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Kurdo's World
Kurdistan blogger. Blogging about life in Kurdistan.

5/30/2004
To the South Koreans: You are welcomed in Iraqi Kurdistan….

In the past few days, a group of South Korea officials are busy meeting with regional Kurdish ministers in order to determine what roles the South Korean troops will have in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The people in Iraqi Kurdistan are generally very happy with the news they see on the Kurdish televisions. We see South Korean officials discussing “reconstruction” matters with the Kurdish regional ministers. In a report from Kurdistan TV, we saw a group of South Korean officials discussing creating a modern road in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Hewler. In another meeting that was reported by KurdSat TV, we heard that the South Koreans will help to improve the Kurdish universities in Iraqi Kurdistan. We have also seen a delegation of South Korean businessmen discussing investment opportunities in Iraqi Kurdistan.
It is true that Iraqi Kurdistan wasn’t affected by the recent war in Iraq, but we definitely need the help of a modern country like South Korea in order to help us in modernising our country.
Most people in Iraqi Kurdistan hope that the South Korean troops will consist of engineers and professionals so that they can help us rebuild and reconstruct our country.
I read that there was an anti-troop-dispatch in Seoul recently. I would like to assure these people who have demonstrated against the dispatch that their troops will not fight in Kurdistan. There are no peace keeping missions to be held in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraqi Kurdistan is relatively safe and the Kurdish police are doing their best to keep the region safer. South Koreans will not be attacked. We don't attack those who have come to help and assist us in reconsturction.
South Korean troops mission will be to help the Kurds to reconstruct the region. Perhaps helping in building the two new airports, improving the Kurdish universities, helping in building modern roads, building modern societies, supporting democracy, and other humanitarian works.
Generally the people in Iraqi Kurdistan do not see the US-led coalition presence as an invasion. I would like to assure every South Korean citizen that the 3500 South Korean troops presence in Iraqi Kurdistan will be a good favour for the people of Iraqi Kurdistan. We will never forget your help.
Zor supas (thank you very much in Kurdish).





comments.... ....


I have been playing with the html codes in blogger...and guess I have messed up the comment section.. :-(
I am now working on it ...Hopefully I will update the LINKS section and fix the comments section.


more Kurdish blogs in English

5 Hours North of Baghdad is a blog of an American woman visiting Kurdistan. It is a great blog ! Very lively and once you start reading you don't stop till the last dot ! Waitingplace is her current blog ! I guess she is a double blogger !

Medya is a Kurd from East (Iranian) Kurdistan. He has just finished his high school exams and he wants to get good grades to go to a university in Canada or USA !

There is also a list of Kurdish bloggers writing in Kurdish but I guess most of the readers here wouldn't have a clue about it..

I have written an article to the indepdendent Kurdish weekly "Hawlati" hoping they will publish it. I am talking about blogging ! I hope that they would publish it and then I hope that the number of Kurdish bloggers (in English) would increase dramatically !

Let's keep waiting....


5/28/2004
PUK : Kurds betrayed once again !
Just after my post yesterday, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) whose secretary is a member of the Iraqi Governing Council has issued this statement :


Kurds feel betrayed once again by UK and USA : PUK press release


5/27/2004
What political rights Kurds got from Operation Iraqi Freedom ?!! Absolutely NOTHING !

The Kurdish political street is now very frustrated.... People are really angry and everyone is waiting anxiously to see what is happening in the next few days... We were the only people who supported "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in the whole Middle East, even the Turks, USA's number one ally refused to do so.. And yet, we get no political rights... Some feel that we were used as pawns.. And this does not create a very nice political feelings...

The reasons are :-

1) Kirkuk and the Arabised Kurdish areas are still Arabised and signs of ethnic cleansing is still largely seen in Kirkuk..The Americans and the coalition call the issue "land disputes" ...what the hell ?!! What land disputes ? The bloody Iraqi government conducted an organised ethnic cleansing and the whole world was watching.. No one said anything ! And now they call it land disputes !??? Bloody hell ! 250 000 are refugees in their homeland and were kicked out by Saddam Hussein because they didn't choose to register themselves as Arabs.. Now the CPA don't let them to return...

