Kurdistan Bloggers Union Kurdistan Bloggers Union: January 2005

Monday, January 31, 2005 

not gona sleep i think

although Salahadin, the commenter is one of those might get offended and he might know me as well..
but i CANT stand Turks remarks, Koc Bank has just bought one of the biggest banks in Turkey Yapikredi, without any more research and exactly as we were discussing it with a fellow Turkish lady interpreter, the economy in there is still under the huge inflation! Mr Gull should go and look after his fate! No more dolars from IMF to spend on services let alone weapons to fight Kurds!
- does Mr Gul knows that in the goverment hospitals at the emergency situation you are asked to give your credit card details or produce cash before your injury is been dealt with by the doctors??
- does he know that every sinlge country around Turkey hates them?
- does Turkmen front know that if there wasnt Kurdistan regional gov, they would never be able to come as far as they have now?

but what made me really mad was the remarks by Mr Shia Leader, I thoguht we got rid of Saddam as he thought he was the only right person, if Mr.Revolution leader thinks he is the next rigth person, I suppose he will have some work to do near the US and UK embassies and also with the KURDISH PESHMARGAS! This time the world can not ignore the Kurdish existence and the Kurdish cause not only in Iraq but in the whole middle east!

This election is the best dagger into the heart of Syrians, Iranians and Turks who continue oppressing our nation! This is the first time in history a legal, approved Kurdistan Federal State is born! next step is undo the wrong maps!

I CANT wait to say something about what happened in Manchester, I BET you have seen londonkurd's pictures about the pro-Alqaida stubborn people. well in manchester the group who had come to Oldham road to tell the KURDS (and iraqis in general) that the election is HARAM (taboo in religous law) and were protesting the pro-coalition Kurds, they were not as lucky as they were in london, police were not able to keep them away from the angry young kurds. Apparently they were very well beaten and scatterd by the voters!
Those ppl and the Turks(racsits)will become blind by the Sun in the heart of the KURDISTAN FLAG!

Sunday, January 30, 2005 

Did you say success?

I would hate to push down hiwas photos but seriously What a great in your face moment.
So apparently we don't all have urges to go back to the glorious days of saddam and actually do want to move forward.
Even the people in iraqi hotspots such as fallujah and amara have went to vote.

And for videos and stuff from elections in kurdistan here is the livelink for Ktv and kurdsat
For the past few days they have been showing election celebrations in europe but for today and tomorrow they will be concentrating on kurdistan and iraq. This is a livelink so i can't exactly specify a time when they would show footage, but u can try your luck
Man i would kill to see what they're displaying on Jazeera now.
Oh yeah a note about those ppl londonkurd has posted about how a group of non-iraqis that harrassed iraqi voters in london.

Lets all hope these election results do work out just to spite the hell out of these ppl.

Now on another note, anyone checked the sitemeter on this site? the numbers have jumped tenfold its upto 1131 now for today alone (thanx to a buzzmachine plug), and KBU has been mentioned in MSNBC and even CNN (hat-tip Kat and Emmunah)

 

Ultra-Emotional Kurdistan

Talabani sends his condolences to a MAN's family who died by a shock HEART ATTACK as he voted in sulaimania!

My family were so happy that they have come together just as it was EID (Jazhn) and they have all casted their votes and voted in the Referendum movement as well..

People crying as they put their ballots in the boxes!

The foto shows how Millions of votes are collected to show how Kurds are keen for an independence state...photo from peyamner.com


foto says: express your opinion whether you want Kurdistan to be Independent or stay as a part of Iraq.

Saturday, January 29, 2005 

my photos from Manchester

the most interesting thing was, the guy who speaks was one of the 18 people who had walked from Leicester to Manchester (31 hours),

five halabjaeean (guys from Halabja) were the first five to vote in marking the 5000 died in Halabja.
another 3 and 2 others had walked to Manchester as well, the 23 people had met and went together to vote! ...... i can only say WELL DONE FOLKS
the other very exciting thing which happened whil i was in the queue, this Arab guy came with the new Iraqi flag(i mean the bathist one) so what you expect is the Kurds jump on him with tens of Kurdistan flga, so he UNLIKE kurds took the Kurdistan flag and riased it and kissed it, now what you expect? the Kurds came all to him and raised him in the air, aplause and cheers! it was a mad atmosphere!
i will leave you with these pictures:


he was standing there for hours, taken by my Best friend as a contribution to KBU

The Arabg guy saving his life by kissing the Kurdistan flag!

it matches, isnt it?

The flag was floating over the crowd then it came to their hands so they had good chance to express their love to the biggest flag there!



the place was too small for us!


very british! when i saw this i said "we might need to come back tomorrow, we will not make it in today"

 

Voted

Am I the only one who thought the ink there was for fingerprinting (that is a verb right)
I actually voted yesterday (Friday) but I spent most of the day trying to figure out how I am meant to pack stuff for anything upto 2 years into just 20 kilos

Ok anyway so I went with my family to vote on Friday, well there actually was a queue and even tighter security. When we went in a lot of TV stations were there, now the interesting ones were the arabic ones, cos' they rarely had a correspondent just a cameraman going about (I wonder why). Anyway even jazeera was there, hehe everyone there was like let them come my way and I'll give them my two words.

