Kurdistan Bloggers Union

English women charged of murdering Kurdish citizen

2006-04-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

An English woman has been charged with the murder of a Kurdish man in Hull, England last week. A Kurd who was arrested at the time has been released because the police are certain he is 100% innocent, a fact confirmed by CCTV cameras in the area where the murder occurred. He is the only witness and is important to prosecute the woman of the murder of his friend.

The problem that remains is one of bad communication. The Kurdish community in Hull believes the other Kurdish man was the killer, but he was not. The police have tried to tell the Kurdish community the facts, but the Kurdish community does not trust the British police. This means that news of the murder has reached Kurdistan without the true facts.

The two Kurds in this situation come from very close families and this could lead to a tragedy between these families in Kurdistan. Only because did not know the truth about this murder. The Kurd who was originally arrested by mistake was actually helping his friend before he died. He is now helping to make sure the woman who committed the murder is convicted and goes to prison. He did not murder his friend.

"I just pray the two families in Kurdistan consider the facts before they act. I pray they read this and know it is true," said a resident of Hull, who wanted to remain anonymous.

"I know how difficult a death in the family is, when you are so far from home. I do know your son will receive justice in the British system and that the murderer will go to prison," told the anonymous source.

- Vladimir

An End?

2006-02-20T15:51:00.000-08:00

Death is a difficult event to handle whether it be quick or slow and painful such as the demise of this particular blog. The life of a blog depends on its authors, and the authors of this one have moved on to their own individual projects. The legacy of KBU has come to an end. It served as a place where we could all gather to find strength, and in that end the Kurdistan Bloggers Union has been enormously successful. Now life continues onward. I would like to think of this blog as a phoenix and that when the time is right (when it is needed again) KBU will arise from the ashes.

Until then, here are links to the individual authors projects as the Kurdish Dialouge will always continue:

Kurdo: Kurdo's World
Hiwa: Hiwa Hopes
Vladimir: From Holland to Kurdistan
Piling: Incoherent Thoughts and Roj Bash!
Medya: Roj Bash
Dilnareen: Iraq Blog Count
Xosh 7al: Beardie's World of Crap
Sami: An Iraqi's Thoughts
Emmunah: Peshmerga Women
Swara: Kurdish Thoughts and Learn Kurdish Online
Naz: Learn Kurdish Online
Delal: Kurdistan Blog Count

If you would like to keep up on what is going on in the Kurdish blogs in general, I have set up a Kurdish blog aggregator with links to Kurdish blogs in multiple languages, or you can check my Wednesday weekly article on Global Voices.

So, goodbye dear readers, one day we will all meet again.

Jewish medical student visits Kurdistan

2006-01-26T06:28:00.000-08:00

"One thing alone seems clear: The Kurds are a people under siege. In the United States we are not."

I would like to bring you to the attention of Jonathan Dworkin, who wrote those impressing words, you have just read. He is a medical student in his final year at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Currently he is travelling in South Kurdistan from January to March of 2006.

In his recent post he shows more of the Kurdish sentiment towards Israel, that isn't so hostile towards Jews.

To quote one part of his recent post:

Another friend, a KDP man, explained to me that he supports Israel because he believes chauvanism is an ingrained feature of Arab politics. "They have 25 countries," he said. "And still there is this talk of pushing the Jews into the sea. In Kurdistan we have been fighting this thinking for centuries, and believe me we are very tired."

I advise everyone to take a look into his articles. They are balanced and give a good view on the problems in South-Kurdistan. As a commentator posted:"His blog allows thoughtful insights into the problems we face today in this world".

January 25: Kurds and Jews
January 18: At Home in the New Kurdistan
January 14: City of Refugees
January 11: First Impressions

National Geographic Article

2006-01-22T17:21:00.000-08:00

Well I finally got around to reading this month's National Geographic only to find that they had an excellent article about the Kurds in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan. It spoke alot about hope amoung the Kurds and the efforts that they are making towards re-building. I found the article to be quite objective which is nice, sometimes main stream media protrayels of the Kurds are either too emotional or so dry as to whither away your interest in the subject entirely. The National Geographic website has some extra features about their article that are fairly interesting.

*And a quick note to some of the other authors on KBU, don't leave me alone on here, ok?

Information and Help Network for the Bird Flu

2006-01-19T12:20:00.000-08:00

I received this email from another group that I work with, and I thought that since so many are concerned about a link between the Kurdish areas and the bird flu (and probably would like to help) I thought that I would pass it along:

From Avian Flu Help Team

Dear Editors/Admins,

Please accept our apologies for the group mailing.

You have all been doing a noble effort in collecting information
online about Avian Flu. As you can see there are many scattered
resources available right now to find scientific data, information,
news and other tidbits. This mail is an effort to invite you all
together to collaborate together on one effort so that we can put our
collective minds and hands together in one "Mega" CollaBlog/CollaWiki.

We are members of a group called World Wide Help Group
(http://groups.google.com/group/WorldWideHelp/about) who have
volunteer members all over the world with various skills. We started
working together on TsunamiHelp (http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com,
http://www.tsunamihelp.info) which became the one-stop resource to
find any and all information related to Tsunami. We had at one point
of time 3000 volunteer bloggers/editors helping us with the content.
It is one of the best example of what an unified online collaboration
effort could bring out. Another fine example is the People Finder
Project (http://katrinahelp.info/rdata/) which collaborated with
industry to create PFIF, a platform-agnostic database interchange
format http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/PFIF) that has since
been used by all the major People Finder projects (including Google,
Yahoo etc).

Since then, with the help of the other members of the World Wide Help
Group, we have been working on several philanthropic sites of note
including:

http://www.katrinahelp.info/ -- for victims of the Hurricane Katrina
http://www.ritahelp.info/ -- for victims of the Hurricane Rita
http://quakehelp.blogspot.com/ -- for victims of the Kashmir Earthquake
http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com/-- for victims of the Mumbai Cloudburst
and floods
http://www.hcvaction.org/ -- for victims of Hepatitis C, to
promote research and awareness and support for a cure

At this point we are in contact with an international network of
volunteers including India, the Middle East, USA, and several European
countries. We have begun work on an H5N1 disaster-response web
information delivery system. We have developed a diverse volunteer
corps of online writers, "bloggers", wiki admins, and now wish to
take these efforts to a higher level.

We expect you realize the tremendous value that such a collaboration
could have, both in terms of scientific achievement, humanitarian
concerns, and international relations.

With the common goal of helping the affected and informing the general
public about Avian Flu, we would like to start the discussions among
the various admins of major Avian Flu websites (Blogs, Wiki &
Informational Sites), that is you, about coming together on this noble
cause. We can then work out the logistics on how, when, where and who
of this effort.

Looking forward to hearing from all of you,

With Best Regards

Angelo Embuldeniya
Bala Pitchandi
Peter Griffin
Rudi Cilibrasi

The World Wide Help Group
http://groups.google.com/group/WorldWideHelp/about

An Evening with Joe Wilson

2006-01-18T10:41:00.000-08:00

Below is a reprint from a post on my personal blog so if some of the personal info in there is confusing I apologize ahead of time.

Last night Mr.3 and I were given the oppurtunity to go and see Ambassador Joe Wilson speak in front of the Salt Lake Chapter of the Council on Foreign Relations. Actually we got to sit at his table, which including a brief 10 minutes of star-struckedness on my part which faded quickly.

For those of you who don't know who he is, Joe Wilson has lately been known as Mr. Valerie Plame (who was "outed" as a CIA employee), but before that he was known as the last American Diplomat to speak with Saddam Hussein in Gulf War 1. But I believe that when the Gulf War broke out he was "acting" Ambassador as the real Ambassador was in the US warning about the possibility of war breaking out at the time war did break out.

Impressions of him: Nice guy when he doesn't talk politics. Fantastic hair, and I would say 95% of the female population in that room would have slept with him if he was willing. He is a self-promoter to the point of being incredibly vain and arrogant. Mr.3 asked him a question privately after the talk and in answering that question told him 3 times to buy his book. Call me crazy but when someone asks you a direct question about 500 tons of yellow-cake uranium that was found in Iraq, the response to that question should not be "buy my book".

What he said that evening: He has a lot of anger about the war in Iraq, as many US democrats do, however it is obvious that his anger is focused on the fact that the current administration did not listen and follow his recommendations. His bush-bashing is completely personal, I do not wish to really discuss the whole issue of his wife being "outed" but he used that in his speech (and probably his book as well) as a further reasoning why he must have been right...it was a case of "I was injured personally, I am a victim, and therefore my opinion is the most correct one", which logically is a load of crap. He wasn't listened to in matters about the Middle East because his knowledge is severely lacking, he may be great and wonderful with Africa, but the Middle East is a completely different animal...here is why:

His definition of weapons of mass destruction: is limited to strictly Nuclear weapons because they alter society and civilization. Biological weapons are weapons of terror and do not affect society in the long term. Anyone who knows about the atrocities Saddam carried out on the Kurdish populations in Iraq can tell you that biological warfare effects you on a systemic level...hum...let's see birth defects, a skewed population demographic, low birth rate, high infant mortalitiy rate, and don't forget little things like the increase in the snake population as all of the birds in the region were killed and there was no natural predators for the snakes. But apparently those are only side effects of "terror weapons".

His lack of knowledge on terrorism in general: Apparently he is under the impression that Ansar el Islam was a pro-Kurdish group rather than a group that was killing Kurds. He also stated that "25 million ethnic people" is no reason to not support our NATO allies. First, where did he get his numbers, secondly the Kurdish situation in Iraq and in Turkey are vastly different and you can't lump them together...but then again he seems to think that Kurds=terrorists. Oddly enough two seconds after he made that statement about the Kurds he stated that HAMAS and Hizbullah were doing things the "right way" in regards to elections, but he failed to mention the whole terrorist bombings which killed innocents. He classifies himself in the lines of a "Progressive" but he isn't really, just another diplomat/pseudo celebrity that believes in the cause that is most popular at the moment. But can you expect anymore from someone who prides himself on delveloping the US stragey in the Rwanda genocide, because we all know how well that turned out.

Because I liked the Title...

2006-01-15T22:53:00.000-08:00

a short post with some mildly interesting links...

A Stan of their Own.

What we should be talking about?

2006-01-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

There seems to be alot going on there that this particular blog has been silent about, particularly the bird flu and predictions for the new year. I know that these are odd things to lump together in one blog but I am going to do it anyway.

First, predictions for the New Year: last week the Daily Kos wrote about a recent KnightRidder column that stated the Iraq army had 10,000 Kurdish soldiers that were loyal to the peshmerga leaders...duh...nothing really new. However, it seemed with this news that the rest of the world realized that there is a definite possibility that an independent Kurdistan could arise if there was (God forbid) civil war in Iraq. Of course, as soon as the Daily Kos covered it, it seems that half of the political blogs in the US began to speculate as to an independent Kurdistan. The only Kurdish blogger (that I saw--I might be wrong and please let me know if I am) that covered even part of that news was Vladimir. The lack of response from the Kurdish bloggers makes me wonder if we really missed an opportunity to bring the issue of an independent Kurdistan to a wider global audience? Or is it just more of the same?

Next item up, the bird flu deaths in Turkey, specifically in the Van region in Northern Kurdistan. While the deaths have been in rural areas and also in Kurdish areas there has been speculation that the bird flu thing is another extension of the Kurdish question. Some of our Kurdish bloggers have written excellent posts supporting that position including Mizgin from Rasti and Vladimir in From Holland to Kurdistan. Ok folks, it is the bird flu, a pandemic that is affecting the whole world, it should not be used as an aid to point out the Turkish Government's treatment of the Kurds, rather it should be used to discuss poverty on a global scale. I know that there will be plenty of people who are mad at me for this point of view (and I have a feeling that some of the comments will be harsh but I will take them), I am just of the opinion that there are some things that it would be wise of us to exploit to further knowledge of the plight of the Kurds, and some things -like this- that are no help to us at all.

Interesting Link

2006-01-07T20:41:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year (albeit a little late)...I found this link a few days ago and thought that I would share. aka Kurdistan

Lets hope 2006 will be a better year for KBU

2005-12-31T04:41:00.000-08:00

BBC Interview

2005-12-29T13:05:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, I write a weekly column covering Kurdish Bloggers for a website called Global Voices. I will be interviewed tomorrow to discuss the year in Kurdish blogs on the BBC Radio show World Have Your Say, from 1845 to 1900 GMT. If you have time, please tune in.

Dr. Kamal Campaign

2005-12-29T01:37:00.000-08:00

please spread the words and sign this petition to free Dr. Kamal.
I posted about the subject earlier in my blog. If we don't report about this news and make the world aware of this more people criticising the Kurdish leaders might be thrown into prisons and our prisons might be full of intellectuals and writers.

There is an English petition on this page please consider signing :

http://www.kurdistanan.com/Nûche-December/chak-nûseran-Dr-kemal--12-27.htm

Amed Photos

2005-12-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

I found this link to a photo set of Amed/Diyarbakir. The pictures are wonderful, the faces familiar to me...Amed is the only place in the world where I have ever felt like I was at home, and these made me rather homesick. Enjoy.

Oh dear....MOBESE is moving South!

2005-12-26T15:40:00.000-08:00

You may or may not have heard about MOBESE, which is a massive surveillance camera system that monitors the streets for the Turkish police. The project was started after some success with similar systems in New York, Athens, and London. At the moment there are cameras in Istanbul and Ankara. Part of me likes the idea of police officers watching the streets and responding when something is wrong, and then the rational side of me screams "IT'S BIG BROTHER! THEY AREN'T THERE TO PROTECT YOU! THEY ARE THERE TO MONITOR YOU!"

Well MOBESE is moving south, Zaman online is reporting that plans are in the works for installing the cameras in Cizre, Sirnak, and Silopi as the FIRST PHASE of the project. Officials are openly stating that the cameras are being installed to find PKK sympathizers in the streets. Forget about fighting crime, trying to protect the people, let's spy on everyone and try to wrongly arrest even more people! If you ask me, the Turkish police would be a hundred times more effective if they were out walking the streets like police officers do all over the world rather than spend their time stopping every car that looks interesting on the highway! -sorry, I got carried away there...

What can be done? Sadly not much, they are going to install the cameras no matter what happens...however there is a group of people, aptly named NOBESE-(ahh! people after my own heart)- who are protesting the cameras' installment by performing in front of them. Their motto is "since we are being watched, why not perform?" So they perform in front of the cameras, partly to annoy (or entertain) the police watching, and partly to make a statement about how they feel about the system. So let's hope that a Kurdish chapter of NOBESE is started soon!

NYTimes Book Review

2005-12-25T20:14:00.000-08:00

There is an excerpt from the new Stephen Kinzer book Kurds in Turkey: The Big Change. I am not the biggest Kinzer fan, but it looks like it might be an interesting read. Here is a little bit of it:

A book fair was underway while I was in Diyarbakir. At the first stand I visited, wedged between Turkish translations of War and Peace and For Whom the Bell Tolls, I found a selection of books with titles like History of Kurdistan and Turkey's Kurdish Problem. No such books could possibly have been sold here during the 1990s, when the very word "Kurdistan" was taboo and the term "Kurdish problem" was taken to refer to an illegal form of separatism.

"Before, we were afraid to speak out," a Kurdish writer named Lutfi Baski told me at the fair. "The government was insisting that there were no Kurds, that there was no Kurdish language or culture. They arrested us and closed our organizations. Now, so much has changed, especially in the last few months. Our problems haven't been solved, not at all, but at least we can talk about them honestly. It's a huge difference."

Later that day, I walked past city hall and saw a large banner advertising a conference that was being held inside. Its subject was "The European Union Accession Process and the Kurdish Problem." When I walked into the packed hall, a local politician was delivering a passionate harangue.

"For so many years, the Turkish state called us criminals, saying that it was not possible to have dialogue with us and that we had to be crushed," he told the rapt crowd. "This is the repeated tragedy that created the Kurdish problem. The only reason Kurds were forced to begin armed struggle was the way the Turkish state has treated Kurds at every stage in the history of this country."

These would have been highly dangerous words a couple of years ago. Even now, police agents monitor and videotape conferences like this one. Their presence, however, did nothing to intimidate the speakers in Diyarbakir. "They watch us just like before, but they can't do anything to us anymore," one man told me. "This is a democracy now. We're becoming European. The state can't touch us."

Hyphenated Ethnicity

2005-12-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

The subject of hyphenated ethnicity is not new to this forum, I know that I have advocated it in the past. Within Turkey the advocation of acceptance of hyphenated ethnicity (a Turkish-Kurd or a Kurdish-Turk for instance) would lead to alot of the unrest being quelled. However that would also have to change a lot of Turkish ultranationalist mindsets in order to happen. Amerikan Turk, which is a blog written by a moderate Turk (yes they DO exist) living in the United States, has a post about this topic. I draw attention to it today because I think that it represents hope as the it shows how the mindset of the average Turk is changing. He also has a rather amusing post about wanting to find a t-shirt that says "I am not a Turk".

This may seem to be an odd post, but I find that at times we all tend to get rather pessimistic about the future (with the exception of the current happening in Southern Kurdistan), and in a little way, this sort of shows that all hope is not lost.

The Importance of Voice

2005-12-20T18:52:00.000-08:00

I have been relatively blessed in being born in America, I have grown up in a world where I can state my own opinion without fear of reprisal...in fact, until I left the country and saw how others lived, I didn't even know that others could be persecuted for their thoughts and beliefs.

I now know better.

In my dealings with the issue of Kurdistan and the Kurdish blogger friends that I have been so fortuate to make, I have realized the extreme importance of the individual voice and ensuring that voice is protected.

I believe that there are many many other Kurdish voices just waiting to break out and say what they have been so desperately wanting to say to the world. I also believe that many of those voices remain silent because they are afraid that they will not be protected if they speak out. Rest assured, you are part of a larger community, a larger family, who wants to ensure your welfare. There are many guides out there that can help you learn how to blog anonymously and safely. The best guide out there by far is the Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents from Reporters without Borders. There are many Anonymous Blogging Guide sites out there to use as a resourse, as well as the Committee to Protect Bloggers. These guides are also translated into multiple languages to aid you as well.

