Kurdistan Bloggers Union Kurdistan Bloggers Union: July 2005

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 

Kurdish Nessie

Ok, Kurds have not yet Harry Potter in Kurdish but they have their own Nessie... According to the press agency Anatolia, a rower called Mugdat Avci has met a creature on the Lake of Van "like an hippopotamus with a long 2 meters neck... This creature put its head on my boat. I was terrified", told Mugdat Avci who worked for 24 years as a rower on this lake. "Since all the time I ship on this lahe I have never seen something like that, and inch'allah I will never see it anymore". the witness said until now that he has had never believed all the legends about a monster in Van Lake.

It is not the first time that people suspect that the famous Nessie in Scotland has a Kurdish cousin. In 1990 a dark think swimming in the lake had been seen by people, but no picture could have been taken ... As in Scotland, Kurdish Nessie seems a bit shy and does not like photographs !

Sunday, July 17, 2005 

Harry Potter û Mirê dureh




Short attempt to translate the title of the last HP... I know already that Dyaoko dislikes the book ,: but as I am a Harrypotteromaniac, I talk about it all the same, and as I told already in the KBU forum I wondered if these novels are translated in Kurdish or not... After all, they have been translated in many languages, as Ancient Greek, Latin, Irish, etc. If there is no Kurdish translation I wonder why a Kurdish publisher did not have the idea... A good way of making oneself golden balls as we say gracefully in French.

Concerning youth's literature in Kurdish (I speak only for kurmancî, I don't know for soranî) I should say that it seems very poor. Of course there are a lot of books for young children, ABC books, tales and short poetry... There are also a lot of Kurdish novels for adults. But I never noticed interesting publishing in Kurdish for teens. Just some childhood memories, telling always the same narration of a young Kurds living in his village, 30 years ago, as Mahmud Baksi, and I doubt that it is really fascinating for contemporary kids...

Then, by waiting a Kurdish Rowling, it would be nice to translate the six tomes... Inventing new words for "Muggles", "Mudblood", "Slytherin"... I think that one of the greatest job for a translator is precisely to invent words...

Let's see how the six titles could be written in Kurdish :

1. Harry Potter û Kevirê fîlozof
2. Harry Potter û Odeya Siran
3. Harry Potter û girtiyê Azkaban
4. Harry Potter û camê agir
5. Harry Potter û komela Zimrûd.
6. Harry Potter û Mîrê dureh

Very fast and short attempt, si all suggestions/corrections are welcomed...

(and I know that I could provoke a furious exasperation for deeply ANTI-Potter...)

Saturday, July 16, 2005 

A Turkish draft for the Iraqi constitution ?

According to the Turkish newspaper Radikal, Turkey -as we know - is very concerned by the unity of Iraq (in addition too be concerned by its own unity). It worries a lot also about the status of Kirkuk, for it is a matter of principle that the city won't return to Kurdistan, for it would seem the starting-point of independance.

Until now, its attempt of takeover bid on Kirkuk via the Turkmen Front has had no real success : Turkmen electors rather voted for the Brotherhood list, including Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen Kirkukis, or shiite parties. Having failed at a regional level, Turkey then tries to reach the headquarter of the power, and to resolve in Baggdad its own issues of self-identity : "Kurds OR us, no place in the world for both people".

Then, a secret meeting (not so secret now, well) happened last week to discuss the drafting of the Iraqi constitution. Naturally, the only point about which really Ankara worries is the federation and the borders of the federated areas, and the return of Kirkuk or not in the Kurdish area. For that reason, representatives of the various ethnic or religious components of the Iraqi Parliament, "experts" (and among them Kurdish lawyers) were present, but none representative of the great Kurdish parties, the PDK and PUK, had been invited.

Turkey was representated by its Special Representative in Iraq, the ambassador Osman Koruturk and the Director of the Iraqi Department in the ministry of Foreign Office Huseyin Avni Botsali. There were too a Shiite representative Abbas Beyati, a representative of the Turkmen Front, Riyas Sarkikahya, the undersecretary of the ministry of Justice and expert in Constitutionnal law, Ismet Abd al-Majid, and even representatives of the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, a man very respectful of the civil laws, as we know.

The meeting was presented like an initiative of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Foundation for the Studies of the Middle East and Balkans. The agenda was Transition towards a constitutional mode in Iraq.Turkey having the best constitution of the world to solve the ethnic dissensions, there is no doubt that its advices had much to benefit the Iraqi experts.

Without surprise, Turkey has wished a special status for Kirkuk, and that no element that could divide the country would be included in that constitution (the more they speak vaguely the more they could protest later) and that Turkmens, as Kurds and Arabs, would be considered as fundamental group of Iraq.