Ok back to the ink (the one you put ure index finger through), so apparently its not for fingerprinting just a way to note who has voted and who hasn't (so ppl don't have to go twice) but does it have to look this repulsive,I keep thinking I haven't washed properly or something. Though seriously how do Iraqis in Iraq get away with it, I mean this is a sure sign that they have voted, can they all wear gloves to cover it or plaster they should have thought of something more reasonable for them cos' I'm pretty sure there's a fatwa out there to kill "those of blue-on-black fingers". Seriously those guys in Baghdad and other trouble spots are brave to do that.

As for election campainging the Kurdish channels were really at it, the ads on how to vote and the candidates were constantly on, patriotic songs in the break and then they showed the first day of elections across europe, which had become some overblown kurdish party... my brother kept commenting on how they probably shaya/halparke(dance) their way through the security gate.

Anyway I had to travel friday night (yes with hideous finger intact I seriously wish I bought gloves) and I had to stop in london for a while, my uncle decided to go to the elections in Wembley with this other family who were voting. So a -semijetlagged not very awake- me tags along.
And what a kurdfest, I was so gutted about forgetting my camera(Which was in my luggage) and my mobile cam couldn't work since I didn't have a simcard in it. But there were so many photo opportunities like the guy who laminated the front on his car with the Kurdish flag and was going about the center and these other cars that were pimping to Kurdish music and waving the flags all over the place. And the bus area that changed into some dancefloor. Damn camera where r u when I need you,well at least londonkurd's taken some
There were also 2 vans going about voting sistanis list and leaflet distributors,and this one car for allawis list, the motto was funny "in3aned zarqawi kulna ni7ib allawi" (go against zarqawei we all love allawi)
though you know what else was weird no police, you'd think with all this talk of a civil war and everyone hating each others guts you'd need to tear away Iraqis off each other. But yeah even the majority being kurds didn't make the others "violent".
But the queue was long, I had to keep hideous finger in pocket cos' just in case they wouldn't allow registered voters back in (for space reasons). And I was thinking screw this I'm freezing outside I just wanna go somewhere warm, but it was ok cos I was in a group and it was only in the actual polling where they do check thoroughly. I wasn;t voting so that was ok.

Apparently other places weren't so smooth, in Australia for example rumors started that the Australian government would send them back to Iraq if they voted. And another that it could put their relatives lives in Iraq in danger. Someone from the Australian government even had to interfere saying that none of that was true. Baathist havens like syria and jordan are also having an effect threatening about ppl. And now for the weirdest story yet, in Holland a bunch of kurds hired a bus to take them to voting center, they all dressed in Kurdish clothes waving Kurdish flags and even packed enough dolma to feed an army. Anyway out of all ppl that could get annoyed by this, it was some islamist morrocans who came and fought with them. Honestly huh? How did that happen. And whats weird is that its morroco, in the middle east they're kinda considered too liberal, but the morrocans in europe are a totally different story.

Though most of the talk in both polling stations were about how everyone seems to be against us voting, oh and zarqawi "Aw sagbaba urdunia 7aqee chia" (what does that jordanian son of the dog have to do with it)
I don't get why ppl was to take their anti-americanism out on us, i mean look at all the negative press... please ppl leave us alone do your little anti-americanism somewhere else, oh i forgot no one takes you seriously otherwise.

 

get the Cetins out of Kirkuk

I have always said they are our main enemy, just before setting off to manchester with Kurdish cloths on, fixing a Kurdistan flag on my car, I just read a short article on the Islamic Turkish Racist news portal www.zaman.com.tr
I visit there as I am a gradute from one of their (zaman news belongs to the main Noor Group formed by Fethullah Gulen who claims to follow the Kurdish Islamist Leader Sheikh Saidi Kurdi whom they deny his ethnicity!!!) private schools and I feel like they might be less racist than others. "get the Cetins out of Kirkuk" I meant get those whose names are Cetin (in Turkish means difficult) as one of the two guys who has written the short news update from Kirkuk his name is Cetiner Cetin (Young difficult difficult or something like that) now these difficulties were first planted by their racist empire the Ottomans.
They planted the Turko-mens in our land and now they declare that they are more than half of the populaiton. I think Mr.Erdogan this time lost the game to Tarzani (Talabani+Barzani), by not being a faithful ally to the US. Sticking to EU and doing every shit he can do for the sake of a better economy for the Turkish lira, of course he must be ready to accept his rich neighbour The Federal State of Kurdistan (in 12 Days time)!
- their men are watching the boxes in Kirkuk
- their reporters are dooing everything to show that there is caos
- their intelligence are providing the extremist Turko-men Front with everythign they need to fight Kurbs(Kurd+Arabs)
- they have lived on the Iraqi pipe lines rentals for so many years
- torture and human rights abuse and a gear better than Saddam behaviour against Kurds
- they do not fully recognise the elections
- they do not respect any body's decisions apart from their puppets
and one of the worst, they did NOT co-operate with the US to fight Saddam, who is in custody for ....!
well there are alot they have done wrong and bad and stupid, I just dont know why the US and the World still do not WAKE UP and get those difficult gues out of Kirkuk.
I am off to secure 7 seats for the Kurdish diaspora (210K we are doing good job)

Friday, January 28, 2005 

They need us.