So remember my friends, you have a family here just waiting to take you into our arms. Let yourself be heard.

Kurdish Bloggers in the News

2005-12-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

Charles Chapman of the Is-Ought Problem, recently had an article of his published on KurdishMedia, Will Iraqi Kurdistan teach Turkey about Freedom of Speech?

He has consistantly proven himself to be an objective voice of the Kurds, and should be on your read list.

Bilal Wahab from Better Kurdistan and Iraq got to meet the President of the United States on December 15th, the day marking the parlimentary elections in Iraq. I have seen his photo all over the news in the US, and I think that it is wonderful!

And for some work that should be in the news....The wonderful job Roj Bash! and From Holland to Kurdistan have been doing in bringing some of the personal stories of Kurds voting in the Iraqi elections in Europe. Hiwa Hopes and Kurdo's World have also had some excellent election coverage.

Kurdish Tea?

2005-12-17T14:31:00.000-08:00

I find something new everyday. Today I found a recipe for Kurdish Tea. I have never had tea like this when I lived in Northern Kurdistan, does anyone know what region it is from?

CHAI KURDI (KURDISH TEA)

Amount/Measure
1 tb India tea leaves
1 Cinnamon stick, 4"
2 c -water, boiling
Sugar cubes

The Kurds like this sweet, aromatic tea. The cubes of sugar are dissolved in the mouth as the tea is drunk,the sweeter the better.

Put the tea and cinnamon in a tea pot and pour in the boiling water. Allow to steep for 5 minutes. Serve hot with sugar cubes. Serves 4.

From: "Sephardic Cooking" by Copeland Mark -- 600 Recipes Created in Exotic Sephardic Kitchens from Morocco to India -- Copyright 1992 Published by Donald I. Fine,Inc., New York, N.Y.

An alternative opinion?

2005-12-16T14:54:00.000-08:00

So I found this post today from a blog entitled Agnoiologist. He has an interesting perceptive about an independent Kurdistan and why the US should have pushed for it:

We should've pushed for an independent Kurdistan, and I wonder if it's still not too late. I guess so because of the constitution. Perhaps certain persons in Iraq would not have liked it, but it would've been in the best US interests. I do not believe the insurgents would've attacked Kurdistan. It does not make any sense. Also, the Kurds would've been more willing to allow the establishment of a US base and maybe even to share in the oil revenue. I guess we'll never know for sure, but I think it would've helped stabilize Iraq. It would've been one less faction to worry about when drawing up the Iraqi Constitution and during elections in general. Heck, we might've even been able to set up a government more to our tastes in Kurdistan.

I think that he is correct on the possibility of an independent Kurdistan stabilizing Iraq, but I don't think he is on the mark about the United States setting up a government that is "more to our tastes". Either way, I thought that it was an interesting example of what people who are not well versed in the nuances of Kurdistan and typing about.

*This is an aside, but I just ran the blogger spellcheck and the term "blog" came up as incorrect. Can somebody tell who was the numbnuts who let that slip by.

New Badge

2005-12-12T08:41:00.000-08:00

I know that I am personally not someone to want big logos on my site, I prefer little badges. So I decided to make one for KBU, you are more than welcome to use it---and if you think that it is utter crap, you can make your own. However if you like it, just put the following code into your template:

Add our badge :

New Project from Delal

2005-12-11T17:23:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody!
I have been toying with this idea for quite a while and I finally managed to get around to setting the whole process up. There is now a Kurdistan Blog Count. (Designed around the same purpose as the Iraq Blog Count) I felt that it was important to have a place to link all of the Kurdish links, and moniter the Kurdish bloggers to see if they are alright. For example, Medya's site appears to be down, so is someone checking to see if he is ok--he is as he is posting on the Roj Bosh forum--but the question remains, what happens if someone stops blogging and we don't notice? We all hope that the worst wouldn't happen, but if something does, we need to be ready to mobilize. Other items...Kurdish Lily's site link has apparently been hijacked. As well as the Kurdish Club site has been hacked into by the Turks. We need to be monitoring these types of things and help out where we can.

I know that the link list will never be complete, but if anyone else would like to help with this it would be much appreciated. I especially need someone who would be willing to help with the links/posts from bloggers who blog in Kurdish as there really isn't a list of blogs that include all of the languages that Kurdish bloggers blog in. (But I will take anyone that wants to help.) So if you are interested in helping out, please send me an email, or comment directly on the site itself. And before anyone asks, no this is not meant to take over the space created by the Kurdistan Bloggers Union, only to supplement it.

Problems with Kurdish democracy: Unrest in Duhok

2005-12-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

Today in Duhok [South-Kurdistan] the political office of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) went up in flames reported Nefel.com. This happened after a group of youngsters got into trouble with with members of the IUK. As a result a big fight broke out.

The Asayish (Kurdish security forces) were right at the spot and the firemen tried to extinguish the fire. But this was in vain. The building could not be saved. Because of the unrest 24 people got wounded including 7 civilians, 7 members of the KIU and 10 Asayish policemen. According to Reuters there also were 4 deaths, including the leader of the Islamic Union in Duhok. Rumours say he was only wounded. But the reports about this event are very unclear. According to Netkurd there were also attacks in Zakho (a place near Duhok) against the KIU.

Yesterday there were also problems, when young people tried to take away the Kurdish flag of the KIU building. These Kurdistan alliance supporters claimed, that the KIU doesn’t have the right to use a Kurdish flag, because they aren’t part of the Kurdistani Alliance, but went to the elections separately. The Islamic group has been criticised for the decision to leave the main Kurdish electoral bloc at a time when competition for votes is getting tougher. This decision of the KIU reflects rumblings of discontent with the two main Kurdish parties and their supporters, which are already predicted to lose some seats as more Sunni Arabs seek representation.

The unrest in the city is still there. People tried to evade all political offices. This case is very sensitive and will be a big influence on the people of Kurdistan, because of the elections in 7 days.

In the election three big parties will participate: PCDK 779, Kurdistani Alliance 730 and Kurdistan Islamic Union 561. (Thanks to Hiwa for translating the manifests of the parties)

I translated this, because it’s important for the Kurdish people to realise this isn’t democracy. You cannot burn down someone’s office, because you don’t agree with them. Several KIU adverts were smashed too.

Smashed Yekgirtu (Kurdish name for KIU) advert in Hawler

The Kurdish president of South-Kurdistan Massoud Barzani condemned the attacks and promised to arrest the people who were behind the attack. He said that every party is free in his opinion. Although he claims to be democratic, the security agents of his party arrested the writer Dr. Kamal Said Qadir for criticism on Barzani and the Kurdish people. (Read more here TheKurdistani.com). It’s not clear if Barzani wanted the writer to be arrested, but later he said he could walk out, if he [the writer]wrote an apology letter. It’s clear there has a lot to be done to democratise Kurdistan after decades of war and insecurity. There was also an article of Michael Rubin, who spoke about corruption in the Kurdish government. He wrote that "the Iraqi Kurdish leadership is more consumed with self-enrichment".

I am not saying that South-Kurdistan is a non-democratic regime now or that I am against the ruling Kurdish parties. I am just saying it's still a long road to democracy and that this is a logicial situation. It was a long road for all countries and nations in the world to become fully democratic. But it's in my opinion that Kurdistan cannot become democratic without criticism!! If South-Kurdistan is really a democracy, the democratic forces [media, people, etc] will bring the system in check.

Alastair Farrugia used to say:"Freedom is when the people can speak, democracy is when the government listens." It's time for the government to listen more, but also for the Kurdish people to think about the meaning of democracy.

- Vladimir van Wilgenburg

2005-12-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

Delal has been very active recently..She has been doing a great job in introducing us to new bloggers..I would like to announce some great news for the Kurdistan Bloggers.

A Kurdish website has agreed to support bloggers... They have created a page for technical support page. (such as the two codes I use on my blog)... Feel free to ask them any questions regarding your blog issues...

They have also agreed to create an active platform with a better blogging tool to host Kurdistan Bloggers Union.

Weldone Bloggers... We are almost there...

Kurdo

Someone explain this to me....

2005-12-02T12:22:00.000-08:00

Last week, Vladimir posted an article from Rebar Jaff from The Globe, siteing an incident where Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Erdogan left a news conference after learning that reporters from Roj TV were there. Erdogan has a history of not liking the Kurds in general, and just when we think that we have everything figured out he makes statements like this:

"We are all citizens of the republic of Turkey under that upper identity," he said. However all Turks have "sub-identities," Erdogan said. "No one should be offended by this. A Kurd can say 'I am a Kurd.'"

Whoa! Please raise your hand if you saw that one coming. Yeah, I didn't raise mine as well. This sounds wonderful for the Kurds of Northern Kurdistan, but I feel a little apprehensive.

Wait! 3 more new blogs found

2005-11-29T13:49:00.000-08:00

First on my (second) list of new finds today is the Multy Culty Girls- Kurdishlady, in German.
Second, Free Kurdish Political Prisoners (which is in Kurdish),
and Lastly, Welcome to East of Kurdistan, in English.

I think that should be all the finds for today.
-Delal

New Blog Found

2005-11-29T09:20:00.000-08:00

I found a new Kurdish blog today called Rasti, take a look and add him to your list of blogs. The blogrolling list that we used to have is gone from this page but I know that others have it on their blogs...whoever has access to it, please update.
Thanks
Delal

New Site?

2005-11-25T22:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I realize that I am probably the last person to find out about this, but I am going to post it anyway....did anyone else know that there is now a Wikipedia in Kurdish?
Unfortuately, my Kurdish is none-existant (yes, I know...I am trying to learn..) so I am not able to tell if it is decent or not, but I still find it interesting and a definite step in the right direction.

Introducing a Kurdish Blogger Heroine

2005-11-19T01:00:00.000-08:00

Avin, has been one of the best Kurdish bloggers which I love to read her posts for over a few months. Avin lives in Hawler and just like any other ordinary Kurd, is upset about the current lack of democracy situation in Kurdistan.
Avin has been working for one of Kurdistan Democratic Party's television stations and she has some inside information about the situation.

The way that she writes is extraordinary.....Her blog is part of the German initiated Niqash.org (Niqash is Arabic for Discussion) which encourages Iraqis to have dialgoues with each other.

In her post, she talks about the corruption in the education system in Kuristan...How talented students are not accepted for post graduation studies while those who know someone in Talabani and Barzani's parties get the best posts no matter how bad their academic results are.

Avin says "Another dictator will fall", she clearly means Talabani and Barzani. She has plans to join the new American University in Hawler which will open next year in order to get rid of the corrupted Kurdistan system (as Kurds say, dictatorship system).

Taking this opportunity, I would like to announce that the Kurdistan Bloggers Union has acheived its goals in the Northern Iraq Project and we no later support this project. This is an official announcement.
The KBU breakaways are Medya, Piling, and I think Delal and have created their new blog which we warmly accept and wish them success.
Delal described the blog as a "rival", I don't know if there is the need of using this term because we at the KBU do not compete with anyone else. We help others and not compete.
Delal goes on to say "the infighting between the two projects is lamentable", I was quite surprised at this sentence. There is no infighting in KBU. We all agree on respect and especially the respect of others opinions and identities. If a Kurd wants to be recognised as an Iraqi that is his or her choice, and vice versa.
We all agree on respect, but what we don't agree on is that members sending emails to others starting with "boil to your a double s" and finishing with "shame on your dignity". We do not accept attacking follow Kurdish bloggers because they call themsleves "Iraqis". This is their right. Anyone wishing to join this path of disrespect and ultra-natoinalism and neofacism are welcomed to leave this blog and anyone wishing to be treated with respect are welcomed to stay.

As far as KBU is concerned, the term of Kurdistan is now an official term in the world. There is no more need to concentrate on Northern Iraq, as Kurds in this part of the world do not have the problem of identity anymore. We do not have problems with Arabs anymore, we have problems with ourselves. Kurds do not have problems with Iraq anymore.

Also all the Iraqi Kurds (or Southern Kurds as most like to say) have left the project, so technically, the Northern Iraq project are run by people who do not represent the name. I think they should concentrate on the problems of Kurds in other part of the world, like Iranian Turkish and Syrian Kurdistans. Because Kurds in these areas have problems with Turkey, Iran and Syria. Or otherwise as Kurds say, "They are running after a hat which is taken up by the wind".

American Reactions to Kurdistan adverts

2005-11-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

Delal did a great job by asking about the reaction of people about the Kurdistan adverts on US channels. I did a little search to find what Americans think about the adverts:

Bryan Alexandre says:
It just doesn't sound like the image of the United States has been tarnished around the world like liberal Democrats like to claim. Certainly, U.S. image is shining brightly in places where people really know what is going on.

News Hounds : seems not to have liked it.
Thank You Ad From Kurdistan On FOX

This morning during a Fox & Friends commercial break, around 7AM, a very bizarre and jarring ad appeared. Similar to many travel ads for state tourism, it showed a brief and snappy montage of smiling Kurds going about their happy lives, displaying purple fingers and thanking the US. A graphic declaration followed , Kurdistan- The Other Iraq.
comment: For a second, I thought the TV had accidentally switched to Comedy Central but it was still on FOX. It's great that the people of Kurdistan want to thank us, but wouldn't a more dignified slogan be more appropriate?

It seems, however, that this ad is sponsored by the Kurdistan Development Corporation and is more about making money than giving thanks.

Eric advises others to see the ads online :
If you haven’t seen the moving tributes to America and Great Britain that are being run by the Iraqi Kurds, do it now. Here is a transcript from the first one, but it does not do justice to the video images.

Scott says : "You do not know enough about Kurdistan"

"I've read much of Kurdistan as Christopher Hitchens is among the worlds experts and writes of the region often.RG Combs has a very informative post explaining more about a region we helped to liberate and is a true success story in post war Iraq.

- - - - - - - --

I just want to add a comment as a person who considers himself from Kurdistan.

I support these ads 100%..Some Kurds might disagree with me (but only a minority), let's face it, if it was not for USA, who would think that Kurdistan (as a region or political entity) would be able to advertise for itself on US and European Tvs ?

I remember in the 1990s when our uprising was very fresh and when we were being protected by US and British planes, we could not even reach our voice to the neighbouring countries.

At that time, I remember on one of the Kurdish channel, a Kurd from Europe sent back a video which he took in the streets of one of the European cities ...this is what it was about :

Question: Hello, can I ask you a question, do you know what "Kurd" or "Kurdistan" is ?

Most were answering as "no" or "Is this one of these Russian states" or "Is this a carpet" or "type of food " etc.

But to see today that we are able to advertise for our experience in other countries is a huge step for Kurds in their entire history. Therefore the people of Kurdistan are thankful for the Americans and their allies. Let's face it, we might not agree on everything with the USA (especially on independence for Kurdistan), but still what Kurds have done in the last couple of years, has never happened in the Kurdish history.

So Kurds are thankful, and we hope to see more American and western and other companies in Kurdistan to invest. Don't worry, you are very safe in Kurdistan. Then, what does safety mean in today's dictionary? A terrorist attack could happen in London, New York, Madrid, Amman, Baghdad etc etc.
The chances of a terrorist attack happening in Kurdistan is as much as the chance of it happening in Europe. Are we safe in Madrid ? Are we safe in New York ? Are we safe in London ? Are we safe in Kurdistan ? I think the answer to these questions are all the same.

Wait for more adverts. Hopefully this time for holidays in Kurdistan. And if Iraq (hopefully) was safe, you could also visit Babylon and many other nice areas in Mesoptamia.

Thank You Allied Forces Again !

p.s. (if anyone wants to join this group, please leave a comment. It doesn't matter if you are a Kurd or no. All welcomed )

Curious...

2005-11-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

The Kurdistan Development Corporation (KDC) which is allied with the Kurdistan Regional Government has a investment development website. Recently in order to increase American investment monies into the region they have started an ad campaign to illustrate the changes that have been made in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan. They have made 3 commericals that have started to air on major news networks in the United States. At the moment I am not sure what to think of them. They are high quality ads, and they use a lot of rhetoric that would make Americans happy ("we have been practicing democracy for over 10 years"...)

The three television ads can be seen here as part of their "The Other Iraq" campaign .

I am curious to find out what other Kurds (and the friends of the Kurds) think of these ads. I know that some will be upset as they are claiming both Iraq and Kurdistan in their ads, so I really don't want to here anyone's opinion on that particular subject. But I would like people to comment as to whether they think that the ad campaign itself will benefit the Kurds of the southern region.

RESPECT the Anti 3B Coalition!

2005-11-08T16:01:00.000-08:00

Why did I go?
I went to Mr. Galloway's speech and I enjoyed it; for those who don’t know him have a look at his party's website (http://respectcoalition.org/) or shortly take it from me: he is the leader (or the most well known figure) of the so called anti-war campaign in UK, it was the first time I had been to a such a political speech in UK. In fact I learned a lot this evening, I mean you cannot compare it to any of our style political speeches for sure for some reasons I think a good book could be written about how politics are practiced in this countries and how it is practiced in Middle East for example! (Imagine what would happen if what is happening in France would happen in Iran, Turkey or Syria!)

I have to say before going any further that I give the man the credit of being a different voice and saying some things which others would not want to even hear them. If we are in a free world I think everyone should be given the right to speak!

The entrance scenario of wolves & sheep:
The worst scenario I saw in the meeting entrance was: Socialists and Islamists working together! I was thinking, my God is George Bush so powerful?

Ok, well he talked about a bunch of stuff which had one thing in common, they where all matters and issues which where supported by Bush, Blair and Berlusconi (the three Bs). He started and finished it with Iraq obviously! And he addressed some other matters which I know a bit about and didn’t know much about some of it so I cannot comment on.