In the same time, Erdogan is going on usually by warning that the Turkish army has not for the moment the intention, but "could" or "would have the right" to intervene in Iraq, against the PKK which sends 700 guerrillas in Turkey (according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet).

So they try to use Arab, Shiite, turkmene groups, to counter "legally" the Kurds in the south, while they militarily threateng them in north (and as usual, the PKK makes its best for giving good pretexts to a Turkish invasion in the Kurdish Region). So could this strategy be effective?

As usual, concerning the Turkish intervention in the Kurdish mounts of Qandil, much depends on the American refusal to open another front in Iraq.

Concerning the Shiites, no doubt that they are the least interested by a federal State. So they could try as much as possible to draw the Iraqi constitution towards a centralized State. But facing a strong opposition, not only among Kurds, but Christians, or not-Moslem in general, and even from Sunnis, they have not enough majority to impose their point of view.

The Turkmens of Kirkuk, in their majority, are wary of Ankara, which did not protect them during the Anfal. In spite of the local confrontations with the Kurds, they know that they will have to live together, more than with the Turks of Ankara. There is no doubt that the tribal chiefs of Kirkuk, whatever their group, will play a dominating part in the future of Kirkuk, and were preponderant in the formation of the Brotherhood list which gained the majority of the seats of Kirkuk.

Then will this meeting have a real incidence on the drafting of the Iraqi constitution?

Kurds are strong because they are the most unified group (they have had 12 years to resolve their squabbles). A united Arab (Shiites and Sunnis) block is not probable, and Turkmens are not so numerous inIraq. The only way to weaken Kurds in Baghdad is to prevent that the Iraqi constitution ratifies the Kurdish power and its right on Kirkuk.

For the moment, the Kurdish leaders did not react to this meeting. Perhaps they consider that it has any importance, for the true negotiation is based on the impossibility for Southern Shiites to control all Iraq (and Sistanî's statement on the "Islamic" of Iraqi State is not a coincidence). So Shiites could claim also to have a federal Shiite Region, imitating the Kurdish Region.

Then we can bet that Kirkuk, for the Shiites as for the sunnis, will be more that a point of negotiation by which they could ask a counterpart from the Kurds, than a Turkish asset.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 

The Fake of the month

So-called Kurdish "press agencies" should have better to control their sources of informations, or, in any case, to falsify them less obviously...

For illustrating the news "5000 Children live on the street in Adana", so-called "journalists" have not only stolen a picture belonged to a professionnal photographer, by using it without any authorization, but also transformed an Arab little girl of Harran (who did not ask a so such publicity), as a young Kurdish pathetic beggar in the streets of Adana.

Then, I can comfort people concerning the condition of the young girl that we had seen in Harran, in 2002 June. She was undoubtedly a bit filthy, but lived very well with her own family, in a village which welcomes hundreds of touristic cars visiting Abraham's place all the year




(Arab girl from the touristic village of Harran transformed as a Kurdish refugee in Adana by professionalism of DIHA...)


So what's the moral of the story ? Don't trust any picture blindly. A picture could lie as so much as words...

Tuesday, July 12, 2005 

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

Hopefully I am not alone in this, but I am severely worried about the state of Diyarbakir (Amed)....violence has increased in the region and the PKK (or whatever their name is this week) is more active and causing "problems". Here are just a few of the most recent headlines:

Kurdish rebels take police officer hostage, rob motorists

Kurdish rebel killed in eastern Turkey while placing bomb

Bomb blast at Turkish resort leaves 20 injured

Five civilians, three police hurt in Kurdish unrest

Three Turkish soldiers killed in landmine blast

The scary thing is that all of these are from this weekend, only this weekend! I admit that I am a hard-core pacifist (and I realize how oxymoronic that statement is), but I think that the 1980's in Turkey proved one thing...that violence in trying to promote Kurdish rights does not work.

This begs the question...why then is the PKK active again? Why is the violence starting again? The answer is that the Kurds in Turkey are backed against a wall...they see their brothers to the South gaining more independence and noteworthiness in the world media, they have the government of Turkey making ridiculous "concessions" of cultural rights which make little or no difference in the grand scheme of things, and they have a younger generation growing up with the belief that no matter what they do they will fail...and so they do nothing and just stay angry...they are trapped in a corner and believe that they have no other outlet then to resort to violence. It appears faster and more affective than diplomacy, but if my Kurdish brothers and sisters want any long-term change they have to use the diplomatic route. Yes, it is a long road, and patience is very hard to keep in those types of circumstances, but it is the only sure-fire way of achieveing independence.