2) The federal issue... Most Kurds want the United Nation to actually mention that the Kurdish minority rights must be protected in Iraq and Iraq must be a federal state in order to protect Kurds who have suffered the most in Iraq simply because of their race..

3) USA is keen on not to give any high posts to Kurds in Iraq..This Monday as well Bremer have told the Kurdish leaders not to ask for PM or President..What the hell ?!! Are we being looked at as a second class citizens again ?!!

4) Before 09/04/2003, we were ruling the same areas that we are ruling today.. We didn't get any inch back.... We actually have lost some cities which Saddam Hussein was himself describing as "Kurdistan" such as oil-rich Khanaqeen..

We thank the Americans for the no-fly-zone ! But people are now asking serious questions...Why Kirkuk was not included in the NO FLY ZONE ?!! IF US is a real friend of Kurds, why she didn't stop the ethnic cleansing in Kirkuk over the last 13 years, and why not alllow the return of the Kurdish refugees to Kirkuk now ??? Are we leading a double-standard world ? Or USA does not want Kurds to have oil ?! I think this is the case..

People are quite disappointed...Some say that if we were doing what the Sunnis and the Shias are doing, we could have been respected.. Fallujah fought the Americans and Paul Bremer agreed on the return of Fallujah's beloved Baathiests to their town... Shias are now fighting and US will withdraw from Najaf and Karbala (don't forget Al-Sistani's call for direct elections)...
And Kurds what ? Stayed silent and got no rights...

Congratulations my friends. We have just being sold out.


5/23/2004
Institutional Racism...Iraq...and Iraqis...

I was just watching Al-Sharqiya, the new Iraqi channel which calls itself the "Television of the Truth" and is supposed to be a free T.V station, they had an interview with a KDP guy in Baghdad, the lady was asking her in a very rude way "You Kurds are only %20 how can you ask for something big like a Prime Minister post ?" ....I was nodding my head...and said hmmmmmm... Institutional Racism can do great harm !!!!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, Iraq is infected with large institutional racism.. And yet the Iraqis do not realise it..I don't blame Iraqis for being racist, I blame the former Iraqi government and the Arab T.V stations.

For example, the former Iraqi government had created "us" and "them".. Kurds were "them" and Iraqis were "us".. "them" was bad because allegedly, was working with the enemies of "us", Israel, USA, Iran and you name it. So "them" had no rights and was meant to be terminated. Some of the people of "them" who were helping "us" were good ! Are you lost ?! lol
Another example, Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabia, etc. They were showing a video clip about Fallujah and Najaf...A civilian was talking on TV and he was saying "These Kurds are working with the US and they are attacking us... what do they want from us ?" Note the words us and them.. And this was being repeated 1000s to the Arab world.. Now if an ordinary Arab watches this, he will systematically starts hating Kurds..

Another example, Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, a newspaper published by a Saddam Hussein lover, Abdul Bari Atwan, he still calls Osama Bin Laden as "Sheikh" or "Sir". He usually puts a headline "Kurds did blah blah to Arabs"... "Kurds did that to Arabs" ...

All these examples have great impacts on Iraq...Just after publishing these reports, an Iraqi blogger, Raed, published this :

The decreasing possibility of having a Sunni-Shia war increases the possibility of starting an Arab-Kurd one..

He fell to the racism trap.

Another fallen Iraqi into the racism trap is the extremely anti-western Iraqi blogger, RiverBend,
Note what she says on Ansar Al-Islam :

Ansar Al Islam are a fundamentalist militant group- mostly Kurdish- based in the north of Iraq. .