I am going to comment on those that I know something about. The first thing happened in the speech was, in front of the 600 turnout they brought a banner made by some young Palestinians with something like, A.J.Balfour treaty and in fact he addressed it as well as he addressed the Israeli state. One simple question I wanted to ask him, did he only learn about Balfour after the war on Iraq? It’s been 88 years since then! Does he know anything about Portsmouth treaty? Or that is not something he would benefit from!
IRRRRRRRRRAAQ! (I can’t believe it still is A country!)
Next as I said he started with Iraq war, I know and we all know that the west (all of them) empowered Saddam with chemical bombs, and they know exactly how much he had left with after using as much as he could on my town. Again another simple question which was asked by a Kurd in the crowd (I didn’t know he was studying at my university and I will have to find him) said "I appreciate all your courage, welcome to our university, my question is in 1988 we know that you opposed the attack on the Kurds but in 1994 you changed your mind, any reason for that?"

In a reply to Blair's new anti-terror laws he said: "RESPECT party supports every freedom movement and every freedom fighter in Palestine, Iraq or any where!” like some other people I booed and wanted to tell him what exactly he meant by freedom fighters in Iraq? Or are there some people he supports and are different from those who kill innocent people on buses in Iraq? I really don’t know what he meant by freedom fighters in Iraq!!

The most powerful argument he had was this (the anti-war campaign shares it): “They said there are WMDs, we said there aren’t and now that there were not any we are right!” well you (Mr himself, not anti-war marching people) might have been paid to defend the dictator, isn’t that what Saddam was saying as well, so does that mean Saddam was right just as you were?

I must credit him for saying, US soldiers are counted but no one knows what the size of casualties amongst the Iraqis is but does this means you have to support whom you call freedom fighters who will add scores to the uncounted numbers of Iraqi casualties. PLEASE!

Who is benefiting from double standards?
He denounced the government for having double standards by supporting some dictators and toppling others. I think he is benefiting from a very good double standard as well, by visiting Saddam Hussain before, or was that to convince him to change the way he used to rule Iraq? And now talking about him as brutal regime, well he is not in apposition to benefit him anymore at all anyways! And giving us three examples of those puppets (Saudi guys, Colonel Gaddafi and I can’t remember the third one he mentioned) while he failed to mention (!) or turned a blind eye on people like President Asad’s dictatorship family who does not give a simple right of citizenship to the Kurds, invades Lebanon and can assassinate other countries’ leaders!

If RESPECT then it must be for all!
Then he addressed us on how he supports the Palestinians and how he is against the Israel and so on, well when he counted terrorist activities in places around the world he didn’t say Tel-Aviv so a Jewish guy shouted "and Tel Aviv?" although the Palestinians with black Jamadani (in Kurdish the scarf they use) made some noise Mr. Galloway was even worse, he was really rude and noisy, but when a gentleman from the back made some noise against him, he said RESPECT! I don’t know how he dares to say others are hypocrites, well why not RESPECTing others then Mr. Honest? Again I had one question, will he wipe out Israel from the map if he could? I think he is just looking for a better job, just as he said "some people lost their jobs after the decision of going to war, including myself, but don’t worry I have a better one....applause". I seriously doubt that!

If we are talking about people’s lands being invaded then I think RESPECT should cover the whole globe. Can I humbly say, as Kurds we would be very happy for such an initiative, but I thought it was specific for some people because I heard words like Muslims, Palestinians, Arabs, Congo a couple of times Africa and NEVER Kurds,(omit as you like) Chechens, Kashmir etc! I think RESPECT cares about bits of Balfour treaty and doesn’t care about the rest of it!

Finally:
I have always said I do not understand politics well but I can think and I have some common sense.

KBU in Crisis - Return of Kurdo

2005-11-07T11:21:00.001-08:00

Dear All,

I have no idea what is going on this blog, but I just wanted to check my email and found out that my inbox is actually full. Most complaints, and some emails from the members on this blog.

I could not read all to be honest due to the shortage of time. So I will try to post this here in order to solve the problems.

1st of all, the website of Northern Iraq was a project last year in order to draw attention so that people get the idea of using the word "Kurdistan". There was no intention for controlling or leading any people.

2nd I suggested to Medya to create the KBU forum in order to solve the bloggers problems there. It was not in order to create "leaders" etc etc. I am really surprised of the claims that Medya has appointed himself as the leader of KBU.

3rd I appreciate Medya's work on the KBU template, but just of his works on the templates, it doesn't mean that he is a leader. Medya is as equal as any of us, (including our precious readers).

4th Due to changing directions, I suggest that the name of KBU be stripped from the forum and the news section. This is because I have been reciving emails (in July, August, etc) from people that they were banned on the forums. Or they did not like the comments against some races on the forums.
KBU (Kurdistan Bloggers Union) is a mark for this blog, so if the posts are on this blog, then KBU is responsible for the contents. But if the comments are posted on the Forums or News sections, theb KBU is not responsible. Therefore I suggest KBU name to be removed from both the Forums and the News sections.

5th No one is allowed to preach hatred and racist comments against any nations, races, religions or beleifs.

I have installed the Haloscan commenting section because I have had problems in the past with some members of KBU banning commentators. Please do not remove the Haloscan as this ensures that our readers have their say in a free system in which it ensures the principles of the freedom of expression.

Finally, my regards to all our the members and the readers and those who have emailed me. I will post a normal topic in my blog in the few days so I will look forward to see you there.

Kurdo - 7/11/05

KBU is alive !

2005-10-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

the idea of having a group blog called KBU was from Kurdo , now that Kurdo is in his Winter Sleep , KBU Blog is Admin-Less but we are doing our best to keep KBU alive , and hopefully soon we will do changes and upgrades to keep this sucessfull blog alive and make it better .

I noticed e-mails that been sent to us , some of you intorduced new friends of Kurds , to be added to the list , I really become exicted to see all those nice ppl ! but as I said our admin is in winter sleep and I am still waiting to get a reply from our sleeping admin , dear Kurdo!

so please dont think we dont read your e-mails and we dont pay attention to our friends !

now I would like to introduce some new kurdish blog , when I saw these new blogs , I felt a new wind blowng to kurdish blogs .

Here I would like to take the oppotunity to cheer for Bush's visitng Barzani as President of Kurdistan .
when I read in the news that President Bush used Kurdistan word [not "northern iraq" word as he used to do ] I didnt belive it !
I said "it is impossible . the word kurdistan is a forbiden word in Turkey and it would make Turkey to be mad with America

and as I had expected it happend !!! read this news :

the Charge d'Affaires for the US Embassy, Nancy McEldowney, was called to the Foreign Ministry, where Turkish Undersecretary Nabi Sensoy formally asked her to explain "whose president" Barzani was welcomed as at the White House.
Read More

as I saw Turkey that angrey I made sure that President Bush ultimately breaked the Taboo and used "Kurdistan" word .

cheeeeeers ! Kurdistan Kurdistan Kurdistan no "nothern iraq" word anymore.

I would like to tell you just after President Bush's using Kurdistan word, American Radios in Persian also used Kurdistan word and I hardly hear that Ugly word for my homeland [northern iraq] and many other medias broke the taboo of using Kurdistan word .
[may be thats the result of this Kurdish Google Bomb --> northern iraq It would be an honor for we bloggers to find out that Pr.Bush's words been effected by our blogs...]

....by the way I forgot to say , Happy Halloween to President Bush , to American Brave troops in Iraq and all those who care about Kurdistan .

Cats can burn also

2005-10-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

“Since our village is a big village with 200 houses, a security station is established in it. It was the middle of June in 1993. Since it was very hot in the summer, my father and brothers were on the roof. Suddenly there was an explosion. At first we couldn’t understand what was happening. People were running forth and back. We were looking out from the window. Somebody on the street told us to go inside. The soldiers were shooting towards the village. We didn’t know where my father was. My mother heard that somebody yelling that my uncle was shot. I suppose my father must have gone to look for him. Till the morning we stayed under the bed. The shooting continued. In the morning the soldiers brought us all in the village yard. It was there that my mother saw my father’s corpse. They told us to leave the village. They burnt everything down and shouted we helped the terrorists. We heard later that some of the men in the village have buried the dead secretly after we were forced to leave. “

"This husband of mine who doesn’t speak anymore was arrested and tortured several times. I don’t know what the charges were. There is always something. Soon after his last arrest, the soldiers came to the village. They brought us all together in the village yard. They asked whether we would finally agree to become guards. We said no. So they burnt down all our houses and forced us to leave. We went from village to village, from one kinsmen’s house to the other. No one took us for more than a couple of days. We came here. Look at the barren walls, the barren rooms. There is nothing. We have nothing. We are nothing. And my husband can’t speak, nor work, nor go out. Possibly, because of torture. "

"We were farmers. We lived well and had hope. It was our home. But in 1995 due to terrorism they burnt down our villages. And believe me when I say it was for nothing that they did so. Even if you would put me in front of the President I will say the same thing. We weren’t guilty. Believe me. We weren’t guilty. Our village was near the center. We had never seen a terrorist. It was for nothing. Why? Because they want to make that region disappear. The soldiers came and burnt it down. Some soldiers were compassionate and let a few families take out something to wear. Some left without anything. Our cat remained in the house and was burnt as well. The state doesn’t do such things. But I am telling you. Believe me the state did this to us. We came here. We only suffered. My sons are high school graduates. But, when they say they are from the region, people close their doors on them. We are the citizens of Turkey. The state shouldn’t discriminate against us. What else can I tell to you? What other story can I possibly tell? My husband died of sorrow soon after we came here.
Well, I can tell you that I was happy in the village. We had everything. My sons went to school. We had money. We had green pastures and a beautiful land. Everything grew there. It was beautiful. I had friends and a good husband. I don’t know if you know how farming is done. But we had all the equipment to do it. Specifically, in the last years things had improved considerably. We had electricity and water. We didn’t hurt anyone. We lived peacefully. We had no reason to leave the village if it weren’t for the state. What they did has no reason. "

"You know village life. Its not like you have everything. But it is definitely better than this. The snow in winter. The green in spring. It is your home. Your homeland. What can be better than your homeland? You have your own home made beds. Home made food. Real vegetables and fruit. The water is for free. Beautiful mountains. We lost everything. We could take nothing when they burnt down the villages. Everything was destructed. The houses, the animals. It has been four or five years. I still wake up thinking I am there. Then I remember. I am in this place. "

These testimonies extracted from the paper of Nazan Üstündag, from the Department of sociology in Bogaziçi University, Istanbul, on the displaced Kurds in Turkey. If we consider that millions of people have lived the same thing, if we include children who borned later in this inheritage of violence and suffering, how will Turkey manage, economically, socially, clinically its post-war time ? Armenians or Assyro-Chaldeans who survived to the genocide mostly fled the country, so it had not to assimilate their trauma. But these millions of devastated Kurds are mostly in Turkey. So in Western cities, urban dwellers begin to realize that something is rotten in Atatürk's realm, especially when the State refuse to see facts. And it will last and could become worse. How many times, how many generations will be necessary to restore such dammages ? All the consequences on economy, criminality, mental and physical health are not near to improve without any policy toward refugees.

Suicide attack in the Kurdish safe haven, 9 killed

2005-10-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

A Kurdish Peshmerga soldier kisses the coffin of a Kurdish person killed during former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's rule at a ceremony in Hewler's airport, South Kurdistan, October 17, 2005.

A car bomb exploded on Tuesday in the Kurdish city of Sulaimani and a hospital official said at least nine people had been killed. Police and witnesses said the blast was caused by a car bomb which exploded near the headquarters of the peshmerga forces.

Sulaimani, in Kurdistan has been one of the most peaceful and tranquil spots in Kurdistan. It’s rarely troubled by the violence that has racked Iraq. It has been the focus of considerable business investment. Earlier this year Arbil (Hewler) in Kurdistan was shocked by a bomb attack on a police recruiting centre. In this attack 45 people have been killed and 150 wounded.

There were three suicide attacks. The first two attacked the convoy of Mala Bakhtiyar, a high official of the PUK. The third blast was directed against the Ministry of Peshmarga in Suleimani reported the Kurdish radio Nawa (Source: TheKurdistani).

The blast in Sulemani came on a day when the final result of Iraq's constitutional referendum are expected to be announced. All the indications are that the constitution, which enshrines Kurdistan's broad autonomy, will be passed. Sunni Arab insurgents fighting the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government in Baghdad opposed the charter.

Kurds have also been attacked by Sunni Arab supporters of ousted President Saddam Hussein, who went on trial in Baghdad last week. Among the accusations he faces are genocide against Kurds and the gassing of Kurdish civilians in 1988 at Halabja, 80 km (50 miles) from Sulaimani.

Sulaimani is the base of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The PUK is one of the biggest Kurdish parties.

Attacks against Kurdish people in North Kurdistan

According to the Kurdish news agency Dozame.org there were also bomb attacks against the Kurdish people of Yuksekova.

”A series of bomb blasts in the city of Yuksekova in northern Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey) have provoked locals who believes that the bombings have been carried out by one or several clandestine groups close to the Turkish army and government.”

---------------

I express my sympathy and condolence to the victims and families of these terrible disasters. The Kurdish people have been opppressed, murdered, raped, destroyed and assimilated. I hope one day the Kurdish people of Kurdistan can live in peace and prosperity.

I also want to sent my condoleances to the victims of the recent Baghdad blast. According to the Boston.com 11 people got killed after a dramatic blast.

Recently some Arabs justified the role of Saddam in the genocide against the Kurdish people of Halabja. I also remember that in the past one Turkish person was very happy about the attack against the Kurdish police recruiting centre.

These kinds of persons would probably think in the same way about the recent disgraceful attacks against the Kurdish people. I hope the majority of the Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and people all over the world condemn these attacks and express their sympathy to the Kurdistani and Iraqi people. It's unbelievable that some Arabs and also Turks justify attacks against the Kurdish people.

This steams me....

2005-10-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

I am going to comment on someone else's blog today...

Truth Teller from A Family from Mosul has been posting recently some articles about the validity of Saddam ordering the bombing of Halapja. News stories blaming the Iranian government for the gassing of Kurds is nothing new, but they seem to resurface over and over. Truth Teller has posted two stories in the past few days, here and here, and of course my favorite entitled No Proof Saddam Gassed the Kurds. Rather than paraphrases each post, please read what he wrote (which is mostly articles written by other people) and let me know what you think.

I am of the opinion that visiting the subject of "who exactly gassed Halapja" is a stupid idea, because trying to lay the blame in other places doesn't matter. 5,000+ people died in a matter of days....and if it really wasn't Saddam that ordered it, he sure didn't care that much about it anyway. I have seen no offical statements from Saddam saying that it wasn't his fault (and if you have access to such things I would LOVE to see them!)...he wasn't using the Kurds as political/moral reasonings of why Iran is bad...why? Saddam saw the Kurdish people as a nuisance, as a people who didn't have a right to live anyway, so why should he care? Regardless of who is to blame for the Halapja massacre the Saddam regime did nothing to stop it and therefore for not protecting his people he should be blamed, furthermore if Saddam did order it, he is responsible. In the end nothing changes, Saddam Hussein is still responsible for the deaths in Halapja!

So calming down....why is Truth Teller bringing this all up anyway? He says that

no one can break the ancient bond that tie the Kurds and Arab as brothers in a unified country called Iraq.

If such a bond does exist, you would think that he cared a little more, than posting articles that almost support Saddam.

Either way, I am going to put trust in the new legal system of Iraq...the truth should come out there.

Talabani's vote might not be counted!

2005-10-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

well, I have not being following the referendum on the UNKNOWN constitution, but I have this very funny bit of news which I wanted to share, but I just thought I should write something as it is not very nice for KBU to be so quiet while the whole world's eye is on the Kurdish participation in the Referendum!
well quoting zaman.com.tr , the Islamic Racist Turkish newspaper's online version in this article says:

"Talabani's vote might be cancelled The previous day, President Talabani's voting at the referendum five minutes before the official opening time of the voting day became the reason for discussions. While some politicians in Iraq complained about this and asked the Election High Committe to discard this vote, EHC will explain its decision today"

I am not sure how you rate the Turk's view but I think he is right! I just don't see any point of rushing to get people to sign for a constitution which was being amended while people where about to vote YES or NO for it! I didnt have a chance to check the list which was submitted by the Sunnis, but I read a short article on the http://www.kurdistannet.org/ which was saying that, they have now omitted the "federal" word in defining Iraq (not sure how accurate that is) but it was saying that, Barzani had left the conference room for either of two reasons: "not being welcomed officially at the start of the conference or was not happy with the procedings!" well again I am not sure how accurate this was either!
I believe you have been reading from very good sources about the results and other comments, it will be a yes (no surprise) despite the huge NO in Saddam's birthplace area (which isnt again a surprise really)but I can tell you people's view, those whom we talk to, they have gone to vote yes for different reasons, but I must say, it is not the case as some would think "right dont worry about the Kurds, they all say YES!"
There are people who disagree and I am very happy to hear different views, otherwise I would strongly doubt the so called "democracy".
What worries me though, I think the parties agreed that the next elected goverment can amend the constitution in addtion to what the Sunni parties suggested to be added to the constitution (tell me if I am wrong!), so I don't know how people go out and vote for a constitution which is NOT finalised yet!!!

Turkey: No changes for Kurds

2005-10-13T06:07:00.000-07:00

On a Kurdish mountain the Turkish national slogan is written by probably soldiers. It says ‘Ne mutlu Türküm diyene’, meaning ‘How happy is he who can say ‘I am a Turk’. Kurds have to look to this everyday. (Source google maps)

Delal made a good summary of the recent saddening news about the Kurdish question in Turkey here. Recently a Kurdish politician of the Dehap got sentenced for six months imprisonment and a fine of YTL 1,640 for beginning a speech at a local party convention by saying "good-day" in Kurdish.

He was charged with using a language other than Turkish for public political purposes in violation of the Political Parties Law.

This is the beloved Turkish democracy.

