership has allowed foreign drones, heavy artillery, and military transporters to roam freely within our borders, yet they restrict the rights of their own people, leaving them powerless against the very system that should protect them.
In Kurdistan, party loyalty determines your survival. If you are not aligned with a ruling faction, you are an enemy one among thousands who stand in opposition to a regime that operates more like a feudal dynasty than a modern government. The ruling elite cloak themselves in the rhetoric of liberation, yet history has shown that they have burned countless young lives in the flames of their own greed and corruption. Their claim to be the torchbearers of truth and justice is nothing more than a grotesque mockery of the ideals they pretend to champion.
The reality today is that Kurdistan has become a patchwork of personal fiefdoms, where political parties function as independent states, each backed by its own militia and private arsenal. The rise of unchecked, illegal arms is not a coincidence it is a direct consequence of government failure, corruption, and absolute mismanagement.
The Kurdish people have endured decades of oppression from external forces, yet today, the greatest suffering comes from within our own borders from a system that has betrayed its people in favor of power, wealth, and unchallenged rule. As long as the PUK and KDP continue to hold power, Kurdistan will remain trapped in a cycle of violence, poverty, and hopelessness. Our future will not improve it will only deteriorate further.
A cancer must be removed before it destroys the entire body. Likewise, the Kurdish people will continue to suffer unless these corrupt parties are stripped of power. But removing them is not simply about taking to the streets—it is about waging an intellectual revolution, exposing their crimes with the power of truth, and refusing to be silenced by threats of treason.
The people of Kurdistan deserve a government that serves them, not one that exploits them. Until that day comes, our fight must continue not with weapons, but with relentless, uncompromising resistance against corruption and oppression.
Editor: Diyar Harki
Brave Arwand! You nailed it