O.K. dear Iraqis, so shall Kurds accuse the whole Arab nation just because the planes which bombed us with chemical weapons were Arabs ?!
Shall we generalise the whole Arab nation just because the soldiers who conducted the genocidal Anfal operations were Arabs ?!
Shall we start a hatred campaign against Arabs just because we have suffered on the hands of a few Arabs ?!

The answer is no ! We should never generalise ! There are many good Arabs.. But unfortunately, only the bad ones are getting a chance to speak on media.. and these ones are infecting the minds of thousands !

I strongly suggest that Paul Bremer III (hello Paul are you busy eating chicken-pie ;-) ?) or the Iraqi Governing Council should issue a law that bans mentioning ethnic groups name on T.V.
Al-Jazeera's generalisation is not the freedom of speech. It is an act of inciting racism that affects the minds of millions across the suppressed Arab worlds ! (suppressed by a group of racist dictators) !



5/22/2004
Investments and the new row over PM/President.

Yesterday in a meeting at the Dukan resort, in Sulaimania, Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdish leaders of PUK and KDP have met and have told the Americans "We won't just do any jobs in Iraq". It is either Prime Minister , President or we pull out.

Washington Post has some information on it. What WashingtonPost has missed to say is that "If the Kurdish leaders step down from their demand they will lose their jobs because they have stepped down from many rights and the Kurdish people are not happy with them at all"...


The London investment conference is back.. This time is a one day thing on 6th of June 2004 in London.. this website has it all KurdistanGateway


The other Kurdish government which is based in Sulaimania, has also started its own campaign of encouraging foreign investments in Kurdistan, the website is www.kinvest.org but it says "under construction"..If you an investor you can email shielan@kinvest.org




5/20/2004
Kurds & Paul Bremer

US pressure on Kurds to give up rights
When Jay Garner was removed and Paul Bremer the third replaced his place, everything got messed up for Kurds.

Last week, Bremer visited the Kurdish leadership and demanded that they should step down from their demands.
One of the Kurdish demands is, that the next Iraqi Prime Minister or President should be a Kurd, this is because we want to ensure that we are actually participating in the political life in Iraq. This is also a guarantee that another genocide will not be repeated against the Kurds in the future (take into account the very hostile anti-Kurdishness at this moment in Iraq)

I don't know if it is Paul Bremer or the American Adminstration. But Bremer is the American ambassador.
Last week, Bremer's man in Kirkuk said that Kirkuk is not Kurdistan. Bear in mind that the whole Kurdish struggle with the former Iraqi governments were over Kirkuk. All the negotiations with the former Iraqi governments have failed because of Kirkuk..

Not just Bremer says Kirkuk is not Kurdistan, he opposes the return of the Kurdish refugees. So far nothing has been done for the Kurdish refugees. These people were having houses, cars, etc living a good life when they were kicked out from their house by Saddam Hussein. They have lived in tents, some since 1975, and it is one year since the liberation, and yet they are not liberated.

Some of the Arab settlers, who mostly are Shia Arabs and are loyal to the terrorist young trouble-maker, Muqtada Sadder, do actually want to go back to their homes in southern Iraq if the government give them homes and money (compensation).

We are seeing this on a daily basis.. Thankfully Washington Times did actually reported this last week.

According to Hawlati, the Kurdish leadership will not step down from its demands. If they did, they wil face huge pressure from the Kurdish people.

By the way, has anyone told Mr. Bremer that all our negotiations with the former Iraqi governments, including Saddam's government, have failed because of the issue of Kirkuk ?!


Our patience has limits. We are silent but we will not be silent against oppression.




5/17/2004
globalization and Iraq..
Muqtada Sader and Terrorists Destroy Kurdish Hopes !

On May 25th of 2004, a plane carrying the Kurdish Prime Ministers (both from PUK & KDP Kurdistan regional governments) was supposed to fly from Hewler to London to hold the Kurdistan Gateway Conference in which Foreign companies were being asked to invest in Kurdistan and Iraq.