What needs to be done is a region-wide campaign of empowerment to the Kurds of Turkey. They need to know exactly what their rights are according to Turkish law, they need to learn how to operate within that system...They need to educate themselves, they need to educate the village women who raise their children to believe that they have no rights because that is what they have been told when they were young...lack of education is "keeping them down". The Kurds need to unify themselves in what they want (if we were unified in the aftermath of WWI, imagine what could have been done)...there are too many groups off doing their own thing (the PKK is fighting the Turkish Army and TAK is supposedly wounding tourists), without a unified path of resistance nothing can be accomplished. The Turkish government lumps all Kurdish groups into the same category as the PKK...let's look at Leyla Zana, nothing to do at all with the PKK, yet for her belief in a diplomatic approach to gaining more rights for the Kurds she was still tried and imprisoned for being a PKK sympathizer...How much could have been accomplished in the name of diplomacy if the PKK did not exist? In my opinion, a hell of a lot more than what could have ever been imagined.

I can only with certainity speak for myself, but I believe that all Kurds should condemn any and all violence committed in their name. Violence is not nor ever will be the answer to our freedom.

Monday, July 11, 2005 

Qusay's former mistress needs you...

Everybody has received, still receive and unfortunately will receive again these e-mails from Africans who are greeting you a lot and trust you because they know that you are a good and honest person... In general they are daughter, son, wife of a former minister, president, etc... and they propose you a wonderful opportunity to share a huge amount of money which is blocked in a bank, if you give kindly them all your number of bank account.

But I should admit that the one I've received today on a Kurdish site is especially funny :


Dear sir/madam,

This mail will definitely be coming to you as a surprise, but i must
crave your indulgence to introduce myself to you.I am Dr. Ato Seyd Kelis,
former mistress to the son (Qusay) of the Iraqi former leader, Saddam Hussein.

I am an Ethiopian, by birth and i am presently in a refugee camp in
Accra Ghana, where the living conditions are unbearable.
I do not wish to take your time with a lenghty mail, but i have to
put this proposal to you so that you can assist me.

While i was still in contact with Qusay,he made a deposit in my
name to a security firm which i will not makesure name, which has an affiliate
branch in Amsterdam.This deposit was made in my name and the secret code and necessary
documents are presently in my possession.

This deposit was made in the form of a consigment and the content is
a considerable amount of money in United state dollars which i cannot
disclose to you for security purposes, until you have confirmed your
willingness to assist me.

I would be pleased and grateful to you if you could assist me in
collecting this consignment on my behalf from the security firm in
Spain, upon which i will be offering you a percentage for your efforts.

I will arrange an authority to release and pay in your name which you will tender
to the security firm coupled with all necessary documents that will back up your
claims in collecting this consignment on my behalf.

I have to stop here now as your response will determine our
subsequent corresspondence. Please feel free to dis-regard this
proposal if it is not in line with your principles.

Regards .

Dr.Ato Seyd Kelis. dr.ato.seyd.kelis@caramail.com


So Kurdish ppl, let's be fair winner, you would not let Qusay's girl friend in trouble and poverty ? Send her all your wishes ;)

Saturday, July 09, 2005 

Commemoration of S,êx Mees,ûq's assassination




Today, this afternoon, there will have a commemoration for the 40th day of S,êx Xeznewî's moarning, in the Kurdish Institute of Paris, with some relatives. I just translate here a short biography for people understand better why this man is dead.

S,êx Mihemed Mees,ûq Xeznewî borned in 1958 at Tell Maaruf, and is dead in Damascus on May 27th 2005. He was the son of S,êx Azzedîn Xeznewî and the grand-son of S,êx Ehmed Xeznewî. He studied firstly at Tell Maaruf and Qamis,lo (Western Kurdistan in Syria) and made later high studies of theologia in different universities of the Middle-East. In 1990 , he came back in Syria and took the charge of imam in the mosque of Edleb near to Aleppo. In 1992, he came back in Jezireh and became the imam of Qamis,lo, until his murder.

S,êx Mihemmed Mees,ûq el-Xeznewî ruled the Center of research of Islamic studies in Qamis,lo and was the vice-director of this Center in Damascus. He was too a member of the Fundation Jerusalem in Beyruth and a member of the Committee for Dialogue between Christians and Muslims in Damascus. For that reason, he had been recently invited by the Foreign ministry of Norway to a Congress about Islam.

During all his exercise, the cheikh has constantly defended his own vision of islam, insisting on tolerance and progress. He condemned absolutely terrorist actions made under the banner of his own religion. Moreover, he expressed always his support to the Kurdish cause and denounced the conditions of Kurds without passport in Syria. He worked to strenghen relations between all the Kurdish parties in Syria, stressing the necessity of union in the aim to have a greater influence on the Syrian government.