Hello all, I have not posted on here in a while since all the material has been great on the site and with the large number of writers I just wanted to write when I felt it was necessary. Well today I voted and of course I voted in the end for 130 but it wasn't an easy choice. In the end of the day it comes down to the simple fact that Kurdish leaders are the Kurdish people's best hope. My reasons for voting elsewhere were based on the fact that lefts face all the Kurdish leadership needs reform.

The level of nepotism and corruption that people who come and go to southern Kurdistan talk about is beyond belielf. The everyday person is losing out to all those in power and contracts and the best lands are being given to the well known and wealthy. I as a person do not believe in status and good family or poor family, but in our society unfortunately this is pre-dominantly the case. Maybe it will be slow the reform but sadly I do not see it happening for a while but these are internal Kurdish problems.

Not voting for 130 would have meant I give them one less vote and with the 'every vote counts theory' I would have made it even harder for things such as Kirkuk's status to go the way I hope it does.

The expierience was to say the least fun since I live in an Arabic country and the majority of the staff working are Arabs. I got pissed during registration at this one Arabic guy who works there because I can tell he was a racist and he jokingly said why do all Kurds vote for Kurdish leaders etc..... so today he was standing at the door I was going to vote in. He didn't remeber me at first and asked me which number room am i in? I was like min la jooooreee nooooom.... which is kurdish for i am in room 9 and he was like WHAT? I said it three times in Kurdish and said in English thast my Iraqi language just to get his blood boiling I loved it. Then I walked in and asked them in ARABIC if i could get a Kurdish to Arabic translator as I was just doing it to gauge the reaction's staff. They are all not laughing but I was loving it....... I went on and ticked the box 130 and then all the staff was like congrats mabrook like I had just got married... I was like I have voted in the Canadian elections before and anyways I did not want to be congratulated by a mix of former ba3thee supporters and a few good people. I continued loudly speaking Kurdish to further agitate those in the corridors..... It felt good because its then they realise we do have our own language and are a seperate race. I just hope my vote doesn't go to waste with the policies that the Kurdish leadership carrise out for us.

The best part is that it looks like the Kurds will have between 20-25 percent of the vote thereby ensuring for any thing to b e passed the arabic secular left parties or the arabic religious right parites NEED US to get their agendas through. Its like the Kurds are that beautiful girl that two men who have never been with a woman before will try their hardest to appease and spoil and in the end the woman (Kurdistan) will lead a happy and safe life thanks to that. Take care of yourselves and khwa7afee. :)

Wednesday, January 26, 2005 

one of the striking pictures

some times I visit bbc's day in pictures as it really gives some thousands of words!

today to my surprise I saw this:

This is what is written under it:
Former Kurdish "peshmerga" militiamen gather in the Iraqi town of Suleimaniya to collect payment for their retirement

- a good election campaign by the PUK
- does this suggest that they deserve it or not?
- oh I adore the head-turbans (or whatever is called)

We have phone calls from/to Kurdistan and they remind us of the tents which were up in the 1992 elections for campaigning for each lists candidates! the atmosphere is so exciting and emotional although it is obvious who wins in most of the elections, it is just a matter of how much vote the others can get!

Sunday, January 23, 2005 

Chemical Ali to be tried in Halabja

Barham Salih promises Kurds trial of ’Chemical Ali’ in Halabja

How great would that be if it actually followed through, also a good showcase for up and coming pointless activists and organisations, you know the ones that sing to the tune of "puppet puppet puppet"(the medley)

Saturday, January 22, 2005 

me with All not All with me!

