Introduction
Hello all this is my first post on this great blog. I go by the name of Sami, to be honest with you it is not my real name. I chose this name out of respect for a Kurdish martyr who goes by the name Sami Abdul Rahman. Unfortunately Mr. Sami passed away, a tragic victim, of the horrible suicide bombings in Hawlar earlier this year. He is one of many Kurdish heroes who have fought for their rights and causes through out our oppressed history and sadly joined a long list of Kurdish martyrs who died to help future generation of Kurds attain their dreams.
I am from the southern part of Kurdistan from a city called Sulymaniah. Sadly I have been there once for a visit in 1989 and that’s the only time I ever saw my hometown. I was born in Baghdad but didn’t live long in Iraq. I speak Arabic and Sorani Kurdish fluently but wish to learn more of the other Kurdish dialects. Some of you may know that I have my own blog that goes by the name of Iraqi thoughts, not Kurdish thoughts. This has nothing to do with my lack of pride in being Kurdish. I am so proud of being Kurdish and dream of returning to my home town soon. I grew up with Iraqis of all kinds around me and as a lot of my family lives in Baghdad so Iraqis politics has to be important to me for these personal reasons. I have to care about the security in Iraq as my family’s well being is always at the back of my head. Also there are many great Kurdish blogs out there, all very interesting and inspiring. There are also many Iraqi blogs, but they are all made by Arabs. I think that to post on my blog my ideas for Kurds and their rights on Iraq thoughts will give the reader the impression all Iraqis think like me which is what I HOPE for. I posted about a Kurdish film, Marooned In Iraq which I am sure you have all seen on my blog yesterday and in that way I hope to make my readers who wouldn’t go to Kurdish blogs become more educated about our rights and issues.
I'll talk about our short terms goals which are to be part of a democratic process in Iraq where we are not forgotten and treated as second class citizens ever again. Some may be sceptical because of the comments some Arab politicians make regarding Kurds and this understandable. The process is a slow one but I am hopeful through co-operation and not conflict attaining our rights to self determination will be made easier. Sadly most Arabs have no idea about Kurdish culture and language etc, and I think that now is the time to show them who we really are. On a postiive note now when I go to Iraqi parties they play Kurdish music for the few Kurds that are there and you see all Iraqis doing the halparkay. Also there are many Iraqi Arabs who tell me how much they wish that the rest of Iraq follow Kurdistan and becomes like them. These are the silent voices, we sadly only hear about the beheaders and kidnappers. My friend calls me to ask me what this song on Sharqiyah is because he loves it and it turns out to be Sivan’s song. Sivan is one of the greatest Kurdish nationalist singers. When I was in England in the summer, the Olympics were on and some of you may know Iraq reached far, I went to watch it at a Kurdish coffee shop in London and the place was packed. There were as many Kurdish flags as Iraqi flags and everyone was rooting for Iraq despite the presence of one Kurdish player. These are just examples that NOT ALL Arabs hate Kurds which is a common misconception people have. A civilised society can not be based on hate and mistrust and my hope is to break that, I mean look at African Americans in the States, it has taken them years and they are still victims of racist crimes until today but the difference in the level and type of abuse now and back in the day is like night and day. I do believe that our situation will get better if we can make sure that Kurds stay in important positions within the Iraqi central government then fight against it. It is in our benfiit to hold these important cabinet posts.
Maybe a lot of you will think I am too much of an optimist, and I admit I am. I was brought to respect human rights and values and in university studied 3rd world conflict in countries from Angola to the Philippines. Due to the creation of so many states that compromise different nations, the world has seen a lot of ethnic conflict in this past century. I believe violence and ignorance will get us nowhere, the fact is we live beside Arabs and many Kurds are married to Arabs and we depend on them for business, so its better to have them as friends than enemies. I was with a famous Kurdish politician recently and he said before the elections you are going to see a lot of talk about independence and separation because we Kurds learnt our lesson. This way we will compromise with federalism to appease them and it is a step. As nice as it sounds independence now is not feasible. Sadly recent events in Iraq against Kurds have brought back the painful tragedies of the past campaigns such as the Anfal and more. I assure you that a lot of non Kurdish Iraqis with education and background knowledge will open up their minds but it will take time.I believe we need FIRSTLY to become internally strong before forcing our legitimate demands on others.
When I watch the national assembly proceedings, I see that the banner has writing in Arabic and Kurdish; I see that the man in charge is Dr. Fouad Ma’asoum. It hurts me when some Kurds call him a traitor; to me he is a man who is doing his best for the Kurdish cause. He didn’t have to leave London to put his life on the line everyday, but he did so that we no longer have to worry about lack of strength in the central government. We as Kurds are a huge voting block and other major parties will be looking for our support to battle against the other parties. This way we might see our block get elected and slowly witness better lives for all of us. I am sure people will and can argue against all I have said. I myself can argue my statements by giving examples of why its not working so far. I guess hope and a genuine love of peace, drives me to feel the way I do. Throughout my life I have met many close minded Iraqi Arabs who have said things like Kurds came from Russia or other such nonsense. With some explaining and evidence I have changed many minds and I know that I can not do it on my own. I may sound like the biggest optimist on the planet but it’s only because I hope for the best for my people.
To see Dr. Barham Salih and I know how much he loves Kurdistan out there in Baghdad doing his best, this inspires me to do the same. There has never been true education of the masses in Iraq because of lack of real democracy. The purpose of this post was to kind of give you an idea of what kind of person I am. I hope that Kurdistan Bloggers let me know honestly if they wish for me to post again in here. I thank you for this opportunity. My aim is to write so that people get to read the thoughts and ideas of a Kurd who knows the Iraqi Arabic culture well, and by that I don’t mean what you see on TV. We all as Kurdish people have the same dream, the only difference is the way we go about it. Biji Biji Kurdistan and let me know if I should stop blogging here and join the readers list again! Honesty is appreciated.
