7/20/2004
Is new Iraq is an Arabic Iraq ?!
On Sunday, I was excited and all warmed up to watch the Iraq-Uzbekistan football match on one of the Arab sport channels.
After a long wait, the match started. The first line the commentator said was "We are broadcasting the match of our brothers "The Arab Iraqi" team"...
I said hang on a minute I am not an Arab. I have the right to say that I am a Kurd. OK simple. I changed the channel to the Saudi channel. After five minutes, the commentator said "The Arabic Iraqi National Team plays very well but don't score"
I said OK maybe this channel sucks too. There are 6 Million Kurds & around 2 Million (Assyrian-Turkmen-Chaldean etc) in Iraq. Let me change to a channel that really says Iraq is a mixed country and doesn't call it "Arabic".
I changed to another channel, this time the commentator was Iraqi. I got excited again. "Hey that is what I call a commentator. An Iraqi Arab one. Maybe he is different and understands Iraq"
The Uzbekakistani team scored their first goal. The commentator said "Ohhh brave Arab Iraq team are one goal behind"..
This time I got angry. I said to myself "If the new Iraq is for all, then it shouldn't be called Arabic Iraq" . This is because me and another 9 other million people are not Arabs. And we are the indigenous people of this country.
I left the TV and didn't finish watching the game. I heard later that Iraq lost 1-0 to Uzbekistan. I said I don't care anymore.
This is why, the majority of Kurds support independence. Iraq is and will be an Arabic country. There is no place for us there.