During the Serhildan of Newruz in March 2004, he worried to avoid massacres and organised meetings between some reprensatives of Kurdish parties and government. He invited too many Western diplomatic representatives to go to Qamis,lo for heighten their awareness of Kurds' situation. One year later, he came to victim's graves and made many speeches during celebrations.

But this man, fond of dialogue and progress, who defended the Kurdish cause, became more and more dangerous for the hard-wing of Baathist regime, which organized his kidnapping on May 10th. On May 27th, he died of torture in the Military Hospital of Damascus, according to an anonymous statement of a physician working in this hospital . But his corpse was found only in June 1st, in the city of Deir ez Zor.

The Sheikh used to say : « If their islam refuses to welcome Kurds in Paradise, then I would not go in Paradise and stay with the Kurdish people. »

Thursday, July 07, 2005 

after Live8 London is injured badly

These b's do not understand what life means, what civilisation is. I just want to say if Sayid Qutub, one of their most beloved scholars say that the sky scripers are not civilisation but losses what else do you expect from these bunch of b's.

London was still making money for the poor in Africa, it had just won the bid for the largest sporting event of Olympics, but woke up this mornign by the terrible voice of terrorists. The target, ordinary people who most probably do not afford to buy private vehicles to go to work, black and white, Muslims and Jews, Christians and Hindus!

KBU's deep thoughts are with those who were directly affected by the blasts and all the people of London and the whole UK, I believe my co-bloggers will allow me to speak on their behlaves as well.

I heard the news when I was in court, came out and saw the printed pages from sky news, surprisingly I was listening to radio one whilst driving there untill 9.35 and I heard nothing, and when I went there no one said anything about it!

I called someone who works at Edgware road, and for him it had finished hours ago and he was worried about his friends and family in the area.

God bless London!

Tuesday, July 05, 2005 

Iran's taste is a Kurdish Leader assasin!

The other day he appeared in black trousers, white shirt and white!! coat which looked more like my fellow Kurds in some European countries who hardly understand clothing!

Ahmadinajad, the new Iranian president is now under even more pressure not only for his bad clothing and his hardline conservativeness but in a weeks time it will be the 16th anniversary of the assasination of Qasimlo, our leader who was murdered by a plot from the then Iranian rulers.
Austrian Prosecuters now say there are "credible" evidence which links AhmadiQatil(Killer) to the assasination of Dr.Qasimlo.
This man is very well known by Kurds, as he has been previously involved in other activities against our eastern Kurdistan people. This gives me yet another sign of ignorance or intentional hostility of Persians against Kurds and consequently against their freedom-seeking fellow citizens as well.
Lets say that Austrian prosecutors found this terribly looking murderer as one of those involved in the act, will they take the matter seriously and do someting about it? I really doubt that, I dont think Austria will do somethign like that just for the sake of Kurds, after all, we dont have a country and our oil and water is been sold by the occupiers and we have no real representatives, both KDP and PUK are praying to everything might help to keep them safe amongst the IRAq's international chess game!
well, reading the headline itself gave me a little hope that even after almost two decades and given the suspect now president of a country where Kurds are persecuted means we do exist and are doing some progress!

update: more here just saw it!

Monday, July 04, 2005 

Happy 1st Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday for KBU.
It has been a year and one day since this blog has been online.
I am sure we have all had fun reading and posting here. Here is the first post on this blog which was posted on 3rd of July 2004 :


Establishment Post
Dear friends, Kurdistan Bloggers Union is a blog where it gathers information to help the Kurdish bloggers and their friends. This "Union" is established by Kurdo in an attempt to increase the number of Kurdish bloggers who blog in English so that interactions between Kurds and the world increases.



Weldone everyone and keep up the nice posts and the good efforts.

Saturday, July 02, 2005 

Speak Turkish !




Sometimes just a picture says more than thousands words... for to impose as working language the "language of our ennemy", to adopt the "military and political methods of our enemy", to impregnate people with the "way of thinking of our enemy" and at the end, becoming completely like the enemy... Had peshmergas in Iraq or Iran imposed Arab or Persian as "working language" ? Did it work to make a war against assimilation ? Instead of giving hundreds and hundreds hours of insipid marxism courses, did it not worthy to learn Kurdish to youths ? Does it worth to claim "Kurdish culture and democracy ! Kurdish culture and democracy !", if you have not the slightest idea on what is democracy (and not a real intention to set it), and if, moreover, you have contributed, as much as Turks, to destroy (or at least seriously dammage) the Kurdish culture kurde between Dersim and Hakkari, Van and Cizre ?


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