I am from the southern part of Kurdistan from a city called Sulymaniah. Sadly I have been there once for a visit in 1989 and that’s the only time I ever saw my hometown. I was born in Baghdad but didn’t live long in Iraq. I speak Arabic and Sorani Kurdish fluently but wish to learn more of the other Kurdish dialects. Some of you may know that I have my own blog that goes by the name of Iraqi thoughts, not Kurdish thoughts. This has nothing to do with my lack of pride in being Kurdish. I am so proud of being Kurdish and dream of returning to my home town soon. I grew up with Iraqis of all kinds around me and as a lot of my family lives in Baghdad so Iraqis politics has to be important to me for these personal reasons. I have to care about the security in Iraq as my family’s well being is always at the back of my head. Also there are many great Kurdish blogs out there, all very interesting and inspiring. There are also many Iraqi blogs, but they are all made by Arabs. I think that to post on my blog my ideas for Kurds and their rights on Iraq thoughts will give the reader the impression all Iraqis think like me which is what I HOPE for. I posted about a Kurdish film, Marooned In Iraq which I am sure you have all seen on my blog yesterday and in that way I hope to make my readers who wouldn’t go to Kurdish blogs become more educated about our rights and issues.
I'll talk about our short terms goals which are to be part of a democratic process in Iraq where we are not forgotten and treated as second class citizens ever again. Some may be sceptical because of the comments some Arab politicians make regarding Kurds and this understandable. The process is a slow one but I am hopeful through co-operation and not conflict attaining our rights to self determination will be made easier. Sadly most Arabs have no idea about Kurdish culture and language etc, and I think that now is the time to show them who we really are. On a postiive note now when I go to Iraqi parties they play Kurdish music for the few Kurds that are there and you see all Iraqis doing the halparkay. Also there are many Iraqi Arabs who tell me how much they wish that the rest of Iraq follow Kurdistan and becomes like them. These are the silent voices, we sadly only hear about the beheaders and kidnappers. My friend calls me to ask me what this song on Sharqiyah is because he loves it and it turns out to be Sivan’s song. Sivan is one of the greatest Kurdish nationalist singers. When I was in England in the summer, the Olympics were on and some of you may know Iraq reached far, I went to watch it at a Kurdish coffee shop in London and the place was packed. There were as many Kurdish flags as Iraqi flags and everyone was rooting for Iraq despite the presence of one Kurdish player. These are just examples that NOT ALL Arabs hate Kurds which is a common misconception people have. A civilised society can not be based on hate and mistrust and my hope is to break that, I mean look at African Americans in the States, it has taken them years and they are still victims of racist crimes until today but the difference in the level and type of abuse now and back in the day is like night and day. I do believe that our situation will get better if we can make sure that Kurds stay in important positions within the Iraqi central government then fight against it. It is in our benfiit to hold these important cabinet posts.
Maybe a lot of you will think I am too much of an optimist, and I admit I am. I was brought to respect human rights and values and in university studied 3rd world conflict in countries from Angola to the Philippines. Due to the creation of so many states that compromise different nations, the world has seen a lot of ethnic conflict in this past century. I believe violence and ignorance will get us nowhere, the fact is we live beside Arabs and many Kurds are married to Arabs and we depend on them for business, so its better to have them as friends than enemies. I was with a famous Kurdish politician recently and he said before the elections you are going to see a lot of talk about independence and separation because we Kurds learnt our lesson. This way we will compromise with federalism to appease them and it is a step. As nice as it sounds independence now is not feasible. Sadly recent events in Iraq against Kurds have brought back the painful tragedies of the past campaigns such as the Anfal and more. I assure you that a lot of non Kurdish Iraqis with education and background knowledge will open up their minds but it will take time.I believe we need FIRSTLY to become internally strong before forcing our legitimate demands on others.
When I watch the national assembly proceedings, I see that the banner has writing in Arabic and Kurdish; I see that the man in charge is Dr. Fouad Ma’asoum. It hurts me when some Kurds call him a traitor; to me he is a man who is doing his best for the Kurdish cause. He didn’t have to leave London to put his life on the line everyday, but he did so that we no longer have to worry about lack of strength in the central government. We as Kurds are a huge voting block and other major parties will be looking for our support to battle against the other parties. This way we might see our block get elected and slowly witness better lives for all of us. I am sure people will and can argue against all I have said. I myself can argue my statements by giving examples of why its not working so far. I guess hope and a genuine love of peace, drives me to feel the way I do. Throughout my life I have met many close minded Iraqi Arabs who have said things like Kurds came from Russia or other such nonsense. With some explaining and evidence I have changed many minds and I know that I can not do it on my own. I may sound like the biggest optimist on the planet but it’s only because I hope for the best for my people.
To see Dr. Barham Salih and I know how much he loves Kurdistan out there in Baghdad doing his best, this inspires me to do the same. There has never been true education of the masses in Iraq because of lack of real democracy. The purpose of this post was to kind of give you an idea of what kind of person I am. I hope that Kurdistan Bloggers let me know honestly if they wish for me to post again in here. I thank you for this opportunity. My aim is to write so that people get to read the thoughts and ideas of a Kurd who knows the Iraqi Arabic culture well, and by that I don’t mean what you see on TV. We all as Kurdish people have the same dream, the only difference is the way we go about it. Biji Biji Kurdistan and let me know if I should stop blogging here and join the readers list again! Honesty is appreciated.
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