The Sanliurfa deputy leader Resit Yardimci was very surprised: "I believe this is a very unfortunate decision for Turkey. It is especially regrettable when one considers the start of Turkey's European Union membership negotiations and its aim to protect human rights," he said.

Recently I was reading a new book. It described how in the past the Kurdish Muslim Mehmhet Pamak reminded Islamist listeners of the double dose of oppression that Kurds have experienced at the hands of the "democratic" Turkish Republic's rulers. He said Kurds have been discriminated against for being both Muslim and Kurdish. He illustrated this difference in a parable, in the expectation (like I did in this article: The Turkish politics of the republic of Kurdistan that fiction cuts as deep as analysis.

"If there were a Kurdish Republic.
If the regime ruling the country named it Kurdey,
If Turkish were forbidden and if Turks were made to read, write and talk Kurdish (if education in Kurdish were compulsory),
If all the mountains in Turkish regions were decorated with the slogan "What happiness to those who say I am a Kurd',
If every morning in every school Turkish children were forced to shout, 'I am a true Kurd.. Let me exist as a gift to Kurdish existence',
If Turks who wanted their legitimate rights were made to eat filth and were subjected to every kind of torture.
If there were no modesty, honour, security of life or property in the Turkish areas,
If Turkish clubs and social organizations were banned, but Kurdish fraternities were encouraged to flourish and become centres for producing administrators and ideologues of the state,
If 'Kurdish nationalism' were guaranteed by the Constitution and idolized as unchangeable, unchallengeable principle of social life,
If everyone were forced to be a Kurd and the Kurdish president went on TV and announced to the whole nation, while looking into the eyes of Turks, that Kurdey was only for those who say 'I am a Kurd',
And worse - if Kurdish Muslims didn't perceive the level of trauma experienced by Turks but said, 'What difference does it make? We've all been oppressed you haven't suffered anything special.'

I wonder what Turks, especially Muslim Turks, would feel?

(Pamak 1996 translated by Christohoper Houstan in "Islam, Kurds and the Turkish Nation State)

The slogan 'Dunya Turk Olsun (DTO)' had on July 3 been sprayed on Kurdish homes all over Bursa. 'DTO' means "Let the World be Turkish" in Turkish.

The real version of the story is the world turned upside down. And a big part of this story still continues everyday in the current republic of Turkey.
Now I have to admit.. there were some changes, but the chauvinist, nationalist and anti-democratic attitude still exists. Still the Kurds have to face assimilation everyday in Turkish language schools, while they are Turkish. Everyday they have to look to the words "I am proud to be a Turk" in Diyarbakir.. Everyday they have to here that their Kurdish nation is Turkish..
Everyday they are reminded that they are delivered to the mercy of the Turkish government and Turkish people..

When does this attitude change? When do the Kurds get their legitimate rights like Kurdish language on public schools?
I doubt Turkey will change their attitude versus Kurds. Because they will never accept the full Kurdish rights.. even if they have to give up their dream to join the European Union.

By Vladimir

New Items...

2005-10-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

Lately there have been a lot of news items that I have been wanting to comment on, but time has not permitted. Mostly these particular items just make me want to beat my head against the wall repeatedly.

Item #1:
Turkey's Kurdish Language schools closing.
When the schools opened it was like a dream come true, and now that dream is fading away....and we should be outraged. The Turkish government would like to say that there is no demand to learn the language, which is untrue. If you only allow the language to be taught privately and not in public schools it is obvious that class enrollment will be low. The target population for learning the formal language is also the lowest socio-economic class in Turkey. If Turkey really wanted the EU to truly consider them for membership, implimenting language revitalization programs in the Southeast would be a huge mark in their favor. Also, if language programs were implimented, even if it was something like TSL classes (Turkish as a Second Language) the education system in the region would improve....but that will not happen. The republic of Turkey has set up the Kurdish regions of the Southeast to fail.

Item #2:
The EU finally announced that formal negotiations with Turkey were going to begin. Honestly I thought that they were negotiating anyway, but it all comes down to sematics, doesn't it? Of course, now that this topic is being revisited all of those little things that they need to fix are coming back into the limelight....torture..anti-terror laws...fun things like that. Now, I will cede that Turkey made efforts to change/improve the human rights situation...but it was only accomplished on paper, and things definitely have not changed. The following KBU articles both deal with the current human rights issues: European mission unearths torture claims in Turkey and KHRP:OSCE urged to examine Kurdish-Turkish relations.
For the Kurds of Turkey, these items are not new but just an everyday reality. For other people where the human rights situation in Turkey is brand new news I would like to offer the following comment: "Duh! Pay attention won't you!" And there is further "happy news" (please note the sarcasm) that the Turks are looking to Strengthen their Anti-Terror Laws, it isn't bad enough that they can already jail you for thinking thoughts against the state but they are going to make the penalties even stronger than before. But then again, ALL of the persecution that the Turkish government has committed against the Kurdish people they have managed to make perfectly legal in their law code. Ethics and morality in law aren't related anyway were they?

Item #3:
Of course Turkey's paranoia of critism does not only apply to the Kurds but to anyone talking about the Armenians as well. Instead of using the ultra-popular Orhan Pamuk to good use as a progressive Turkish face, they are threatening to imprison him for publically acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. Doubtless his book sales will skyrocket if he is imprisoned, but Turkey's international support rating will plummett. And journalist Hrant Dink is also being threatened with imprisionment for addressing the same issue on the Armenians, he is being cited as Insulting Turkishness. Which is a crime that many many people are guilty of.

Item #4:
The Kurdish paranoia is spreading again across the border to Syria. Again they are jailing Kurds for trying to separate from Syria. Of course, being a Kurd means that you want to separate from Syria there anyway...well if you are the Syrian government, that is what it means. Maybe Syria read about the wonderful things that the Iraqi Kurds have managed to achieve in terms of governmental stabilty and got a little scared.

The statute of Kurds in the new Iraqi Constitution

2005-09-16T03:26:00.000-07:00

On september 10th, good conference of Saywan Barzani, the KRG represenative in France. Clear and synthetic, and giving all elements to decide if Kurds could be satisfied or not of the Constitution. I transcript a survey.

Having recalled the different dispositions and provisionnal laws in Iraq since the liberation, Saywan presented the play of the 3 mains groups which have debated on the Constitution : Kurds, Sunnites and Shiites and the impossibility to make an agreement before August 15th.

Sunnites would have like a dossilution of the Assembly and the organisation of new elections. Kurds were not against it, for it would have not changed their own score but Shiites refused, fearing that their majority would be less important if Sunnites vote (they have boycotted the last elections). So the Committes had asked a delay of 3 days and at the end on August 28th, a provisionnal text had been presented (40 points shoud be decided later).

In majority, Sunnites are against this Constitution. But as they have not been elected, only "designed" as representative of their group, they are not in a strong position. Some of them are Baasists, some other moderate.

The current project had not been modified, except for changing the competences of central government concerning the issue of Tigris and Euphrat waters, for it is an international question between iraq, Syria and Turkey.

The main discussed points :

The identity of Iraq :

- I, 3 : Kurds' proposal was to mention a multiethnical Iraq. There was a debate on the former sentence "Iraq is a part of the Arab nation." Of course Kurds wanted to suppress it. Arabs proposed to write "the Iraqi territory is a part of the Arab nation", but as Saywan said, a territory could not be a part of a human group, so it has non sense. So an else formula has been adopted : "the Iraqi Arabs are a part of the Arab nation and Iraq is a founder member of the Arab League of which it respects the agreements, and formed a part of the Moslem world" (this to satisfy the Shiites).

The Constitution :

It is the result of a compromis between the 3 groups. We should analyse it in 2 sections, one concerning Iraq in general and the secund for the Kurdish Region.

We have to notice that it is the first permanent Constitution in Iraq since 1958, all the former were provisionnal because of internal and international conflicts.

After a very poetic preamble, recalling that the Iraqis are the children of Mesopotamia, that Iraq saw on its ground appearing the first law, the first writing, etc, the important points of the Constitution relate to: :

- The name of this state ? Kurds wished to call it "Federal republic of Iraq", and Shiites : "Islamic Republic of Iraq". Sunnites supported Shiites's choice because they were absolutely opposed to a "Federal republic." So it stays "Republic of Iraq", and in the text, it is mentionned as a "democratic, federal, representative (parlementary) repubublic. "

- State and Islam : As we have said, Shiites and Sunnites wished (or were not against) an Islamic Republic and islam as the unique source of Law. Kurds could not accept it , because they refuse all kind of dependance to a religious hierarchy (Shiite clerks are very influent). Then Kurds objected the numerous religious minorities in Iraq : Christians, Yezidis, Shabaks, Sabeans, etc. And islamic law could have differences between Shiite and Sunnit laws : For example "temporary marriage" does not exist for Sunna but is a Shiite institution. So Kurds obtained that islam is only quoted as "one of the sources" of Law, but not the unique.

Kurds have succeed to impose that other minorities'religious rights were stated in the Constitution (article 2) : "This constitution guarantees the Islamic identity of the majority of the Iraqi people and the full religious rights for all individuals and the freedom of creed and religious practices like (Christians, Yazidis, Sabaean Mandeans.)".

If we compare this constituion with most of those which rule the Arab world, it is very modern and advanced. It guarantees freedom for trade-union, political, for press, circulation of people, it condemns torture, degrading punishments. It allows the right to have a double nationality except for high representative of government, the right to education, health, the private property and market economy.

- On woman's statute : Kurds wanted a quota of 40% of women in National Assembly. At the end, only 25% had been accepted. Women have all rights to have a political and offcial activity.

Political institutions of federal Iraq:

At the head of the State, there are a president, a Prime Minister and two assemblies. It is a parliamentary system. President's power is quite honorary in spite of prerogatives. The exercise of the government belongs to the Prime Minister, but is controlled by the National Assembly.

The Regional Assembly :

We have few information on this institution, because it should be defined in a later law. Though this assembly which will guarantee the rights of regions, and thus the rights of Kurdistan.

Kurdistan (or Federal Region of Kurdistan) :

The Shiites wanted to also create their own area, but the sunnites are opposite there, because of the question of the natural resources (the oil of al Basra). Sunnites accept Kurdistan for they can not prevent it, but But they are opposed so that the Shiites follow the movement. However best would be to divide Iraq as follows: the area of the Holy Cities (Kerbelah, Najaf), that of al Basra, the area sunnite, Kurdistan.

About the Region, all the Kurdish claims have been accepted, except two: the name of "federal republic" as we saw, and the right in 6 or 8 years, to make a Kurdish referendum on selfdetermination. But the Arabs refused it. So the components of the Iraqi people are presented as forming a "free union" as long as the Constitution will not be modified. This "Iraqi union" can thus be broken at each constitutional change. T

Language :

In article 4 it is stipulated that Kurdish and Arabic are the two official languages of Iraq. Firstly the sunnites had required that Arabic be the language of Iraq and Kurdish the official language of the Kurdish area only, but one could then wonder in which language the two entities were going to be able to communicate. It should be remembered that 60% of the Kurds of Iraq do not speak Arabic. In addition, the Kurds asked and obtained that the other languages be mentioned, as Turkmen or Syriac, and the right of these minorities to educate their children in their mother tongues.

Respective competences of the central government and the Regions :

The government has only 9 exclusive competences ( all others belong to regions) : Foreign policy, diplomacy, economical policy, monetary, national defense, customs, telecommunications, hydraulic resources , census of the population, etc.

In reality however, much of these "exclusive" competences are assumed by regions because of the weakness of the central State. There are also "shared" competences which encroach even on the field of exclusive competences, thus for customs, distribution in water/electricity, environment, health, education etc, which is also support by regions.

Competences of regions :

Regions can change the laws which are not included in the exclusive competences of the central government. they can have their own representation in foreign countries (as Québec) and can rule economical, social and juridic questions. Region rule themselves and organize their own safety (police, army, militia).

Kurds have especially three aims for the future :

The question of Kirkuk, Xaneqîn, etc. :

The article 58 of the former provisionnal law about the return of expelled people in their homeland and the restitution of their good and properties has not been applied in reality since 14 months. Arabs accepted this article in the new Constitution but they did not want a deadline in the agenda. Kurds refused, because they were afraid to wait for one century ! Then Arabs proposed a delay of 10 oo 20 years. Kurds refused again. Finally, Kurds should come back in their homes before December 31 2007, and Arab colonists should leave. By a referendum, inhabitants will choice if they will be integrated or not in the Kurdish Region. But the governorate of Kirkuk had been shared between several districts by Saddam. It is necessary to restaure it before. Arabs object so that ALL the governorates were changed by Saddam and then, logically, they ought to rebuilt all the system of districts, and not only the Kirkuki one.

Another Kurdish claim is oil income. Kurds asked firstly that 60% profit to Kurdistan and 35% to the Central Government. But it has not been accepted. Then they conclude an alse agreement : current oil resources are for Bagdad, but any new oilfield discovered in Kurdistan would be the property of the Region.

Peshmergas :

Kurds wanted to keep their defence, even if Shiites threatened to keep then some militias as Sadr's. Now each region has its own "guards", and calls them as it likes. Kurdistan calls its guards "Peshmergas of Kurdistan".

Other problems :

- Iraqi flag and hymns :

Both are explicit references to Arab nationalism and are categorically refused by the Kurds because it is under these colors that they have been genocized. This flag coulds be seen in Silêmanî but is absolutely forbiden in Hewlêr/Erbil. Last July, the Consul of the USA refused to go to the reception organized by the Kurds for celebrating the American Day, pretexting that in the building (and all the city) did not float the Iraqi flag (the same one as under Saddam but without the pious formula writes with the hand and the blood of the deposed raïs) but only Kurdish colours. Some Kurds reacted by asking if after the fall of Reich in 1945, they would have required that the Nazi flag continue to float on the concentration camps...

A new Iraqi flag should be voted and decided later.

How could we be sure that this Constitution will be respected and applied to the ground?

This Constitution is very rigid and let a few power to the central government. It is based entirely on a concept "of voluntary union" between the two major people of Iraq, the Arabs and the Kurds. Many of these provisions require the 2/3 of the Parliament to be changed and the Parliaments of the areas can decide to accept them or reject by referendum.

On the ground, of course, all depends on the way in which the American occupation will continue, or if the troops will be withdrawn and when. But in reality, we can say that Kurdistan is finally made up and has a political legitimacy which Iraq cannot reconsider. On October 15 the text of the Constitution will be the subject of a referendum. It will be probably approved, for the main Kurdish parties and Shiites do not contest it and will invite their sympathizers to vote for it.

Question/Answers:

Q. : How about the situation of Mosul ?

A. : Mosul is ethynically very mixed and is a complex ground. The city can approximately be divided in two banks, the right-hand side and the left (of the Tiger). The left bank is populated Kurds, Christians, Yezidis, Shabaks, etc, and is controlled by the Kurdish forces. The right bank has an Arab population, sunnite in majority, with much former and current Baasist (among the old republican Guard of Saddam, 20,000 of them came from Mosul). Because of the insecurity and the presence of terrorist groups, *areas of the north of Mosul wish more and more to be attached to Kurdistan, which one can plan to make by making them pass in the districts of Kirkuk or Dohouk. The right bank it, is controlled by the Americans in the daytime, by the terrorists in the night.

Q. : How Sunnites and Shiites Kurds manage their religious difference ?

R. : Religious identity is not the most important in Kurdicity, opposing to Iraqi Arabs. Thus, Kurdistan is currently ruled by an Assyrian (Christian), the Vice-Prime Minister when the PM is out of the country. The most important is to be "Kurdistani".

Q. : How much peshmergas are there in Kurdistan ?

R. : Officially today, we count 37,000 peshmergas from PUK and between 50 and 60 000 peshmergas from the DPK. But in truth, only 15,000 men were correctly involved and are operational. It is not desirable to employ some more, because Kurdistan suffers from a lack of workers (because of the war, exiles, the genocide) at such point that it plans to call upon immigrants.

Q. How could we be sure that the article 58 on the return of the deportees of Kirkuk and the departure of the Arab colonists will be really applied?

R. : it is stipulated that this article will have to be applied before 30/12/2007. If not, as for all the articles of the Constitution, its non-observance will break "the free union of Iraqi" on which this Constitution is based. The Americans oppose sometimes to the return of the refugees. Some Christians, who had reinvested a village, were dislodged by US soldiers, who brought back the colonists! But the Kurds and the others return all the same, and recover their goods. Around Kirkuk, 55% of the Kurdish fields were taken again by their owners. It is estimated that between 170 and 200,000 Kurds returned to Kirkuk.

But there are no only colonists: Civils servant, too. The Arab employees of the Oil Northern Company had been transferred to Kirkuk, according to the Baasist policy to employ Arabs in Kurdish country. Among 178,000 employees of the Oil Northern Company only 180 employees are Kurds, in subordinate positions. But it is delicate to claim a "purification" of all the foreign civil servants in Kurdistan. In the field of health, of education, for example, these people are in Kirkuk because they were transferred there, and not by choice.

Further Coverage of Kurdish Blogs

2005-09-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

Readers, Writers, and Responders of KBU will be pleased to note that our efforts of blogging for the Kurdish cause have not gone unnoticed. Recently I was asked to join a group called Global Voices Online, which covers the activities of bloggers in different parts of the world so that their voices can be heard by a wider audience. The first enstallment of what will be a weekly posting covering the Kurdish Blogs was posted today. This is an excellent oppurtunity for us all, and I will try to do my best in protraying the best that we have to offer.

Beji Vladimir !

2005-09-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

the first day that I talked to Vladimir, I couldnt belive that I am not dreaming.

A dutch boy who knows much about Kurdistan [probably more than many kurds] , a Non Kurd Dutch boy who prefers to work for kurdistan in his News Sites (Azady in Dutch and KBU news in English) than going out and have fun with Babes like other boys in his age in his country.
This Ducth boy who Kurdistan's liberation is his ambition , The boy that has talked to Dutch officials about Kurds , the boy that has done several articles for Dutch institutes .
it would take 2-3 pages if Iwant to just mention what Vladimir has done for Kurdistan .