an old Kurdish proverb, "you with all not all with you"!
May be that had the greatest effect, or the main reason for me to vote was:
This is the first time in my life I trust Kurdish leaders while I am alive, so I WILL VOTE because I have to trust them!
I stayed over night in Manchester, to do my court work, meet with friends and for friday to go and register to vote! coincidently the friend I was visiting had a new friend who was a registration officer at the Mancherster election center, added to another friend who is also working there, we had two registration officers having dinner with us, so they told us so much about the work they do. Everything they were telling us, was either fun or joy, they were feeling so great about it.
They told us that the Kurds working there had forced the Arabs to remove the Baathist flag or they will not work, so they had removed the flag at the center placed by the Arab officers.
We were five people when we went there, my best friend (14 years friendship, and counting) another three very close friends, we met at Manchester city center where the Halabja tree is (we actually laid some flowers on it after cleaning the wrting) then we went to Oldham roat, 4 stops after the chinese town (this was how we were directed by another friend of mine who is a registration offficer there)
This was the entrance, I believe this is the only place I have seen the Kurdish sign on top and then the Arabic and English ones beneath it! It is centre number one in UK' three centers. They have strangly or strategically as Iam not sure which one, located the three at the three big cities where most of Kurds live in Birmingham and its surroundings (not Manchester or Glasgow)
We saw ppl with their Kurdish clothes, they told us that most of those who register are Kurds and they were expecting much more on the weekend.
I still do not understand why they call ppl twice, as there would not be any thing to be done with the registered names apart from telling us which station we have to report to in the center we have registered us, I think it could have been one round and would not make much difference!It would be off 5 days voting than all these days register and some 2 days voting period! All I showed them was my UK driving licence which says I am Iraqi and they gave me a slip which I have to have when I go back to vote which is has got probably a Unique number!
We were not allowed to take in cameras by security ppl so all I got was these two fotos, I know I am not a good photographer but that is my best! I actually took some fotos with my mobile but it had to be replaced for faulty and I forgot to download the pictures before giving it back to the delivery guy (very stupid!)
Today I saw two buses with some cars leaving to Manchester from Leeds with Kurdistan flags and Kurdish cloths and stuff, I have asked for some fotos to put them here from one of the organisers of the trip to register!
We are planing to go to vote next week with more ppl rather than travelling alone! I will get some more photos!
I believe Weekends will be too crowded for the place, as it was very small comparing to the 34 stations based in it, I believe it would not be easy to manage and control on the eleciton days either! I have to say it was very well organised!












The Writing by the Halabja Tree at Piccadily Gardens in Manchester City Center:

Wednesday, January 19, 2005 

this time is not fake!

in one word Barbarous

response from Tony Blair: "In a democracy, when [bad things] do happen, people are held to account", is it classified simply as [bad things] !?

 

family in grief after Hawleer bomb

It was not the bomb which shocked me,
It was not the location, Hawler, Azadi disctrict a poor familys doorstep which shocked me,
it was not the timing of it which shocked me either,
it was not the attitude and cowardness of the perpetuators which shocked me,

it was the coincidence at the explosion moment which shocked me, a passerby is a University Lecturer dead, another one a young girl who was walking home from school injured!
I think it is time to restrict religion abit more in our society (including my dads daily prayers), I will be enjoying Eid tomorrow!? oh why not wasnt it brought to us by those who kill innocent ppl for the sake of Allah?
I just dont know what those millions of people are doing in Mekka!

devastated...

 

All registered to vote

It's funny cos I wasn't exactly sure if I was allowed to vote. No not for political or racist reasons though it would have given me an edge, but because of the odd situations that only my goodself can be found in. To start with I have nothing to prove that I'm Iraqi no Iraqi passport nothing just this temp ID I had made in Kurdistan 7 or 8 years ago so we could travel between cities there and even if I could prove I was Iraqi I wasn't going to be in the same country on the day of the elections, so I thought I'd just tag along with my parents and see how this out of country registration is done and ask in passing if I could register.

What an anti-climax I was allowed to vote and I didn't even have to talk my way through it. The whole thing didn't take 5 mins, well 5 mins from the moment they asked why I wasn't registering.

"no passport? do your parents own an iraqi passport"
"yes" (though only recently)
"anything to prove identity and your relation to your father"
"yes healthcard and a driving liscence"
"let me see, ok fill this form take this recipt come back on the day with it and an ID"


As for voting, the elections abroad are spread between the 28-30
so sorted, done. No asking "why", "why not", what if".

Alot of money (we're talking tens of millions here) has been spent on these elections, these ppl seem serious to see it through. On one hand your thinking wouldn't this money been put to better use in Iraq for the ppl there and on another your thinking well they probably really want these elections to work.

Obviously a pretty large bulk of it has been spent on security, a road block or two, security checkpoints (maybe a little reminder of home for some) bag checks and a wired fence surrounding the place. And of course a distance between the security checks and th registration point. And this is a safe country, so this is pretty standard procedure. Wonder what it's like in Iraq or some other slightly safer countries registrations have been held in.

To be honest I wasn't really interested in the elections when I first heard of it, I wasn't against it either. I just didn't see the need of it, like there were more important things that were needed to be done first. But just seeing how dead set all these other countries and their mouthpieces are against it made me change my mind. So yes I'm pretty reactionary, wonder how many other are in the same situation. Especially with all these "people" are killing and murdering iraqis continuously just to stop it happening.
it's not fair for all these people to die for nothing. And think about it if ppl in areas as dangerous as baghdad or kirkuk are willing to risk registering, it would be lame if other in more secure areas wouldn't. And probably the exiles could make up to some of the ppl who can't vote out of fear.

Iraqi Tvs are running campaign ads for groups registered though only a fe of them and usually just the name of the group without mentioning members (would make sense don't want to point out next murder victms)
On kurdish tv they have ads every now and then for turkmen and kurds I think there was one for the christians but I haven't seen it yet. Fay7aa is the only other channel dedicating time and energy on these elections especially for iraqis abroad. Today they interviewed a british man who came into to vote because he was born in baghdad (and this many years ago cos' he was pretty old) i thought that was nice.