Unfortunately, the KurdistanCorporation has now decided to postpone the event to September !!! DAMN...They say that south and middle Iraq is not stable...SO WHO GIVES A DAMN ?! There is every single aspects of peace and stability in Kurdistan !! Why shouldn't we go forward ? Muqtada and Ex-Baathiests want to live in the dark ages why should we be forced to live in the dark ages too ?!!

Why should we be bound to what Muqtada Sader does ! Ex-Baathiests and Muqtada men and many others do not want to see the effects of globalization (free market in American) and (Global Economy Control in some other languages).

President Bush and the US Administration want a "United Free Democratic Iraq"..We all agree on this.. But wait a moment ?!! How is this being welcomed in Iraq ?!!

It has been more than one year and still there is no peace.. This is not America's fault. It is the fault of the ex-Baathiests and Muqtada men and mixed Arab-Iraqi nationalists and the Al-Qaeda..

Simply these people (who are now in majority) want the Americans to fail..And so far there are signs that they are winning..

In Kurdistan, people are building and doing their best to go forward and catch up the whole world..We are so much behind.. We feel like we have the energy to turn into another Germany or Japan....
We are feeling like a Marathon runner and forced to pull a bus with us in the race..

I am looking at Eastern Europe, 10 years ago they were so much behind..Now they all are turning into industrial nations.. (So I don't think this is bad) ... I don't know if globalization is good or bad !! But as far as Kurdistan concerned, we don't have that many industries in Kurdistan..So if SONY or IBM or LEVIS or any other big company come and invest in Kurdistan, I don't think it is gonna affect the Kurdish industry..In fact it is stregnthening it.. !!

I personally would like to see all the big companies to come and invest in Kurdistan...Labour is very cheap and the Kurdish governments give great help to those who want to invest..
If the current situation goes on, globalization will at the end of the day, naturally divide Iraq.. What we have in Iraq is, a pro-western people in North (Kurdistan) and an extremely anti-western people in south and middle..
If the current situation continues, no companies would want to invest in south and middle Iraq because of the security situations, and more companies will arrive in Kurdistan.. This naturally will create a two entirely divided countries..





5/15/2004
Nicholas Berg's video...Is it fake or authentic .. updated

I have been thinking about his killing for long..After seeing the video, I was shocked for the first time.. I saw it first on Al-Arabia TV and they didn't show the moment where Al-Zarqaw is cutting off his head...I hoped it was just something to scare the Americans..

NEW UPDATES :

The video is edited.
At the moment where (Al-Zarqawi) wants to kill Mr. Berg the time is at 2.44 (now Mr. Berg was alive at this time).
At the time where he is grounded on the floor. the time is at 13.45.

What the hell is going on ? Was he not killed ? Or was he killed and then beheaded ?!!


Another striking observation :
The person who is reading the statement who is supposed to be (Al Zarqawi) is wearing a black mask. At time 13.46 the clock jumps to 13.47.47 (about one minute) and this time the man who was cutting Mr. Berg is wearing a white mask. This is the tallest guy who was standing next to Al-Zarqawi.

Was Zarqawi having difficutlies to cut off Mr. Berg's head ?!!


Earlier post.

Now I have some doubts :

1) I have looked several times... Mr. Berg is moving while Al-Zarqawi is reading the statement..So he is alive !! He is not dead !! Look at the video and observe this ! But what about the blood claims ? I have seen sheeps being beheaded and a lot of blood is being pumped out from the arteries for at least 5-10 minutes...

2) It seems that Mr. Berg is unaware of the excution.. But he makes no resistance (how could he, his hands are tightened)..

3) There is some noise and shouting in the background.. This one is different.. it seems that there are some people who are scared by the incident.. (I might be totally wrong).. But you hear people shouting from terror.. It is different from the (Allahu Akbar slogans)..I was thinking that other US or Foriegn hostages were witnessing this ?!! (Might be totally wrong).