If you remember I had done an interview with him 5 months ago ...
the last question that I had asked from him was :

Do you have any plan to start a blog in English ?
I don't know if I have time for that, but I don't think it would take a lot of time. Maybe I start one in my vacations if I have some time left. When I start a blog I rather want to do it about the older history of the Kurds then the news of today, because everybody got blogs about that and you can read columns at a lot of Kurdish websites.

now vladimir has started a blog and he is doing very well , when you read his posts you tell yourself "a great Journalist is borning!" [sorry for english mistakes (Wink)]

here I want to thank vladimir for all of his efforts for Kurdistan . and I ask you loyal readers of KBU to visit Vladimir and link to him , because his blog really worth reading .

Actualy Vladimir's blog doenst need advertising , once you read it , you will find out it is a good source for information and analyze about middle east by a Fair Judge . so don't forget ot read "From Holland to Kurdistan"

and also I want to thank Pamela the writer of Atlas Shrugs Blog who has dedicated several posts to Kurds here are some of her posts :

let say Beji Vladimir and Beji Pamela and Beji all freedom lovers everywhere. [Beji means Long Life in Kurdish]

Kurdish Library

2005-09-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

As Medya asked it, here are some pictures of the Library in the Kurdish Institute of Paris :

Some 7.000 books on Kurds and Kurdistan, in all languages and alphabets.

One of the oldest Kurdish Grammar (1787), in Italian, made by a Dominican father who stayed many years in Kurdistan, in the 18th century.

The Sherefnameh, or History of Kurdish princes, had been written by Sheref Khan of Bitlis in the 16th century. In 1873-1875, François Charmoy, a French scholar, translated it from Persian. It has been published in Saint Petersburg. At the right, it is a Kurdishh-French dictionnary, made by Alexandre Jaba, and published in 1879 in Saint Pertersburg too.

Of course, each new publication enters here, but I am very fond of these old books...

Rews,a malbatê

2005-09-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

Among the funny answers that I met in the applications of grants, the best off is the answers to the question : "rews,a malbatê (aîlewî)" , translated from the French "famililal situation".

Just for knowing if the cadidate is bachelor of married.

Well, it does not seem very clear for much students, for with the usual "nezewicî, bekar, zigortî, ezeb" all synonyms to indicate that they are single, I could read enigmatic answers :

Pak = clean. Either marriage is considered as a shady activity, and in that case "pak" means "unternished" like their reputation, or malbat being is literally "house", I imagine the candidate looking around him and chekcking if the housekeeping is OK, at the contray he would have asked his mum to do it before writing his application...

Cotker, karker : two variations of bekar ? nope ! Cotkar means "peasants, farmer" and "karker" worker. Some seem to have understood that we would like to know their social status and their relatives' job.

Qels = weak. Probably an information about the economical situation of the family or a man that his wife has tired a lot.

Navcîn : Did want he write navçîn ? at the middle ? perhaps a son between an elder and a younger, or a "moderate" opinion pro or anti-marriage.

And last but not least :

"Rews,a malbatê = "Alevi Kurd".

Another pictures

2005-09-05T23:48:00.000-07:00

Children of Hewlêr.

Warning : Don't steal the pictures. Their rights are reserved, it is just for the pleasure of eyes !

Grants for Kurds

2005-09-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

For the second time, I am plunged in all the asking of grants. As usually, many aspects characterized the origin of students, showing the influence of national education on Kurdish minds :

- The files of Kurds from Turkey are often marvellous to read and treat. They are often sent in portfolios, with a very nice and clear presentation, each document classified : file, civilities, diploma, notation, etc. With often a list of all the papers that we could find inside... A pure delight to have everything in a logical order, with no need to make a desperate research for getting the simple and few informations that are absolutely necessary for preparing the case... We could see in that rigorous organisation the mark of the Turkish educationnal system, very disciplined, almost Prussian, in its strict logic...

- Iranian Kurds' files are full of various documents, certificates, notations, diploma, letters, etc.... Very beautiful writings but how Persian is difficult to read ! Moreover, Iranian stamps are very nice. Last year, there were a lot of partridges. This years, butterflies win. The sending is often hidden in various packets, or newspaper, or even box of posters, or the wrapping is quite impossible to open without a big knife, because it is strenghened with several layers of scotchtape... We can constate the great trust that Kurds feel toward Iranian mail office...

- Iraqi Kurds are a big big big problem. Since the liberation, the files of students should be directly sent to the French Consulate in Bagdad. Near than 150 grants are so given to Iraqi students and among them 35 are reserved for Kurds. But but but.... When it has learnt it, the Kurdish commission of universities presented a list of high ranked teachers, quite mature in years... Some of their friends I guess, hopeful to spend 4 years in Paris, with the financial support of France. "Gasp, answered the French responsible, We want YOUNG STUDENTS only !" So another turn, a new meeting, and a list of young students had been presented. BUT instead of giving it directly to the Consulate, they have to send it to the Iraqi government firstly, which will give the 150 files together. In a proud nationalist reaction, the commission refused and wished to send its own list directly to the Consulate, without Iraqi medium... So another missed opportunity for students. I wonder when the problem will be resolved, and it is very difficult to explain by phone, to students from Hewlêr, Silêmanî, Duhok, etc, that normally, we are not allowed to receive their asking. At student's place, I would ask to all the head of Kurdish universities to explain themselves...

- In Syrian Kurdistan, there are strange rumours... As the Kurdish region is small, I suppose that when a tale is forged, it spreads quickly in all the community.... This year, Syrian then are persuaded of a quota by region : that only one Kurd from Syria could be accepted, for example. I wonder WHO has had that brilliant idea, but I had to deny it all that spring and summer... Moreover, we have received some problematic faxes, with unreadable documents or incomplete, and without any number phone to warn people, of course... Fortunately email have a greater success.

- As usually many files are eliminated because not complete : file witghut diplomas, diplomas without files, or missing notations .. Some Kurds from Iran were in conflict too with their universities that refused to give them their diplomas (because they estimate that the offered "bakshish" was not so important). I received too a disguised asking of immigration : a married man (though only bachelors are allowed to ask a grant) with his wife (who has just a high school certificate) and another young man, probably his brother. Just missed their granny's file, in fact.

As usually, no sending should be accepted after July 31th, but I still receive files... At least Iranian Kurds have good reasons for being in late, for in July, communications were forbiden in mahabad, and elsewhere... So I am indulgent with them :)

At the end, near to hundred of askings have been sent, for a very few number of grants... The last year, only five students could have been financially supported. In that case, only "genius" should be accepted !

Trips and pictures in Southern Kurdistan

2005-08-29T04:18:00.000-07:00

Text in French but you could all the same see the pictures :

The Citadel of Salahadin.

The Citadel of Erbil.

Updates on other Kurdish Blogs

2005-08-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

The bloggers have been fairly quiet here in the land of KBU, and while I can't speak for all, I know that the new school year has thrown me for a loop.
The following is a short list (not comprehensive in any sense) of what some of the other bloggers have been up to:

Vladimir has been working tirelessly on the KBU Forum and on the KBU News page in addition to his participation in many recent demostrations in his native country.

Medya has also been incredibly active on the KBU Forum and News site in addition to getting ready to start university this Fall.

Unfortuately I can't read French and so I am mostly deprived of Piling's wonderful wit, but don't let that deter you from visiting her.

Kurdo is currently on hiatus, but I hope to see him return soon.

Hiwa is about to go on vacation but hopes to start blogging more in earnest.

Dilnareen seems to be missing in action at the moment, but they are also a member of the Iraq Blog Count which gets updated pretty regularly. I like what they do there and I wouldn't mind it if we did the same occasionally....which is really what sparked this particular post.

Sami has been giving some excellent commentary on the current situation in Iraq and the future of Southern Kurdistan.

Xosh 7al has been quiet in posting, but not quiet in any means on the comments. So Xosh, when are you going to start your own blog?

Dear Emmunah has been quiet on her blog, but she is recooping from a recent shoulder surgery....I wish you fast healing Em!

Swara and Naz have also been quiet but I hope that they return soon.

And of course I have been trying to update my own useless drivel.

I know that this post isn't much of an excuse for our lastest silence, but hopefully soon we will pick up again at full speed. In the meantime, I encourage you all to check into the others blogs and heavily utilize the extensive list of other Kurdish blogs that we link to.

Until next time,
Take Care,
Delal

Bush: “If Iranians stand for their freedom, America is with them”Question : Aren't Iranian Kurds, Iranian ?

2005-08-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

Insurgent in Iranian Kurdistan is expanding from alley to alley, village to village, town to town.
No Kurdish party had asked people to do protest. They happened suddenly without any former organized plan. [Kurdish parties are banned in Iran and they all live in exile, and they don’t have any considerable contact with people]

First of let see how the insurgents started,
The first flake of insurgents started about one months ago in the center of Kurdish Nationalism , Mahabad. (Where the Independence Kurdistan Republic was declared by President Qazi Mohammad in 1946).

In Mahabad a Civil Kurdish activist named “Shwane Qadri” was shot by police and his injured buddy was pulled around the city by car in order to warn other people not to go in his way. Finally Shwane was killed by Iranian Police in a very brutal torture.

The pictures of his tortured body were published by Kurdish news sites.

Then the people of Mahabad City angrily without any plan went to the streets and asked the government to punish those who did this brutal crime. (Un-regarding how undemocratic Iran law is , at lest it admits that it is just court that can sentence somebody to death not police shot him directly!)

Police brutally oppressed Mahabad’s protest and according to the news some people been killed by police.

Soon the people of the neighboring cities to the Mahabad , Shino (Oshnavieh) – Prisanshahr – Bukan – … protested one after another to support people of Mahabad and in each of these cities , 5-6 people been killed and several more been injured and many hundreds been arrested. (the biggest protest was in Shino city where number of the deaths was more than 10)

the protest came to Mahabad (Again), this time the government loosed the city’s control for hours and they sent 9000 new soldiers from Tehran (Capital City)– Hamadan – Zanjan (Iranian Turkish cities) to mountains near Mahabad and they oppressed people and took the control again.

Soon people of cities farther than Mahabad showed their anger in the streets , again the Kurdish Parties didn’t organize or Plan for a protest and all this happened by people themselves.

People of Iranian Kurdistan, were waiting for a statement or something that ask people to show their protest at specific time But nobody knew what to do …

Just 6 hours before the protest in Sine , while I was walking in the Sine street , so “coincidental” I saw a piece of small paper in the city , that had asked people of Sine (Sanandaj) City to show their protest peacefully in “6 Bahman” Street at 7o clock .
Even though just small number of people were informed about the location and time of the protest, Thousands of the people participated in it.
According to KDP-I (Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran) 5 People were killed in Sine (Sanandaj) , as Sine is one of the biggest Kurdish city in Iran, its protest soon was spread to other smaller towns and cities…even to the southern Kurdish cities where Kurdish nationalim is lower than northern parts (Kermanshah- Ilam …)

After Sine the people of Seqqez made a large protest that faced the hardest oppression from police as they (Police ) expected it to happend , acording to the reports they used Heavey Weapons to kill people ! they even used helicopters to shot peopel .
in Seqqez more than 20 been killed , and handreds been injured ! nobody is allowed to enter the hospital , and many of the injured are being treated in the houses and they are in a bad condition .

The insurgents still continues , from village to village town to town …and the World Media's ignoring continues as well. Thousands of the people been arrested in Iranian Kurdistan !
Two Kurdish Weekly been closed, Human Right Activists and Famous people been arrested, among them Dr Roya Toloui , the famous Kurdish feminist .

Kurdish people are being killed brutally by one of the Axes of Evil , a country which it's ellected president is a Reall Terrorist and praticpated in terrorsits attacks directly (incudling kidnapiing Ameican Diplomats and killling Kurdish Leaders on the negoite table )
I remember President Bush had called Iran , one of the axes of Evil and in a historical speech said “If Iranians Stand for their freedom America is with them”

I as an "Iranian" Kurd, want to ask President Bush “Excuse me Mr Bush where are you ? why you are not with us ?”

I ask American Medias “why you don’t cover our news ? why you don’t pay 1% of the attention that you paid for Lebanon to us agains the Iranian Regime which is the sponsor of terorists ! which is making nuclear bomb ! which is Axes of Evil !?”

At the same time with these insurgents the Iranian “Persian” writer in prison , Akbar Ganji , who has started a hunger strike from 57 days ago, wants Iranian regime to free him.

President Bush, White house, EU and Reporters without border and …, sent letter to Iran government and asked them to free Ganji immdeietly, American Medias that are accesable in Iran( like Radio Farda- VOA NEWS are covering News about this persian writer all the time)

Mind that Akbar Ganji , was a top member of Iranian security agents , and had hand in many crimes…he was also one of the students who had kidnapped American Diplomats in US embassy in Iran 27 years ago .

Yes If Iranians stand for their freedom America is with them (butt they shouldn’t be Kurd) Even if they be one of those who had kidnapped American Diplomats . America still is with them…but NO NO NO Iranian Kurds are not Counted!

Not only president but also American medias ignored Iranian Kurds.

The same thing happened for Kurds in Syria , while ago, very large protests in Syrian Kurdistan was held for killing a Kurdish Pro-west Moderate Clerk .
even though many been killed , they didn’t receive any considerable attention by the world .

I remember, Turkey had warned America not to attack Iran or Syra, and Turkey would never let America us its land to attack to Iran or Syra. Because it would result “Independence For Kurdistan”

I wouldn’t wonder if an expert tell me, the reason that America is ignoring Kurdish Protest in Iran is Turkey !

At the same time we hear that America putting pressure on Iraqi Kurds to forget their demanding
…Mr Khalilzad (American ambassador) said while he was in Kirkuk City , nobody is allowed to force Occupier Arabs to leave Kirkuk ! ”
By Mr Khalilzad ,the Article 58 of the Iraqi Law, should not be established ! (we thought in Iraq things should go by law ! )
The former US ambassador Mr John Negroponte had stated that Article 58 must be established.[Kirkuk is a Kurdish city that handreds Thousands of its kurds been forced to leave their homes , and thier homes been given to Arabs , now those Kurds want to return to thier homes ! Turkey has warned if that happen, they will attack to Kurdistan . (you know Kirkuk as oil ! )]

The Great Kurdistan (Iran-Syria-Turkey-Iraq…) had been in a deadly silence for about 10 years…(almost after Ochalan's Capure) but this silence has been broke recently, today we see ALL parts of Kurdistan except (Southern Part) in insurgent and in blood !

It is time for we Kurds to believe, that the Kurdish Problem in Middle east , is not going to be solved in “the Broader Middle East Project” and America is not with Iranian Kurds against Iranian regime and is not with Syrain Kurds against Syrian Regime.

We remember, the former Iranian Shah’s dictatorship, Shahs regime was a Persian Nationalism Based Secular Dictatorship –a Persian Model of Turkish Ataturk Regime and at that time his regime was highly supported by USA against Kurds . (They just want a Turkish model )

As the America is the designer of the broader Middle East project and Turkey is the model for this Broader Middle East. We shouldn’t expect Kurdish problem be solved in braoder middle east .
solving Kurdish problem , would damage US relation with their ally, the Dear Model of Democracy for middle east .

(Recently American Medias started recovering Turkey’s picture in USA, and American newspapers are full of Pro Turkey Articles but you can obviously see lack of Kurd’s presence in their pages. Read an Example Here)

Declare independence

2005-08-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

Its over, there is no real hope.
The truth is that Iraq consists of three major groups
A) Shi'ites whose majority thanks to sanctions and Saddam Hussein have no real education and hence are followers rather than thinkers and are brainwashed enough to vote for people who take away their rights rather than grant it to them. Its sad that its the Kurdish leaders and the women groups fighting for ALL IRAQ'S WOMEN
B) Sunni Arabs that good or bad still would rather a Sunni Arab rule than a Kurd or Shi'ite. They shiver at the mention of Kurdistan, Kirkuk, Kurdish, Iraqi flag change, etc..... no matter if they were with Saddam or not, its not for us to be equals to them since we are not from great Arab Umma
C) Kurds... no need to insert details here

Its time for Kurdish leaders to suspend appearing in the Iraqi parliament. Let them draft their own constituion. They can call it the Islamic Republic of Iraq/Iran. They can tell women that they are only alloed to show their mouth, nose and eyes. They can ask the Western troops to leave. All Kurdish families should leave Islamic Iraq/Iran and come home.

The other idea is to split the country in two.

Federal Iraq: Liberal ppl welcome, human beings with intelligence too

The other Iraq: Fundamentalists, racists, killers, can all get together and enjoy life. There is more oil in the south than Kirkuk and with LNG being the next most important energy source they can do well to try and go find and explore that rather than just hold rally's and protests.
Also for oil devolpment, the other iraq should not be allowed western companies cause its haram.

I hope that we boycott the constituion, the assembly and that we realise that nobody will defend us and espically not in public cause the masses will never re-elect non kurdish politicans who gave Kurds their rights because its at the expesnse of Saddam's Arabization.

Now its obvious why i haven't written for a while :)
enjoy ur day and take care

Hasankey condemned ?

2005-08-01T01:34:00.000-07:00

Or the return of the revenge of Ilisu dam project...

The project of builing Ilisu Dam, which will submerge Hasankey and its valley had been stopped after the desistance of Balfour Beatty in 2002, for a campaign had been orchestrated by many organisations, denouncing the historical, archeological and ecological disaster of a such project.

Then, in spite of his former promises, Turkish Prime Minister wants to restart the project and this time, it seems that the German company Siemens will be involved in that. For Siemens, which has bought the Austrian company VA tech, the only foreign company still remained in the building of dams, has apprently the intention to start the cosntruction this summer.