I don't know if elections would bring secuirty or make things better but the elections were going to happen anyway at some point in time, delaying it would further increase the bloodshed and prove that the country is working at the will of criminals.

Though one thing is worrying about out of country voting program is that it includes bordering countries. Allowing countries like syria or iran or jordan or turkey to host is asking for trouble. Though I wonder how turkey felt allowing the dual language thing here. You see all the signs in registration and voting polls and the forms included are written in both kurdish and arabic, that must have been good.
I actually wouldn't even be surprised if results in all those countries were tinkered with since counting of votes is done in country and then sent to baghdad. In Jordan for example there are already threats to Iraqis who do vote. What more can you expect of a baathist haven of a country that wants it both ways, use one hand to wave their little american flags for money and then fund and encourage jihadis with the other.

Anyway for more info here's the Out of Country Voting Porgram website (which I should have checked before) and here are some FAQs

Tuesday, January 18, 2005 

Painting



I know that a few readers will be in Paris at this time, but I warn all the same that in the Kurdish Institute of Paris, on Saturday, January 29 starts an exhibition of a Kurdish painter, Ismaïl KHAYAT. The vernissage will be on saturday (free entrance and cocktail of course :))) and the exhibition is opened until February 19th, from monday to saturday, 2h-7h p.m.

By the way, if you click on the picture, you could see a survey of his work.

Monday, January 17, 2005 

shame or pride?

"The first Iraqi voter to register overseas was in Sydney - one of two Australian cites where nine registration and polling centres have been set up.
She was Nassima Barzani, 69, a non-English-speaking Kurdish refugee whose late husband was a bodyguard to the Kurdish nationalist leader Mustafa Barzani"
Ma'am, I just want to say, I hope you are doing the right thing! and I hope our leaders feel the feeling which made you rush for it! Fingers Crossed for a big win despite the situations in Kirkuk! A Big Sllaw (greeting in Kurdish) from me who hasnt decided to vote yet!

Sunday, January 16, 2005 

Iraqi elections introduce bribing ppl?!

now this is exclusive to KBU from www.kurdmix.com
kurdmix.com is a Kurdish online chilling radio with live pop music (most of the time) the guys there some times have banners and also links to articles and other sites, so in their post splash screen you would usually see a short writing about a current matter, in these days it had abit saying that:
voting in Iraqi elections = being an Iraqi .....equation 1
being an Iraqi = shame .....equation 2, clearly based on equation 1
do not vote .....given 1 and 2 this is what you should do!

The site now claims that the http://www.iraqocv.org/ guys have bribed them with 500$ to remove the second equation above, and also 250$ for asecond of advertisement about the elections, but courageously they have declined both offers and the radio is still encouragin us not to vote to be in an Iraq where Arabs are the majority and we have had nothing gives hope in history in favour of Kurds and Kurdistan.
interesting isnt it?
It is worth saying that when I checked this http://www.iraqocv.org/ I was very happy to see the Kurdish part as well, but then came the same frustration I had when I checked the Iraqi goverments official website Kurdish part, which is written by some guys who are not Kurdish natives (I swear to Kurdistan) they just want to mock with our language, they do not know if there is a Kurdish encoding, they do not know if they have a script problem they should not replace it with the nearest Arabic letter and much more! so I decided to give them a call, and an Arab speaker answered and as I happily started speaking Kurdish he said I could divert you to the Kurdish speakers and I said i dont mind but yea it is related to Kurds so please do so. then comes a non-native Kurdish speaker who hardly understands me, and I ask about the voting centres and the Kurdish pages of their site, and he says, kaka we cant do anything write to the email and I say it wont be read, he says well then I dont know!
finally I had this feeling, WE NEED YOU JUST TO VOTE, nothing else we will do the rest, soon there will be the security services and the Intelligence and the oil revenue will be the priority! who gives a shit if your language is used or not used or thrown to the bin...
i dont know how we might become the president or prime minister? just how? he wont be elected for sure as maths prove that Arabs wont vote for a Kurdish candidate and nationalism proves that 5<15

 

welcome Turkey to EU!

seems very good move towards freedom and respecting human rights,
now I just would like to say Thanks and a BIG one to the UK authorities for paying Turkish interpreters upto 45£ per hour (around 60$) and upto 18£ perhour for their travel times, for Turkish interpretations for a politician who has just fled Turkey and applied to asylum in the UK regardless of his claim (believe me there are somany of them), ah and of course 10 hours of free legal aid+ costs after the initial meeting with their solicitors, and all court costs and stuff, which still is condemned by the human rights organisations and refugee organisations as limited support!
Around 15 upto 25 £ is paid for those Turkish takeaway guys who usually need medical care as they cannot speak to their doctors, some of them still needs this costy arrangement after being here for more than 5 years! I think i should shut up because I am comparing a Turkey to an Eagle!
huh

Thursday, January 13, 2005 

At least, Baathist regime was not so inhuman...