4) I have looked at the moment when (Al-Zarqawi) is pulling Mr. Berg's head. There is no movement in Mr. Berg at this moment. Then, at the moment when Al-Zarqawi is supposed to be beheading Mr. Berg, the camera zooms in and out ?!! The graphics is very bad.. I can't not conclude that it is fake.. But I have some doubts.. Why the camera has to zoom in and out ?!!
5) I have seen sheeps and cows being beheaded.. Sometimes there are noises comnig out from their throat as the beheading takes place.. After the camera zooms in and out for several seconds, the zoom goes back to the original place and we hear noises which just sound they are actually cutting his vocal strings ? (Are they ?!?!)
6) Then...they all stop shouting (Allahu-Akbar) and are quite for a few seconds, one of them says something not-understandable sounds like (ei gologologolo) then they all say (Allahu-Akbar..Allahu-Akbar)
7) After this, now this is scary...Everyone is quite, and Al-Zarqawi is carrying out his beheading... Then there are some background voices... One of them is actually sounds like (Are we done ??!) .then the audio is cut off.. We see Zarqawi carrying Mr. Berg's head... But not a single drop of blood falls from his head.. (Strange).. (watch this video and it is at timing = 38 seconds)


8) The timing ?!!! It is either Al-Qaeda are very stupid or as some comentators said (they might be working for USA)..have a look at this



It shows President Bush holding a dossier of Iraqi Prioners Abuse Allegation saying "Al-Zarqawi.. You are serving me more than CIA and Israel.. Thank u for saving me in the right time)


There are thousands of other speculations.. Read the Al-Jazeera Report.

At the end of the day.. We are talking about a person's life.. Bear in mind that this is not the first time terrorist Ansar Al-Islam behead people..

VERY GRAPHIC PICTURES OF BEHEADING 42 KURDISH SOLDIERS IN 2001 BY ANSAR AL-ISLAM

I can not conclude that the video is fake or not. But I can not conclude that it is authentic too.
God Bless all the victims of terrorism.


5/14/2004
Iraq Football goes Olympics !



Let's forget all the killings.. The Iraqi football team is going to play in Athens Olympics 2004 !

Be happy and dance to this Turkomani-Kurdish music from Kirkuk.

I hope that the Iraqi Football Team won't fly the Baathiest Iraqi flag. Otherwise we feel like we are not being represented..and that is the worst thing..

Hopefully they will fly this flag or some new one :








5/12/2004
KILL 'EM TOO !


What is CIA for ?!
They can find the website where the barbaric video of the killing of the innocent American is posted and locate who posted that video and when and where.

Also KILL the Kurdish virus and foudner of the terrorist group Ansar Al-Islam who now sists freely in Norway and enjoy full European rights while his men kill innocent people in Iraq.

This is not the first time Ansar Islam behead innocents. In 2001, a group of Kurdish soldiers were beheaded in cold blood.


Mala Krekar, Kurdish founder of terrorist Ansar Al-Islam who now lives freely in Norway.



Al-Zarqawi, Osama Bin Laden's Bremer in Iraq.





5/08/2004
Did you see the pictures of the ruined houses in Fallujah on your TV screens ?!!

Did you think that they were all for poor terrorised Arab families ?!!

Well, it seems that they were not. Read to know more.

very interesting report about the presence of Kurds in Fallujah.. I have never known that Kurds do live in Fallujah.. These people were forced to live in Fallujah during Saddam Hussein's Arabisation campaign in Kirkuk.



5/06/2004
When Arabs were trading with women... they were not violating Islam..

From watching Al-Jazeera, what we see is that big headed Egyptians or Algerians or Syrians or Saudis attacking Kurds and the American liberation of Iraq, while they were not saying a "word" when Saddam was massacaring millions..

I don't know what Kurds have done to some Arabs... I honestly don't understand why some Arabs hate Kurds so much..... Recently, the Arab Journalists Union demanded that the "Kurdistan Journalists Union" should not be a permenant member of the World Journalists Union... WHY ?!! I just don't know..