A campaign of protest has begun against Siemens and VA Tech, with a petition by e-mail, sent to both leaders of these companies. The opponents of Ilisum Dam object that the dam will destroy a beautiful historical site, and that will bring not great benefits, even for Turkey, because the hydro-electric energy produced will be quite weak compared to the needs of the country.
It is rather all the system of distribution in energy, often decayed and ineffective that it is necessary to re-examine in Turkey.

Moreover, the culture by irrigation which the dam would allow, according to the Turkish government, would benefit only the rich owners who want to make Anatolian south-east a vast cotton field. They have already recovered for themselves Kurdish fugitives' goods and properties. But the poorest peasants will win nothing to that : 78.000 of them will be "displaced". Not a ideal way to improve the economic activity of the area and the dramatic rate of unemployment in the Kurdish country. The government, of course, made promises of reinstalment and compensation for the moved people, but we could be skeptic, if we consider what did happen after other construction projets.

Friends of Earth start a campaign and ask people to sent protesting mails to Siemems, VA TEch, and your EU MP if you are European.

Kurdish Nessie

2005-07-19T02:52:00.000-07:00

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 !

Harry Potter û Mirê dureh

2005-07-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

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...)

A Turkish draft for the Iraqi constitution ?

2005-07-16T00:51:00.000-07:00

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.

The Fake of the month

2005-07-13T00:11:00.000-07:00

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...

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

2005-07-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

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.

Qusay's former mistress needs you...

2005-07-11T03:29:00.000-07:00

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 ;)

Ah Crap

2005-07-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

I just read this on yahoo news...

Kurdish bomb attack wounds 20 in Turkish resort

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/20050711/wl_nm/turkey_blast_dc

I've been priding myself recently on how Kurds have managed to steer away from cowardly bomb blasts or suicide killings involving innocent people, especially now in the recent wake of the bomb blasts in London.

But now the "Kurdish Liberation Hawks" (what kind of gay sensationlising name is that?) and the PKK have decided to collectively drag down the Kurdish identity into the mud and dirt alongside arabs and islamic extremists.

I am just glad that there were no fatalities. The dumb thing was that the resort was full of foreign tourists. The PKK must obviously have the same cowardly logo of Al Qaeda which is "Why kill a tiger when there are so many sheep?" . Cowards!

I am all for an independant Kurdistan and fighting for the right to keep hold of our identity but surely challenging the people responsible for trying to take our identity away (i.e. the murderous oppresive raping and pillaging governments) is more logical and influential than lame criminal attacks on innocent people.

The less of this type of news the better.

Commemoration of S,êx Mees,ûq's assassination

2005-07-09T04:01:00.000-07:00

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. »

after Live8 London is injured badly

2005-07-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

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!

Iran's taste is a Kurdish Leader assasin!

2005-07-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

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!

Happy 1st Birthday

2005-07-04T02:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Speak Turkish !

2005-07-02T03:18:00.000-07:00

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 ?

AIDS ? a foreign plot against Kurds !

2005-06-30T03:29:00.000-07:00

Or how to be as so stupid as most of states in the world which had waited for a serious epidemic to acknowledge that... ahem... yeah, at home also... Thus, according to the Kurdish newspaper Hawlatî, 61 HIV cases have been reported in Silêmanî. This number would have been quoted by the Department Police of the city, some high ranked people having made a memo about the issue.

Is it so surprising for a worldwide epidemic ? We could even say that 61 is few and it would be interesting to search other cases in ALL the country.

But the minister of Health has - of course - denied everything, saying that there is NO HIV case in Kurdistan. Absolutely none. When virus is going to pass the border it realizes that it goes to Kurdistan and runs away.

Now, according to the memo, police wants to arrest all the prostitues coming from southern Iraq and foreign countries. And the minister of Interior has even added that these sex worker females are in reality sent by "ennemies of Kurdistan", in a great paranoïa delirium : "It could not come from us, all our female prostitutes are healthy (seems that there are no male prostitutes in Kurdistan, in any case not in minister's statistics) ; it means too that there are no drug addictions, no sexual relations without condoms (except with foreign prostitutes but because they have bad intentions), no dangerous blood transfusion in Kurdistan". All the problems come from elesewhere (everybody know that foreign people are always corrupted, libertine and a source of contamination).

So for unique prevention, and though at each terrorist attack, authorities call people to give blood, you have only to ask sex workers' nationality, and to make sex only with Kurds. No condoms, no tests, no campaign of information about the way of contamination...

The next time, if police find a case of chicken flu in Kurdistan, I suppose they will state a geostrategic explanation about a Chinese plot ...

2005-06-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

The power of revenge

2005-06-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

I am sure that there are a few of you who have seen this news item today (for the sake of simplicity I am just going to paste the article here and comment afterward):

Young Kurd takes revenge after 19 years
28/06/2005 DozaMe.org
KURDISTAN, June 27 (DozaMe.org) - A young Kurd named Ferdin Xelili killed the infamous Iranian army commander Malik Abdul Elizade and wounded his son in the city of Urmiye in eastern Kurdistan on June 17.

Malik Abdul Elizade was serving as an intelligence commander for Pasdaran in 1986 in the city of Urmiye. During his service in Urmiye, Elizade was directly responsible for torturing and killing hundreds of Kurds; among them nine villagers in the village of Lorbalaco 5 kilometers west of Urmiye.

Among these nine villagers were Ferdin Xelili’s father Sidiq Xelili and his uncle Salih Xelili. Ferdin Xelili was only one year old when his father and uncle were killed in 1986.

19 years later, Ferdin Xelili took revenge by killing Elizade.

(Source: Rojhilat.org)

Wow, when you really think about the story the consequences of his actions are deep. Please by no means believe that I am advocating violence, I am a pacifist at heart and strongly believe that violence is never the answer...however the impact of revenge upon this boy, that he grew up his whole life hating someone so much that he wanted that person dead and acted upon it. While his hatred is justified, is his violence justified as well? I put this as a question to the group (please comment): Is violence justified in seeking revenge?

I want to put words to how this story makes me feel, but I am afraid that I am unable to do so...maybe I will be lucky and a flash of inspiration will hit...but until that moment, my heart will be filled with sadness for this young boy consumed by hate and know after he has resolved his hate, having to deal with the aftermath.

"I prefer to play with the invisible"

2005-06-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

As the movie could be seen in September in France a booklet of presentation has been already published. I just reproduce the interview, though many of the talking could have been red here and there. The movie is announced on memento.film.com, too. Moreover, I know that Hiner Saleem will come to Kurdistan in July, to present his work. So Kurdistani, be aware !

INTERVIEW

What was the genesis of the movie ?
When Saddam Husein fall, I was in Armenia, where Vodka Lemon was shot. I had only one desire, at this time : being there, with them. As soon as I came back in France, I decided to go to Iraq and to return to Kurdistan. I 've talked about it around. Everybody found the project very attractive. So I went, without waiting for funding. I went without knowing if I would spent two or eight weeks. I stayed four months.

What is the origin of the story of this man who go to war ?
At the origin, it is my brother's story who deserted Iraqi army. So I started with this character of soldier against his own will and I developped the scenario bit by bit while I shot the movie.

Coming back in the country that you left more than twenty years ago, what were your feelings ?
I had been through many emotions, quite violent. During five minutes, I cried for joy by seeing the Kurds free. Five minutes later, I was exasperated to constate how they refuse to accept the fragility of their situation. But after five minutes again, I was overcomen by the joy to see them free and happy.

What kind of obstacles have you met ?
The biggest problem was to find a camara and negative. There was not one single camera which could work in all the country. You have to know that, all along its history, Iraq did not produce more that five movies. So we had to cope, and do it quickly. Nobody could foresee how the situation would evolve.

Though its conditions of realization, Kilometre Zero is brightly achieved with numerous sceneries...
It is a road-movie. So yes, we had shot in many places, with a lot of sceneries and extra... Kurdish authorities helped us. The action is set at the end of 80's, a short time before the end of the war against Iran. So it is a period movie, we had to recreate all a world which has disappeared now. When I came, it was not already possible to find a uniform of Saddam's army. Even his pictures were unobtainable... I fled the country when I was seventeen, things have much changed. For example, the national hymn is not the one I knew when I was a child. A technician made me the remark. It is the same thing concerning the flag. Saddam's Iraq had had three versions of the same flag. The coloured strips changed of direction, a star had been added ... So we had to remake it, without forgetting the spelling mistake on the calligraphy '"Allah is the Greatest"... Saddam himself wrote it with his own blood, and no one had the courage to tell him that he was wrong...

You had to flee your country. Was not it painful to work with these omnipresent Saddam's portraits ?
But I live always with him ! He was everywhere, on books, exercise books...Wherever you look at, you could see his picture, on a throughbred horse brandishing a sword, in military uniforme a Kalachnikov in his hand, knelt toward Mecca on a prayer carpet...We knew all his titles : "president commander, knight of the Arab nation and guard of its Eastern gate, victorious of the Zionists, pride of the Tigris and the Euphrat..."

Where did you find this statue of Saddam ?
I made it make...All the Kurdish sculptors refused. I had to persuade an Arab sculptor. It took 2 weeks for finding one who did accept. For obvious reasons of safety, it was unthinkable to make cross all the country to a giant statue of Saddam, we thus decided to move the workshop of the sculptor.He went to Kurdistan, in a house, and worked in the garden. When the statue began to take its real size, the head raised above the wall and the security immediately arrived. "Our Saddam" had been confiscated and the sculptor imprisonned. I had to explain myself with authorities to make him release.

In the most unbearable situations, under the fire in trenches war, you are able to make laugh. As if you tinct the most tragic trials with humour and lightness...
I speak about very serious, very deep subjects, but I try to present them with their own simplicity. I did not want make something spectacular with war scenes. I don"t play with the sensationnal, nor strong emotions. I prefer to play with the invisible.
As for humour, I perhaps inherited that of my grandfather. He said : "Our past is sad, our present tragic, but fortunately we have no future." In the most tragic moments, we find ever a burlesque detail, an absurd situation. Kurds, like all people who had suffered a lot, use to see them. This humour help us to survive also.

Kilometre zero is a movie about dictatorship and war, based on pure and arbitrary violence. Why this choice to not show directly horrible crimes ?
Probably a question of decency. What I film, what I say, could not be compared with the rage that I bring in my heart. One day perhaps I will manage to express it.
In Kilometre zero, I did want essentially to recreate an atmosphere. To make breathe the perfume of the dictatorship. It would have probably easier to narrate a simple, concrete history. Each Kurd has dozens of such histories to tell.

How to define the relations between both men, the Kurdish soldier, a soldier against his own will, and his Arab driver?
Both are like two time bombs. We don't know when they will go off. In five minutes, five hours or five years... But we can be sure that they will go off.
Without our opinion being asked, we were annexed in Iraq and oppressed by a majority which does not cease refusing us what it claims for itself. I speak vainly their language, I do not know the Arabs. I know them only by political police and army.

Would you say that this movie is, more than the former's, a political movie ?
No, it is not a political movie... Even if I am a very political man. I watch the news with enthusiasm. I need to be informed all the time. But I am not a militant cineast. I am a passing creature on the earth, who looks at things and tells stories. In a certain way, I make cinema because I have not the power to change the world.
Above everything, I adore life. And by this love of life, I would like that my brother be free, that my sister be free. Then, I would be happy.

What means the titleKilomètre zéro ?
Kilometre zero says that we are still at the same point : Iraq has been invented 80 years ago, and since this time, the country did not make one step forward. It could be a reason to despair. Or to hope, if you prefer. When you start from zero, you can make nothing but advance.

Kilometre zero ends with an hopeful touch.
I rather say that it ends on a hopeful moment. I don't think that the film ends in reality. We don't know what will be the future. The regime of Saddam is fallen, and that is huge. But nothing assure us that the situation will be better. I would say that in the interval, during one moment, we have time to breathe..

Where have the good bloggers gone?

2005-06-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

This was a question asked recently in the comments of an earlier blog...where are we? We are here, listening, biding our time until the right moment to speak presents itself. It has been months since I have last posted, and during those months I have watched the tone of this blog being hyjacked.

The purpose of this blog is to educate others on the subject of the Kurds, to provide a forum where Kurds from around the world can unite and discuss...however the tone of this blog has morphed into an analogy of the Kurds in the world now. We are as un-united here in cyberspace as we are in reality. All of our voices converge here, but we can never say that we speak for all.

This is not to say that the anger we feel and is oftentimes vented here is misplaced. There will always be anger, but it is how we shape that anger that makes us strong or weak.

Anger and sadness shape our psyche like wind and water shape the mountains. It is dependent on the strength of our foundations that determine our ability to withstand the forces against us. A new challenge faces us, seemingly small but signficant. News reports about Sadaam: in his underwear, talking to US serviceman, his family publishing his books of allagorical stories. While comedians make fun of him and we laugh alongside...we must not forget that he is still getting press. The world knows that he is a "bad man" but do they remember why? At the end of every news article I read there is always a little quip about "how he was a dictator and killed is own people", I find myself skimming over these most of the time...and if I do it, you can just imagine how many others are doing the same. It seems as though the world is forgetting through familarity, the "yeah, yeah, I know, I've heard it before" syndrome. This is perhaps the largest danger that the Kurds can face in these times: forgetting through familarity.

How do we stop this? I wish that I had an answer. Perhaps we all need to step back and reevaluate ourselves. The world needs to be rid of Sadaam, not trivializing him, not by downplaying his actions with jokes or undirected anger, but rid of him completely. We must destroy any power that he still holds even if that power is of him being perceived as a dotty aging man in the media.

General Gayhart : Washington Post Lied About Kurds

2005-06-23T06:43:00.000-07:00

KURDISTAN BLOGGERS UNION ,
ASKS YOU MEDIAS THAT COVERED ALLEGEATION OF "WASHINGTON POST" TO COVER THESE NEWS ASWELL

US commander , General Gayhart denies Washington Post Kirkuk abductions story

Kurdistan Regional Government sent a letter to Washington Post about their allegation

Iraq President dismisses Washington Post Kurdish abduction allegations

PUK official: Washington Post’s allegations "nothing but lies"

Kurdistan president disputes report of Arab, Turkomen abuse

No Arabs displaced, says Kirkuk's governor

we should ask , why Washington Post and other medias doenst cover Fucking Turkey's Big Crimes against Kurdish peoepel ? why they pubish lie news about Kurds ? Why no Media but small medias cover the Statements declaring Washington Post's lying ?

I ask f****ing Washington Post to take a look at these pictures before they accept Turk's bribe .

Yet another cowardly attack in Hawler

2005-06-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

When will anyone stand up to these criminals, and this is kurdistan the "safe area" in the same day a suicide attack in hawler kills 15 ppl (and rising) and injuring over a hundred others early morning in hawler/irbil and another suicide attack in Halabja kills a security officer and his 3 bodyguards. How did a jihadist reach halabja anyway?? I thought that city was meant to be especially protected more from this type of scum.
There's also rumors that another car bomb was meant to set off in hawler but was defused in time

I mean since these jihadists are so obsessed with blowing up why not just hire some secluded area for them and dump them there, let them combust as they please... we don't care how cheap they value life just keep us out of it, and at least this way be can be saved of the selective outrage the outside world has on human rights "abuses" which surprisingly only work well with criminals

I hardly saw any coverage of it today I mean a mention of hawler but nothing about the Halabja incident.. maybe too much is happening in Kurdistan and Iraq to mention in a half hour slot.. but surely they could have squeezed something in the 20 minutes of it they kept for Tom cruise getting squirted. I'm not one to be picky but do we really need to see him get spalshed from different angles and in various shutterspeeds and then be forced to watch guest panelists .. sorry experts in their "field?" analyse his behaviour and reflect on his past...
just a though

Iranian Kurds send signal to Americans

2005-06-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

Today the outcome of the Iran's election was announced ,
The election which Condoleezza Rice and Bush , called it undemocratic , the election that Iranian writers in prison and Iranian oppositions had boycotted it .

The Iranians Supreme Leader Ayatollah khameney , had asked people to attend in the election , in order to kick USA’s in the mouth .

Although majority of the people had boycotted the election but the truth is , Iranian Mullahs like (Iraqi Mullah -Sistani- have some fans among uneducated religious people and they DID attend in the election .

The other group that attended in the election was reformists, they said none of the candid are ideal but they choose between bad and worse their candid was Dr.Moen .

CNN and BBC reported high attendance of people in the election in Tehran , the Iranian Government Medias, are celebrating and show it as a “Victory” against USA .
the Iran FM said “let do a Duel with USA , and see who is more popular in the region …”
Western Medias forgot to cover Iranian Kurdistan. (AS ALWAYS) The majority of the Iranian Kurds boycotted the election and didn’t kick USA in the mouth.

Whatever…. The Iranian election is continued another round, because in first round no candid could get 50% of the votes.
“Rafsanjani” and “Ahmadi Nejad“will be in the next round of the election.

Rafsanjani the rich mullah, 72 years old , already was president of Iran for 8 years, Kurds have bad memories of him , in his time thousands of the Kurds were hanged and he killed the head of Kurdistan Democratic Party-Iran , in a restaurant in Austira , while it was supposed to sign an agreement in that Restaurant .

Ahmadi Nejad , who is Tehran’s mayor , is an un-educated extremist shia .whose job is Madahi (Madahi means mourning and beating yourself for Shia Imams)
he is the favorite Madah of the Supreme leader of Iran .

According to Dr NooriZadeh,
the VOA New’s expertise (in Persian Section), Ahmadi Nejad has killed hundreds of the Iranian Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan , by his own hand .
And according to him ,he honors for his shoting and killing political prisoners .

Yeah poor Iranians “have to” choose between Rafsanjani and Ahmadi Nejad.
for Iranians it is choosing between Bad and Worse but for Iranian “Kurds” it is choosing between the Monster and the so horrible Monster .

whatever as Iran FM said a duel has started between Iran and USA in the region .
Iran counts on un-educated extremist shias in the region , and USA counts on freedom loving people in the region .