"Don't you agree ?t .... Or if it had been so barbarous, all Iraqis would be dead, and at least Saddam's regime was pro-laicist, and built a lot of motorways."

Don't worry I don't catch fever paludism ! I just translate a current scandal in France about the far-rightisqt leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, telling that "nazi occupation in France was not so inhuman". All the country rises up indignantly. But I remember the huge demonstration in 2003 against the war, where we could see a bunch of Saddam's pictures in the ranks... And particularly that cliché we can hear everywhere, read in European clear consciences, in these sites so fond of counting Iraqi victims during American occupation (but less for counting the victims of our old good Arab policy, so typically French...).

If I talk about the French far-rightist leader, it is because of him, I had to vote for Chirac in 2002, avoiding to have a fascist for president... So I confirm to my Kurdish friends that in a fair democracy, it is a rare event when you are absolutely happy of your choice. In general, you vote for the less worse list...

 

i write what I feel!

I just did my third exam but I think these feelings needs to be said before I get more stress of whther failed or passed the exam!

My flatmate has been blaming me for being cold about going to vote, now he is been even accusing me of being a lazy arse and careless regarding his nations fate!
now these are my flashbacks when I think about ticking any List:
- M.K.Ataturk, Lausane treaty, and denying Kurds to have their own country!
- Turks, Persians and Arabs still kicking our arses!
- King mahmood Vs Brits war and the creation of Iraq
- Iraq the arabic country
- around a century's truggle for what?
- another Iraq was toppled but now forming a new one by MY HANDs
- vote for Arab nationalists or Islamists to kick my childrens arse once again
- 4M against 20M what are we capable of?
- what is the difference between having 50 chairs or 20 Chairs for Kurds?
- every single parliament meeting will be a disaster for kurdish MPs!
- I dont know any of those whom I vote for?
- our damaged house in the chemical raid of 16th of March 88 is still as it is!
- Baghdad, where they took us by the private buses towards Kwait at the anfal campaign
- Allawi, the bathist veteran
- Alyawar the tribe-head
- Americans standing there and let Arabs (Binladen Guys) do whatever they like
- Americans watching Kurds live the scars of Weapons of Mass killings continue persecute Kurds
- Kirkuk and other persecutions we still live, after OUR LIBERATION
- the Arab League, Iraq is still a member of that funny league
- I still remember shouting at us byt the green iraqi soldieures: "inzil gawad" (get off the car, you pimp)
- they call us in Arabic "akrad" (Kurds) (the plural exceptional form for any noun in Arabic refers to its weakness or being a foreign name), they still cant say Kurd just as they call Arab
- sh**, enough compulsory voting for others, I want a country, too!
- hell of other stuff!

I just cant figure out my head to spend, my precious time, to go and vote for ppl that I dont know what they are capable of?
As i heard in an old american film a deaf,dumb girl was writing:
"If I am to be silent then let me be silent as the hills, so that at least i can echo whatever I hear and like the most, let me echo my heart which says: I hate being Iraqi, I AM NOT ONE"

I think that is it for now, I need time to think about this, I hope my nation is not being betrayed like the past rounds!

i just have to add this to it:
I just read a short interview with a PDK politician let me say, or actually a commander, he says:
"this is the contiuity of the struggle we started in the 20s"!....I dont know how?
and
"everything will be done in Iraq by agreements, but we still have to be more in the parliament" .. I thought that was an answer to one of my flashbacks but then I really cant figure this out! please help!!
and
"those who hate us, kurdish parties go and vote for your nation"...but Sir I dont feel like my nation is very happy with this! You will see the results of the unofficial referendum!
and
"those who are not sue for some reasons, will go and vote on that day "... really?
and
"we can make alliances with other sides in Iraq" .... can you? or they just needed the Kurds as you say when they were fleeing Saddam?
and
"Shia are the majority" .... so is it not better to seek other solutions that taking us to the ballots? we know this Sir!

that didnt help me much either!


Tuesday, January 11, 2005 

Hotel Iraq

Anyone else heard of this series, it was on kurdsat and it had the ppl from Barnamay Barnama (kurdish sketch show) and Caricature (an arab iraq sketch show from iraqi Al-Sharqiya channel) it's in both lanaguages kurdish and arabic, and yeah when the conversations happen in both lanaguages it is funny. From what I saw i think its a comedy about a hotel owned by kurds and arabs, with of course a political undertone (hotel being like the country and the way they're trying to share it). If anyones seen this show what do they think about it?

Though while searching for this show on the net and failing i tried keying in anything to do with kurd arab iraqi and comedy and i came across these articles instead "Who Won't Be Making Jokes About WMD" and this a much lighter one from before the war "The joke's on Saddam"

Monday, January 10, 2005 

Turtles Can fly

I couldnt stop reading each word of this, this man is the person who is sad that his 35 Million nation cannot watch the films he makes for them...
"In the Kurdish community, we laugh a lot. We have suffered so much hardship - as refugees in exile - we cannot cry anymore. Laughter is the only healing process that is left for us."
Ghobadi says..and
" Which professional child from Hollywood could play those sequences for me?" ...quotes BBC.