I don't think all Arabs hate Kurds.. even if some do, I don't know why.. I would love to find out... But I think that those who hate Kurds, are the minority who control the Arab media...Therefore they look huge...

Some, justify their hatred by saying "Kurds have helped the Americans to "invade" (liberate) Iraq"... But they don't ask why Kurds did that.. If they ask so, they will answer themselves..

Now what would you do if you find out after 16 years that your mom and sisters were sent to Egypt to work as protistutes for fat filthy rich Arab men ?

I don't even want to think about that.. But for a group of Kurdish families whose daughters were sent to Arab countries to work as protistutes is a big disaster..

This report it shows that some Kurdish women were sent from Iraq to be prostitutes for Arab men...They were Kurdish womens captured during the first second phase of the anti-Kurdish genocide operations nicknamed "Anfal".

Anfal is a chapter of Quran, the Muslim holly book. In this chapter, it says that you can attack non-beleives and steal their money and their women... I don't know what is "holly" in stealing Kurdish Muslim women and sell it to filthy rich Arab Muslim men.

When this came out last June there was a big shock in Kurdistan.... People are still shocked... An official Iraqi Intelligence document was found containing the names of 17 women some as young as 14 to be sent to Egypt to work in some Egyptians nightclubs as protistutes..

Now isn't this an illegal actions according to International Justice and according to Islam ?!!! but the Egyptian government denies it........
Now where are those Muslim fanatics who fight in the name of Islam ?!!!

Also according to this report "In Iraq, Shias and Sunnis turning against the Kurds" asks the question, why should Kurds remain part of Iraq where they are being looked at as traitors who should be killed ?!

Qouted from the article In Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad, anti-Kurdish sentiments are vitriolic. "The Kurds are traitors ... How can they talk about wanting to be Iraqis when they support the Americans?"

I don't know why the Kurdish leaders insist so much of being part of Iraq when they are always being labelled as "traitors" who need to be eliminated.. Why not get ourselves out from this mess ?!!

I would like to aks those big-headed people who come on Al-Jazeera and attack Kurds and the American liberation of Iraq, what would you do if your sisters and mothers were sent to America to work as protistutes in Las Vegas ?!!

You wouldn't join the so-called Iraqi Resistance, would you ??!!!!



Great, but sad report :
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/04/Worldandnation/Iraq_s_lost_women.shtml


5/04/2004
Let's keep the liberation a liberation

After seeing the torturing pictures by the US soldiers, I now find it very difficult to argue that the US presence in Iraq is a liberatoin. I have been told several times "Do you call these pictures liberation ?, if yes, then what do you call an occupation"

The PUK leader, Jalal Talabani, said that these actions are nothing to compare with the treatment of Saddam Hussein with Iraqis...But one question to be asked here:

If someone tells you, do you want 2 punches in the face or in the shoulders ??? What would you say ?

I would say NONE THANKS. What Talabani is saying that Iraqis should say "YES 2 in the shoulders please. At least that is better than in the face.
The US administration should bring those soldiers to justice in order to protect its liberatoin honour. Otherwise we can't continute to call the US presence in Iraq as a "Liberation"..

Moving to globilisation effects on Kurdistan...WOW wow wow... I am sure that we cant see this today... But I think in the next 5 years there will be a great impact... Just like when Communism fell in Eastern Europe, it took a while for them to breath..

Everyday in the news , we hear about very strange names coming to Kurdistan in order to build either buildings, shopping centres, universities, roads, oil companies, airports, tunnels etc etc.. It is a massive process... spreading like a flu virus...

We have also developed these kinda commercial adverts on our TVs....From mobile phones to household machines, etc etc etc..
What I notice is that some Iranian companies are also benefiting from the war on Saddam..There are now a great number of Iranian companies working in Iraqi Kurdistan...I think they are benefiting from the fact that they are our neighbours.. therefore they don't pay much transport fees..

If you want to build a company in Kurdistan, you will be given free industerial lands, and you will pay no tax for 5 years.. www.kurdistancorporation.com will guide you through..