Today the Shia leader in Iraq sent a signal to USA, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim , admired the Iran’s election and he says they must change Iraqi election to Iranian style ! (yeah ! these shias cant bear democracy -soon like iran the Great (?) Ayatollah Sistani will filter the candids so peopel can choose among them )

unlike other parts of Iran ,In this election , Iranian Kurds compeletly boycotted the ellection and had the lowest participating all over Iran, It is a signal for America!

America should receive these signals that are being sent from Middle East!
If America really wants to be winner in the region and finish “the Broader Middle East project”, she needs the Kurds , Kurds are considerable of Iran and Syria’s population

But is America answering to Kurdish Signals?
Syrian Kurd had “large” protests over killing their Pro-West Moderate Clerk, but no American Medias covered it as they covered Lebanon Protests .
Kurds are not happy that their their forces are called Terrorist “Unfairly” and fighting against them , capturing them in USA and deporting them.
Kurds are not happy that their land is being called Northern Iraq – South East Turkey , …instead of Kurdistan .
Kurds are not happy with America’s supporting their dear "model of Democracy" (Turkey ) against Kurds .

It seems that America is not answering to Kurdish Signals from Iran and Syria .
they are busy answering to Turks , well it is American's choice to be Turks ally than Kurds!

some related Articles :
+An air base in Kurdistan is needed
+Turks scared that PKK becomes a tool of the US

Worlds Medias Against Kurds

2005-06-18T04:05:00.000-07:00

during the kurdish history , we hardly seen media's support for ourself,
in the hard days of genocide , they left us alone and sent their cameras to Palestine and to Turkish Discos , we kurds have the right to spit in the face of every western media and newspaper , they sold their conscience to Arabic Dinar and Turkish Lyra .
they always showed the worst possible picture from kurdistan and ignored our beauties and silenced our voice .
it just 1-2 years that Kurd word is being fimilliar with Western's Ear, -because of Iraq War-
whatever ...

let talk about Washington Post , this newspaper , recently has started atacks on Kurds , one day before Kurdistan Parrilamnet start , (that was gonna be a crisis for kurdistan because of the delay in its start) , Washington Post published a news that "Massud Barazani" was wounded and he is near his death !
nobody knows why while kurds had internal problems over their pariliamnet, Washington Post published that Lie news . we dont know why , but we know , it was in the favor of Kurds' enemy ,if the Kurdistan pariliamnet wouldnt start because of that news.

Kurdistan pariliamnet held its first meeting and some days later they chose Barzani as the President of Kurdistan Regional Government that caused Kurd's happiness all over the Kurdistan - Turkish , Iranian , Syrian Kurdistan .
Again Washington Post , after kurds sucess in parliament , published an allegation against Kurd , that was immidealy spready all over the world . in which they accused Kurds for abducting some Turkmen and Arabs to "Norhthern Iraq" -They meant Kurdistan -.

VOA news in Kurdish ,Turkish , Persian and English , published this allegation , just 6 hours after Washington post , (they didn't wait to see if it is true or not) they published the news as Kurds are Monsters and they are eating everybody in Iraq.

I asked myself even if it is true , Is prisoning some peopel in this Urgent Conditions of Iraq and specially Kirkuk , that everybody can be accused of being terrorirst , that much important? , is it a genocide against Arabs and Turkmens in Kirkuk?
I remember a Northern Kurd , Ibrahim Parlak was captured by US and was prisoned for monthes and after months they found out he is not terrorist ! -this is because of the urgents that 11 sep caused -
why Washington post didnt care when Arabs killed 182000 kurds in the Kirkuk City ? but now it is crying for some Arabs and Turkmen that been just "captured" in this urgent condtions ? and is making the worst possible picture of Kurds in the world ?
if they have been captured for no reason by Kurds, we Kurds are reasonbile enough to do justice and punish those polices who did smoething against the law , we dont need to do any illegal action .
but the way that news was published , everybody would say "what a monsters these Kurds are , they are chaning the demography of kirkuk to steal it "
it is so bad ... it is like that a little 2 years old girl fights with a 40 years old man, and nobody cares when the man beats the girl but when the 2 yers old girl Clapperclaw the 40 years old man , everybody shouts at the little girl .

whatever, later , the Iraqi President dimissed the Washington Posts allegation , not only the Iraqi President but also PUK officials and also Turkmen officials stated that those who were captured in Kirkuk were just terrorists and they had hand in terrorist attacks, and even most of those who were captured by are Kurds form Ansar-Islam Group not only Arab and Turkmens
(Asnsar Islam is Kurdish Version of Alqaeda and their members are mainly kurd but they they comiited big crimes against Kurds and Kurdistan for the sake of bin laden , they are most hated in Kurdistan )

Washington Post's allegation came untrue, but we didnt hear World News to publish Turkmen- and Iraqi's officials reply about this untrue allegation , they just did their best to destroy Kurds . while Kurds were celebrating Barazani's being President of Kurdistan. and expected to show the world Kurds everywhere are United .
Kurds in Turkey - Iran and Syria celebrated Barzani's being president but Washington Post tried to Fade the news of our celebration by publishing lie news about Kurds ,

acording to news , Washington Post "Untrue" propagenda against Kurds has raised tension in Kirkuk betwen Kurds Turkmen and Arabs .
if you look carefully ,you can see Turkey's hand in Washingtion Post,
I think Washington Post bettter publish the list of their Donors and Sponsors , to see how many Turks are among them.

unfrotuantely we kurds always been victims of these fucking Medias,
when our best friend in the world (America) calls our biggest enemy (Turkey) the model of democracy for the middle east, we cant expect better than this .

as long as we kurds dont have a Stong Meida for ourslef, to publish Kurdistan News by ourself, we must expect fucking Washington Post and damn VOA news to do propagenda against us .

and we should not expect none of these damn medias to cover these news:
- 6 month prison for speaking Kurdish in the Model of democracy (Turkey)

- Punishment for DEHAP Party for Playing Kurdish Songs In The Model of democracy (Turkey)

- Torture in the model of democracy's prisons .

-Model of Democracy's Army insist on violence in Kurdistan

- ... and many other news that you can never find in Washington Post or VOA..

+ recently a good news site started to cover Northern Kurdistan News, which is one of the most unfocused parts of the world . plese check Dozame

+ The Kurdistani and KBU News are also a good source for Kurdistan News , Please if you want to help Kurds to raise their voice , link to their news .

Electoral evening

2005-06-16T04:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, there was a ceremony at the Kurdish Institute of Paris for celebrating the election of Masud Barzani to the presidency of Kurdistan. Moreover, it was not so much Barzani for himself which was celebrated, but the fact that having a Kurdish president of a Kurdish state for the second time in history, and with better chance than Qazi Mohammad in 1946 to last. As Kendal Nezan, the chairman of the Institute has stressed, now we have a state, autonomous or federal, no matter, whatever we don't care, but a STATE, which exists, and will have a political, legal, international status. A flag, a parliament, a president, a language which is, unusually, official, which is recognized as the first language of a country, and anymore clandestine, or only tolerated. This state which is all the Kurds' one, from Iran, Syria, Turkey, the only place in Kurdistan where being Kurd is not a mistake.

After that, Kendal whishes freedom for all the Kurds, in Iran, Syria, and that the Kurdish Federal State gives some ideas to Turks to resolve their Kurdish question. (well, for the moment, it gives them only black mood).

Then the Iraqi ambassador in UNESCO, an Arab with charming manners, made a short friendly speech, praising Kurds and Barzani. Then it was the turn of Saywan Barzani, who, as the ambassador of Kurdistan had to speak, but, for that reason, could not praise openly his uncle like both former speakers. So he made optimistic predictions concerning the future of Kurdistan, of Iraq too, and the evolution of the situation the latter, " a bit difficult now". Funny to see as fortune changes : nowadays, Kurds comfort Arabs, by saying "don't despair, one day you'll achieve your democracy."

But exceptionnally, we did not listen to speeches only with one ear, by waiting only for champagne (that we have drunk at last). All of us were, I think, raised by an emotion. We have won. We have a state. A flag. A team soccer, brainless supporters with three-coloured tee-shirts, taxes to pay, policemen, tickets, politicians of which we could speak ill, schools, universisties, angry student's demonstrations, "Kurdistan Airline" planes, in which I will be so afraid as in others, trains which will be in late or not, a country with the word KURDISTAN written everywhere we like. And no matter if our good neighbours have nightmares.

president or peshmarga?

2005-06-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

hi everybody, I know it is been along time; but I dont want to force myself to write so...

well I must admit that despite my rude(!) attemps to wind up some Turkish nationals on my holiday when asking me (ver are u from?) I was: from Kurdistan (in Turkish), then they go (nasil Turkceyi ogrendin ozaman? how did u learn Turkish then?) and I was: I was taught by the intelligence people in Kurdistan... one amazing saying of cursed Ataturk says: "the nation wo doesnt know his past may vanish!"

this is what has been happening to me and I believe to most of Kurds, if you ask any of us very simple questions about our recent or far past, I doubt that many of us would know it and yet we declare to be "we deserve a country and we will be victorious oneday!" but I just wonder how on earth we can be victorious while we still dont very basic stuff about our history!

Thats why I have decided to read some about our recent histoy although I have hated history since I was a young child and I never liked dates and names! I hated geography, too untill I grew up and learned that I belong to nation which needs good knowledge of it as our land has been generously given to neighbours by invaders!

The other thing that we fail to realise is that, any Kurd you talk to somehow blames our leaders whether dead or alive, but no one (including me) takes serious action to CRITICISE, unless we ask our leaders that they have duty to do, NOT that they are so kind to do somethign as if Kurdsitan belongs to some people and they contribute to people like Hamurabi or any other stone era Kings!

I must say, if I were given the choice to vote for a president to Kurdistan and there were only two candidates, I would have most probably voted for Barzani (but not his Party) as well (if not empty ballot!) but would never see him as more sacred than a nromal Peshmarga let alone going out and dancing for anyone as we have to WAIT and SEE what on earth he is going to do for my town Halabja first!

I must also say that a president is almost the opposite of a peshmarga logically and technically, I hope combining both will produce a leader with the courage of a Peshmarga and the wisdom of a president.

This question has been bothering me since I first learned that in parts of the world there were leaders who sold their personal possesions to serve their nations, "why we never had one?"

lets hope Barzani knows very well what happened to the successive Kurdish leaders and the latest and closest to him; his dad and that he will do what the Kurds want and at the end of his four year presidency if he does really prove to be a LEADER then I will go out and dance on the 14ht June 2009 NOT now!

Liberation of hostages in "Iraq"

2005-06-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

At least Kurds have a Président ! Now the Parliament in Erbil can go to holydays, all the MP-hostages had been released.

Shocking news for Kurdistan :

2005-06-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

Shocking news for Kurdistan :

The U.S. military in Iraq has released a list of 150 wanted members of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) to the U.S forces in Iraq in the first solid move against the PKK presence in the Iraqi Kurdistan, reported CNN-Türk on its Web site. Source (KBU NEWS)

Kurdish freedom fighter waiting to be arrested by Americans

you know PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) is the only so called "terroist" group which its goal is establishing a democratic state . (look the US departement of state's report)

PKK is the only so called terrorist group which has the highest number of Women's participating in it . almost 46% of it members are women . (mind that we are talking about a region in the Middle of "Middle East")

PKK is one of the few parties in the middle east that doesnt based on relligion but democracy..

And you know PKK had to use gun , or they would be killed, in a country that they didnt even belive there is something called "Kurd" on this planet , ... in a country that they would be jailed JUST for speaking kurdish ...how could they demand A Democratic state without being have to use gun? and we know PKK has been the only side , that always offered ceasefire, and Turkey the only side that always refused to accept the ceasefire.
everyday EVEN in the year of 2005 , they torture kurds they capture kurds, ,,still kurdistan word is forbiden there....can you belive an iraqi woman in Sweden whose first name was "Kurdistan" wasnt allowed to use Turkish Airline ? (read it here)
can you belive , they attacked to a Korean tourist and beat him just because he asked the direction for Turkish Kurdistan ? -yeah Kurdistan word is forbiden there-
this sad stroies happnes in the year of 2005 ! after many so called reforms to enter to EU .
just imagine how hard life was 30 years ago ...

I can never forget the video that 4 Turk solider killed a kurdish girl , for speaking kurdish ... I can never forget it....please dont forget Turkey is the country that sent the nominee of the Noble Prize to Prison for 15 years ! just because she had said this sencetence in Kurdish Language"I want to make democracy in Turkey and Bortherhood between Kurds and Turks"

whatever , for sure , PKK's being on terrorist list is just bullshits and USA did this bullshit for the sake of Turkey, we kurds looked at this as a bitter Joke .

but now now this bitter joke is gonna be more Reall ,, now USA is gonna take action on PKK members in the "Safest" place of the Iraq for the Americans.

Kurdish peopel welcome every freedom fighter no matter PKK Freedom Fighers or American Freedom Fighrs , they make safe heavon for freedom fighters. and hell for dictators and oppressors .
no matter how strong he be, , Saddam used every possible kind of weapons on Kurdish peopel but did it have any use on them ?

and now USA decided to attack to Kurdish Democracy Fighters of PKK ,I can assure you that if USA do that, Kurdistan will not be a safe place for Americans anymore and USA will loose its only true friend in Iraq for the sake of her dirty allience with Turkey.-a country that statistics show 80% of the peopel hate USA there-

Michael Yon -an American blogger in Iraq- says

If an American were to be separated from his patrol in Fallujah, he might be hung from a bridge. But if he's lost in Umar Bill, or Al Salamania, he will probably get tea and more thank-yous than are polite to accept. Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Holmes told me that several Kurds have said to him things like, "You have come here to save us. I would rather one of my own sons die than for one of your soldiers to die in Iraq." Having spent time with the Kurds myself, I understood when LTC Holmes told me he believed them.

It's the difference between inviting someone to a picnic to share a meal,

I remembers Hiner Saleem , the kurd movie director of the Pro-American Movie "Killometer Zero" said "my movie is not Pro-American , if France had librated Iraq , it would be Pro-France ..."
Americans should know we dont love them for their Eyebrow or their Blonde Hair, our love to Americans is for their fighting with dictatorship in Iraq .
if French / Americans/ Germans.....(Etc) want to fight with our Peshmerga Freedom Fighters ,
we will hate them too ,and we make Kurdistan a hell for them.

if America wants to take action on PKK for the sake of one of the most Racist - Undemocratic governments in the world (Turkey), I cant tell you this safe heavon in Kurdistan (for both Americans and PKK freedom fighters) , will turn to a hell .

America will destroy his safe house in Kurdistan by his own hand . and that will make USA to loose the Iraq War , and US will leave Iraq for Iran ,Syria Turkey and others...

this news was so shocking in Kurdistan , at frist nobody beliveed it , we were waiting for US to deny it ...but it is truth.
I guess a new page has been opened in Kurdish hearts for USA after this shocking news.

UPDATE : Laskaris the Greek Blogger says

Condi is the diplomat. But has she asked the generals? I'll place my bets with those who see things "on the ground" -- and "on the ground" the only relatively peaceful area in Iraq right now is Kurdistan. The Kurds have both the armed force and the willingness to defend against the Iraqi Arab insurgents and this willingness alone places them... guess where... firmly on the side of Coalition forces. I would be very surprised to find a single American soldier willing to launch "police operations" against the only true and capable allies America has "on the ground" in Iraq so that the Turk is satisfie

Baas Congress in Syria

2005-06-10T05:59:00.000-07:00

To every one's great surprise, the Baas Congress in Syria has re-elected President Bashar al-Asad as its General Secretary.

At least, this result is as unexpected as Öcalan's reelection as the PKK direction, or if Masud Barzani becomes president of Kurdistan. Unbearable suspense.

The Congress has stated that some law will be made for creating new political parties and private media. An attempt of liberalism ? If we examine changes, no one is really new, much of them having already been tested, even during Hafez al Asad's period. Thus "the adoption of a law for parties and the revision of the electoral law" to organizing legislative and local elections may allow some dissident parties to participate, but it has happened already in 1994. In any case, Baas has secured its own prevalence in Parliament and other political groups (but not all) will be only minor, without much political importance. Like always, Baas preserves its directing position.

As for the parties concerned with this "liberalization", the restrictions concerning the movements having "ethnic, religious or regional aspects", naturally aim at drawing aside Kurds and Islamist : A receding compared to 1994, but it is explained by the more visible activity of Kurdish parties and their new contest, in particular Yekitî actions, since the beginning of 2000's.

Moreover, even within Syrian opposition, the taboo remains around Kurds' claims as a national minority, and this taboo has prevented, until now, any real alliance between Arab opposition and Kurdish parties. Even the supporters of a progressist and democratic evolution of Syrian society are reluctant to trick "the unity of Arab nation", and they feel they could do it if they recognize cultural rights for non-kurdish groups. And they see Kurdish-American alliance like a direct threat.

Thus, Kurdish parties in Syria should not wait "official recognition", neither from State nor from opposition.

Mes'ud Barzanî wishes to open an Israeli consulate in Hewlêr

2005-06-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Kurds have a more flexible attitude concerning Muslim-Israli relations and could bring a few oxygen to the diplomatic rigidity of the Middle-East. They could even be a useful medium between Arab countries and Israel.

In the newspaper "Al-Hayat", Masud Barzani has stated carefully that a relation between Kurds from Iraq and Israël would not be crime if most of Arab countries have the same one. He added that when an Israeli embassy opens in Bagdad, it will be possible to welcome an Israeli consulate in Hewlêr.

For the moment, Iraq has no diplomatic relations diplomatiques with Israël, but its Kurdish Foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, and the Israeli minister of Infrastructures, Benyamini Ben Eliezer, shook hands each others after a meeting of the World Economical Forum, last May, in Jordania, even if Hoshyar Zebari has later told that this gesture does not mean a political change of Iraqi line toward Israël.

Moreover, Masud Barzani has stressed the "historical brotherhood" between Kurds and Palestinians but recommended them to refuse terrorism.