Sunday, January 09, 2005 

not so good times

i really missed not having an internet connection for the past 2 weeks, i think i've taken it for granted before...i only had 2 chances in total both breif.. once in an electronics shop where there queue was so long you had to leave by the time u finally got on to the computer, it wasn't even like i was allowed to check properly for the few minutes i was allowed... since i was surrounded by these hovering ppl who stood in my peripheral vision to guilt me off the damn thing(i won't complain much cos' i was doing the same thing) and the second time was in some internet cafe which was also in a hurry... all i remmeber there was that it had one of the most repulsive looking guys i have ever seen... ive never seen food go down someody so badly... don't even know where to start, the toes gripping the desk, the chips falling out his mouth or just the mouth being open for that long a time, and he wasn'teven working there just lounging next to the guy that did. I only saw the "guy" for a max of one minutebut i ended up already having a feature length movie in my mind involving his mouth and my shoe

Ok now the somewhat delayed comment regarding US attacks in hawler(arbil) and possibly kirkuk(though it doesn't seem verfied yet anywhere). What the hell? are the US short on enemies that they need to create new ones? What happened over there? A "Welcome back to the 80s" sign maybe?

And as if just being attacked for no reason wasn't bad enough oh yes and without warning (even slaughterhouses in fallujah got an ultimatum mind you) they shifted the blame back on the kurds with stories like um they attacked us first... which could hold water in baghdad or mosul but hawler c'mon
And why didn't they just send the peshmerga there to sort it out, at least they know how to deal with them as opposed to being giving POW status with their 3 meals a day joke and almost instant release as the terrorist (sorry victims) in the rest of Iraq

In the beggining of the war John simpson said there was a huge media black hole surrounding kurdistan and damn that shitty blackhole... its been pissing me off since the beggining of the war... notice how stories from Iraq always miss out the kurdish areas, how much airtime do you see given to the kurds as um I dunno foreign fighters who aren'teven from the country. The only time you do hear from them is when the "AHGH CIVIL WAR... BLOOOOD" mantra some ppl have just not gone tired off... of course these scenes rarely show a clip from kurdistan and sometimes doesn't even involve kurdish input.Just some douche who gives his opinion on why we shouldn't exist

Dont even know which is worse, the world media who scream at you daily about american murder/injustice (use thesaurus here) in the arab region but have suddenly gone quiet and turned the mandatory blind eye (another 80s reference) when it comes to the kurds or the media from kurdistan, the newspapers are still better than our tv
don'teven know where to start with this one... see this is why i said possible kirkuk attack cos i cant find it yet on kurdish tv or news you know when i first read the Dar Jeel incident on kurdos blog i went and switched on the
kurdish channels do you know what was on ... tom and jerry and on another some delayed video of xmas/new year celebrations (which actually were pretty good some woman had some really good vocals singing that whitney song "greatest love"... but i digress) and the news is not much better first of all they get their news about a day or so later than the rest of the world and second they report bombings/explosions/assasination attempts in kurdistan as if they take place in Mars or something, and even when are reported are awlways mentioned after speeches or trips or faxes sent my the party who own/sponsor the channel

I think we should just go back to focusing efforts music and comedy since the news thing is apparently totally beyond us

Now this may seem like a small insignificant attack compared to what's happening to everyone else further south but ppl are worried about the motives behind it. See the kurdish is situation is very shaky we have fundamentalists who think that our blood is their way to some playboy mansion in the sky, qawmachee arabs who want to complete saddams job, turks who are annoyed (to put it lightly) why the kurds in iraq aren't getting the same treatment their kurds are getting and poison pen articles everywhere that are mostly based on nothing but rumor and lies. So if this was in fact a sign of american attitude towards the kurds... then our fate is pretty much sealed.


Ok an apology was given but big mistake on not explaning cos' alot of rumors have starteed need badly alot of rumours are starting and they mainly center around the idea "american are back to pleasing their arab and turkish friends" ... things are sure looking up.

 

Criticism is good

since the media darlings of the middle east (in both arab and foreign press) only come in two flavours... racist bastards and ignorant racist bastards, i think it is a relief to actually know that regular ppl in the region don't have the same unnecessary need to constantly humiliate themselves,
See thing is that never comes out often enough is that here in the middle east alot of ppl are very critical of theirgovernments (which could possibly explain why throughout the ages alot of effort and money has been exhausted on "controlling" that aspect)

With the internet these criticisms have become more visible, for example in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster alot of arabs started reacting to how little the arab world has contributed to it (at the time the entire donations came to a total of $53 mn while japan alone had donated $500 mn). So we get news articles, one particulariliy good one was from elaph entitled "Al Da'aiya Sandra Bullock (may God protect her)" (Da'aiya is a name for someone who knows alot about islam and teaches ppl about... this was a satirical reference to how she's done moe than supposed muslims and religious figures ever could)

as for the internet, blogs like mahmood's made some great remarks and forums like bbcarabic have your say forum (which i've translated some snippets from below) have some interesting ones as well

And i dunno but it seems to have worked, cos' days after that tv channels started broadcasting live telecasts to raise money and some counries tried the usual "anything you can do i can do better" (well at least this time it was actually useful)

Theres no exact final figure but some claim that it probably has multiplied 5 fold to the original donation ($53 mn).. bbc mentions something about it here


Of course the only question remains of whether this money will atually get there, but hey at least one step forward for each 10 back.


Comments from bbc arabic

"To all those who claim that western countries donated and are still donating aid to the victims of this eaqrthquake are doing it soley for other reasons than for God's sake, may I ask whether the money donated by islamic and arabic countries to fund terorrism and murder is done to please God?"
Dina, Australia

"what do you expect from some arab countries that just display numbers of donation from westeren countries and criticize by saying that they just do it for politicial reasons"
Bewar, Baghdad

"the arab countries didn't offer as much as they counld to humanity for this disaster, i even began wishing to hold a japanese passport or any other just so that i could help the victims of this tragedy"
Ahmed Rashed ,Saudia Arabia

"I live in a small european country, the nationals here have raised over 30 million euros (not including the governments donation ),and that is how the west who live under american imperialism and follow the zionist agencies and the mossad try to provide life and support to victims including the muslims of indonesia. As for us (and i mean arabs and muslims) we do not provide these kinds of services but we can provide other things like .. terrorists, suicide bombers,beheaders, mortars, car bombs and terror funding"
Saleem, Holland

"I wish our brothers in arab countries could see what i see in france, everyone's donating.. media, government, school students, places of worship even in prison ppl are colleting donations. I have learned here the true meaning of togetherness here and i hope one day we will be able to teach our children that giving is better than taking."
Rami Yousef, France

"Why did western countries rush to help the victims (whom were mostly muslim) and there was no fatwa to ban these humanitarian efforts? And why didn't al-quaeda help the muslims in malaysia and indonesia? is it only iraqis that need "saving"? Or should we just be experts in killing and slaughtering.When it comes to humanitarian efforts we just see western countries making an effort while we're busy with our fatwas"
Imad kamal, Egypt

"To answer back to mr Imad kamal: thse ppl are just busy exploding cars and learning how to behead someone while he is begging their mercy. We have moved so far away from the teaching of our prophet and Quran that taught us mercy before everything. Give and have mercy then God will have mercy on you. I am a muslim who fear God but now we only have muslims by name and association"
Rita , Lebanon

"I would like to reitrate what some islamists or more accurately ppl who hide behind islam say, An imam in one of baghdads mosques , who btw supports the resistance, in a friday sermon said that God has sent a prophet to attack those beaches. A supposed muslim rejoices to the deaths of thousands of women children and familes while the
kaffir countries like america , the uk and others are donating by millions"
Muhammed Baghdady, Baghdad, Iraq

Saturday, January 08, 2005 

Oh sorry, but...

We are really scatty.

Friday, January 07, 2005 

Kurdistan Boggers United List

A fater PUK and DPK 's united list to the ellection , Kurdistan bloggers have chosed this list for the bloggers ellection .

to vote go to this URL : http://2005.bloggies.com/index.htm put these Blogs ! in each category .

>Best Photography of a Weblog
Nominee : focused on the unfocused
URL : http://fonf.medyadaily.com

>----------------------
>Best-Designed Weblog
Nominee : Medya Daily
URL : http://blog.medyadaily.com

Nominee : Peshmerga Women
URL : http://peshmergawomen.blogspot.com/

>------------------------
Best African or Middle Eastern Weblog

Nominee : Kurdo's World
URL : http://kurdo.blogspot.com


Nominee : Focused on the unfocused
URL : http://fonf.medyadaily.com


>------------------------
>Group blog

Nominee : Kurdistan bloggers Union
URL : http://kurdistanblog.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 06, 2005 

Oh sorry, just a friendly fire...

Via Kurdo and KurdishMedia the apalling story of an American military operation as stupid as useless. Shortly : because the American command in Iraq heard that some terrorists were hidden in Erbil, the Kurdish capital, in the Citadel more precisely, in the university more precisely, in the dormitory more precisely, they attacked the place with four helicopters, injuring four students and a woman. Inside, no terrorist, not at all. And it seems that no one among the Kurdish forces have been informed of that glorious operation, and according to the Kurdish Interior Minister, Kerim Sinjari, the Coalition forces in Mosul were not more informed like the American forces in Erbil. Great coordination.

Propbably no more than a stupid mistake, but could we imagine a campus in an American university, attacked like that, just because the presence of dangerous elements is suspected inside ? I imagine the indignant and general caws of all the nation, caring of their brood in danger... But the problem with an occupying army is that it operates in a foreign country, inevitably. Then it pays less attention to public opinion.

As told Clémenceau, war is too serious for being entrusting to military. A fortiori post-war periods.



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