When the newspaper asks him to comment the recent clash in Syria between the state and Kurds protesting against the murder of Sheikh Xeznewî, Barzani kept the same "prudent political attitude" : "Wherever they live in the world Kurds are Iraqi Kurds' brothers and we support them." But he added that KRG (Kurdish Regional Governement) has friendly relations with Syria, andhe advises it to manage the Kurdish question by dialogue, for the crisis doesn't become more serious."

Source AFP.

Report of Kurdish demonstrations in Syria

2005-06-06T02:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Kurdish demonstrations protested against S,êx Xeznewî's murder. According to local sources, about 10,000 persons gathered in Qamis,lo. Thousands of soldiers and Baath militia Arabs were present too, to face and break up the demonstration. Kurdish parties have appealed to a pacific gathering, but some kurds threw stones against soldiers, while the latter answered with teargas. Among Kurds, there are numerous wounded (30 women). 2 policemen have been injuried and transported to the hospital. A local witness told that a Kurd had deadly shot a policeman and is under arrest.

But dispersal did not prevent the demonstration to go on, especially around the city, where there were more violences between Kurds and Syrian army and Arab militias. The center of Qamis,lo was surrendered and ckehcked by army, which prenent any movement of people.

In Koban, a town in Syrian Kuridstan (Jezireh) the same demonstrations happened, with thousand of people, coming from all the region. Shops were closed into mourning. The slogans were :

- Ennemi is still an ennemy, and S¸êx Mees¸uq is our heart.
- O great martyr, you are the storm on ennemy.
- The martyr Mees¸uq will never die.
- We ask all the truth on S¸êx Mees¸uq el-Xeznewî's murder.
- No to political assassinations.
- We want a democratic solution to the Kurdish Question in Syria
- Où est la vérité ?

At the end of the demonstration, a representative of the Kurdish Party Azadî (Freedom) in Syria, Eledîn Hemmam, and a representative of the Kurdish Party Yekitî (Unity), Mustefa Bekir, made an statement to claim the same revendications.

Pictures of demonstrations could be seen on Amude.com.

Hello Ameriki

2005-06-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

Michael Yon, author of "Danger Close," is currently in Iraq ! here is some sentences I stole from his blog

Kurdish people often ask me to say "hello" and "thank you" to Ameriki,the Kurdish villages threats from suicide bombers or random RPG attacks begin to evaporate. The Kurds have no tolerance for the insurgents who are boiling a cauldron of strife elsewhere in Iraq.
The Kurds needed help to shake off the yoke, but now they want to chart their own lives. As one Kurd said to me in perfect English, "I was born free. I live free. I will die free." They have made good these words to Saddam's former henchmen.

Kurdish enthusiasm for self-determination has a kind of contagion for our soldiers. The Kurdish and American characters mix readily, as is made clear by the Tennessee National Guardsmen, who are based in territory where many Kurds live. Yet there is more between the Tennesseans and the Kurds than mere polite respect; the relationship resonates with warmth and genuine regard. In contrast, relations with Arab Iraqis are often better characterized as negotiations, often with the modifier "grinding."

Meetings with Iraqi Arabs sometimes seem more like talking with the French. We are not enemies. But, generally speaking, there is no real personal connection. At best, our collective personalities just don't seem to "click." Yet by recognizing the sovereignty and inevitability of each other, we manage to cooperate toward our common interests, while not going to war when we disagree. But with the Kurds, like the Poles or the Brits, there is an easy and audible click. We have mutual goals, mutual enemies, and, also importantly, we actually like each other....

in another part Michael , talks to an old kurdish man , that tells him sad stroies like killing every male in that village , and also write stroies about beautifull girls in that village that been sold to Arabic Countries as sex slaves by the fromer Iraqi Regime.

He fell somber and disappeared for a moment into memory. Emerging with a slight smile tinted by sadness in his eyes, he said, "The Kurds are so happy to see you. The Americans are like the angels from God." But his expression changed dramatically to one of hidden anger: "The Arabs accuse the Americans of being murderers and criminals," he said with finality

in another place he writes

If an American were to be separated from his patrol in Fallujah, he might be hung from a bridge. But if he's lost in Umar Bill, or Al Salamania, he will probably get tea and more thank-yous than are polite to accept...

The people who view the relationship between Americans and Kurds with suspicion and cynicism have just got the math wrong. But that's a problem for a lot of people around here. The Kurds are a reasonable people when given the chance. Read more

I liked his blog, I really recommend you to visit him , his writings are so cute , in another post he talked to a mischief kurdish girl that insits on saying she is 50 while she is 15 and she likes to study in a medcial university in london and then go to paris and then be American in San Fransico...

if he would used "Kurdistan" word instead of Northern Iraq or Kurdish Zone , it would be much better (Wink)

Future isn't looking too great

2005-06-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

***********WARNING!! THIS POST CONTAINS ALOT OF SWEAR WORDS**************

I know I haven't had a serious post in a while (although I do think my Hoff blog will go down as the most original and best blog ever made) but a rough encounter I had last week has really played on my mind and I've wanted to let the dust settle before I write it out. Be prepared this might be one of the longer blogs I've written.

My exams had just finished so I decided to take a break and visit a few mates and close family over the space of 10 days to just do nothing but sleep and eat and recharge my batteries for my return to start my summer project. Anyway the first night I was with a good mate and we were having a good time having just watched Liverpool pull off an amazing win against the fanny boys Milan in the Champions League final. Then my mates' flatmates switch on the PS2 and we had a Pro Evolution Soccer 4 tournament. It's fair to say I am awesome in that game and I beat everyone with something to spare. One of his flatmates is an Iraqi guy (IG) who had grown up in the UK, I thought great... I haven't met too many Iraqi/Kurdish students during my 5 years in the Brittish University system, actually let me rephrase that; I havent met ANY. Anyway he was quite bitter that I beat him good in Pro Evo Soccer 4 that he challenged me again. I beat him again and he challenged me again and I beat him again... and this went on for a while.

During one of the matches, he mentioned the Iraqi topic. The conversation was as followed; I will be labelled as X7 (Xosh 7al) in the conversation and he will be labelled as IG (Iraqi Guy). X7... that's an awesome name!!!! I feel all stealthy, syphillitic and covert-y.

IG: "There are no good leaders in the world".
X7: "Aye there are, Tony Blair for example".
IG (in a startled manner): "No way!! He and Bush are the biggest Kaffirs!! (Kaffirs = atheists in arabic... but the manner he was using it in was quite offensive)"

At this point I thought to myself... oh crap what did I just start here

He went on about how America is the root of all evil blah blah blah he also mentioned some crap about Zionism blah blah .I phased out there coz I was really pummelling him in Pro Evolution Soccer 4 and I knew that he was a stubborn fella with whom there was no point of arguing.

The conversation continued. (I'll only leave the interesting bits)

IG: "What we need in Iraq is Islam to run it all"
X7: "Fuck that... That's what is causing the world to go backwards"

Now most people that know me know that I say things that I don't mean or that I have a crap time of expressing myself. The above phrase is an example of that. I did not mean to insult Islam, I was insluting what it had become; a fascist tool used by clerics and leaders to fulfill their own agendas. Anyway at this point he paused the game and stood up and said the following. Well more like screamed.

IG: "Don't you fucking dare insult my religion, I'll fucking throw you against the wall, I'll fucking break your middle finger."

I had no idea my response would provoke the above reaction. This guy was a couple of years younger than me and screaming at me like only parents would. So I stood up and tried to say as calmly as possible

X7: "Don't yell at me, respect your elders and don't fucking use swear words if you want to defend your religion... it kind of defeats the point you prick"

I then said pointing at my mate who I was visiting and who was also witnessing the whole conversation.

X7: "He has known me for a good few years and he knows that I am a muslim and proud of it but he also knows that I despise what it has become and how it has dramatically changed in the past 20 years of my lifetime, so fuck knows how it's changed in the past 1430 years"

There was no stopping IG though, he was still hurling abuse and among it all said "How can you consider yourself to be a muslim while you wear a gold necklace?!?!?"
X7 (sarcastically): "I am sure God will judge me on the jewellery I wear and not on my good and bad deeds"

Can't say my sarcasm helped diffuse the situation though, not that I cared at that point. By the way the necklace was a gift from my grandmother and has the map of Kurdistan in pure gold as the pendant, just in case any of you thought I was into all that bling bling crap. I am not!

My mate managed to calm IG down and told him to sit down and have a proper discussion. So we tried.

IG: "How can you call Tony Blair a great leader when he and Bush lead and let a bunch of kaffirs invade our country"
X7: "Was there any other way we could have gotten rid of Saddam?"
IG: "Yes, we could have had a United Islamic Arabic army to join up and topple him and not these Kaffirs"
X7: "Are you deluded or something??? It's the arabs that are causing all the kharaab and mayhem in Iraq!!"
IG: "It would still be better than these Kaffirs!"
X7: "Why the hell do you keep on calling them Kaffirs, some of these people have faith too, such as Judaism and Christianity and they are part of 'Ahlul Kitab' " (Ahlul Kitab = Literal translation means the family of the book but it's meant to say that Islam, Christianity, Judaism etc... all belong to the same family)
IG: "Yes they are, but they are kaffirs and they won't go to heaven"

This surprised me quite a fair bit, I've taken Islamic Education in my school for 12 years and I don't ever remembering hearing such garbage.

X7: "What the hell?!??! Where on earth did it say that!!!"
IG: "It says in a Hadeethil Shareef (Prophet Saying) that ......"
X7: "Don't give me a hadeeth as proof! You expect me to believe that something that the prophet said would remain intact for over 1430 years!!! And worst of all it travelled by the word of mouth of ARABS. Nowadays if you put 10 arabs in a line and told the one at the start of the line a phrase and told him to pass it along, by the time it would reach the end it will have completely changed"
IG (completely disregarding what I had ust said, probably coz it was common sense): "Heaven is only reserved for Muslims"
X7: "Woah there Starsky!! Are you telling me that come Judgement Day God will only allow Muslims to enter Heaven. He won't allow someone like Mother Theresa who spent her whole life for the benefiit of others to go into heaven but some muslim who spent his whole life causing misery on others and sinning his arse off will eventually go to heaven just because he was a muslim!! 99% of the islamic population were born muslims... they didn't choose to be muslims, so don't make it look like we are so bright and we chose this religion. I am sure that if the 90% of the muslims were born in a non-religious family in a non-religion based society, they would never choose Islam, because of they way it is bastardising itself on Arabic Media stations. I thought it said in the Qur'an that Allah (God) was 'Ghafoorun Ra7eem'?" (Ghafoorun Ra7eem = arabic for most fair and merciful)
IG: "Only to Muslims"

Now we all know the standard of the person I was speaking to.

X7: "Listen, you're obviously quite retardedly stubborn about this and there is no point in arguing with you, so don't argue with me because I won't change my mind"
IG: "I hope you don't die with this view Akhee (brother)"
X7: "I don't give a shit over what you hope for and dont call me akhee, I am not related to you"
IG: "You're my brother in religion"
X7: "We obviously don't follow the same religion"

The conversation returned back to Iraq.

IG: "We should all give our support to the Muqawama (resistance) in their Jihad against the American Kaffirs"

I think he was just using the word Kaffir to rile me up and I am quite easy to infuriate.

X7: "I take it Jihad means killing innocent Iraqi civilians"
IG: "Of course not... those attacks aren't done by Iraqis"
X7: "FINALLY! SOMETHING WE AGREE ON!" (hoping he would say that these terrorists were from neighbouring countries wishing to delay the restructuring of Iraq, but then again IG is quite backward-minded)
IG: "They were done by Americans"
X7: "Ohoooooooo, you and your arabic mindset of conspiracy theories!!!, I bet you're an Al Jazeera follower"
IG: "No man!! They only broadcast lies!!"
X7 (surprised as hell): "Finally something we agree on!" (not as excited as last time)
IG: "Yeah man, they only broadcast their news after its been approved by the Kaffir Zionist Americans!"

What a heap of shite!!! And to put his message across he used an insult combo. Before I could go on, we were brought to an abrupt stop because IG wanted to watch the season finale of Desperate Housewives on E4. Very religious!! Eva Longoria is well hot though!

I have no interest in that program so I retreated back with my mate to my mate's room (who kept quiet the whole time to give the impression he's neutral). As soon as we got in he told me that IG recently had a sudden death in the family and that his family is extremely religious and that maybe his sudden outburst on me was probably stored emotions from that tragedy. I told him that at the next available opportunity I would apologise to him. My mate also said that I shouldn't piss him off because during the ta3zia (funeral) of his family member in a mosque, Mujahideen from Afghanistan came to pay their respects. I've been scared shyte-less since then!!

I apologised to him about unintentionally insulting Islam (although I still don't think I did too wrong) and left the place the next day to visit family.

The thing that really worried me about that encounter was the fact that IG had grown up his whole life outside Iraq and in the UK. His mindset has frightened the hell out of me. If in the supposedly more open-minded society of the west is breeding scum like him what on earth is happening to the youth of Iraq with these dirty clerics who have their own agendas. As Dilnareen posted below, I agree that there are no semi-decent clerics left. As soon as a cleric shows some logic in his teachings he immediately becomes a moving target for the ba3thists and extremist bastards.

I really hope that IG was just of a small minority of Iraqis. But in the way he reacted with me was as if it had been the first time he had ever seen or heard someone with my ideals and beliefs. Even if he were part of the small minority, the whole middle east is governed by the Vocal Minority and not the Silent Majority.

The conversation depressed the living hell out of me, what kind of future will Iraq or Kurdistan have with these kind of people around?? Thank you for bearing with me through the whole conversation. Actually screw that... you should be grateful of this quality blog. Ah well.

P.S. I am a Muslim. I believe most things that I studied in school about the prophet's life, but I don't believe a single word from the time of the Khulafa' el Rashideen untill today. Arabs are the biggest bullshitting, blood-thirsty, agenda-driving, greedy thieves that God has ever created, so who knows how much of it has been changed to brainwash the islamic youth. I just believe that if you are good and be good to other people God will reward you. Praying 5 times a day but drinking, sleeping around, lying, murdering etc.... will not make you a good person at the expense of someone with another or no faith who doesn't harm anyone mentally or physically and has lived in general a good life with good deeds.

Syria working on all fronts

2005-06-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

They seem to be pretty happy with knowing nothings going to happen to them in the near future. First a kurdish sheikh goes missing for weeks , then later found tortured to death , all kurdish parites there closed down and have their people arrested ,same goes for opposition parties, syria still is a huge buffer for escaped iraqi baathist criminals, and still keep money and support flowing for terorrist fighting in Iraq and then they go about killing known anti-syrians (syrian sytem not people )in Lebanon
their hands are full. Wonder how Arabiya covered that news since the murdered writer yesterday Samir al-Qasir, is the husband of one of their wellknown journalists Gizelle Khoury

Sheikh Khaznawi's death is a reminder why there are no good clerics leftover after a baathist regime. His fate is exactly what happened to any semi-decent cleric during saddams reign in Iraq. Of course the fact him being kurdish didnt help him either. Just a little reminder to those who believe these new found iraqi clerics are for real.
As we know to these clerics human lives aren't worth much unless they're linked to mosques and other religious paraphanellia
Even then where they when 5000 villages in kurdistan (along with their many mosques) were reduced to rubble during the anafal operation or when tens of thousands of shiaas were brutally murdereed in their shrines and mosques after hte uprising... or why loook that far back what about now when iraqis are contantly being murdererd in mosques

But back to the point syria's case is getting increasingly worrying. And no the solution isnt NUKE THEM or bomb the living hell out of them
Cos as we can see with the case of Iraq so far its the same people who suffered under the baath regime that are suffering the consequences now while the criminals were allowed to leave unrepented with their money and everything intact, and still control the masses using fear

But at least some outcry from this pathetic international community would help, I mean how could a demonstration this size in syria(regarding the dissapearance of Skikh Khaznawi) (hat-tip: roller reb) go unnoticed by the world media. Oh wait i forgot they're still busy with fake QUran story or Abu "drilling a whole in my mind" Ghuraib story
How much more of this do we already need to hear of it.. its already been used as an excuse for everything from terorrist acts in iraq to genocide in darfur. We have abu ghraib the articles, abu ghraib the conferences, abu ghraib the statues, abu ghraib the paintings etc... whats left abu ghraib the musical, abu ghraib book tour by lyndi "ive never seen them male genitelia b4" england.

If with all this fuss they could've at least explained what were these iraqis doing there..why were they imprisoned, were they guilty or not.
And if they were innocent at least raise money through a charity for them with this overblown awareness they created
But then I forgot they never do anyhting if they knew ordinary iraqi civilians would benefit from it

Anyway to release anger watch this video (another one of them forwards) from memritv of a jazeera program on a discussion between a syrian opposition leader and some syrian baathist
hehee this is everything u want the good guy is a well-spoken happy jolly man while the baddie is so damn repulsive and loud
Watch how the opposition leader just cracks up listening to the baathist.

Srebrenica Genocide

2005-06-03T06:58:00.000-07:00

This video shown through the BBC about the massacre of bosnian muslims is really creepy.
The most graphic bits are cut of course but that doesn't lessen the impact.
I mean supposedly the 20th century was a centruy of awareness, yet we've had many many many act sof genocide that were never stopped. And are always followed by the manadatory this never occured bullshit. Almost every single race or minority has either been involved or at the receiving end (sometimes even both) or some form of mass murder. So much for awareness. With a century's worth of experience in genocide the world has still never managed to offer any sort of help at the time of a mass murder happening, pathetic right. Take the example of Darfur now.. they're allowed to arrest doctors over just the simple claim of rape occuring there, and then we're meant to be grateful over the fact that they've dropped the charges. My genocide procedure checklist seems creepily close to the truth now

Amnesty International : S,êx Xeznewî was deadly tortured

2005-06-02T01:11:00.000-07:00

The organisation for Human's rights, Amnesty International stated yesterday that S,êx Xeznewî, the Kurdish Syrian Ulema, had been tortured until death in a Syrian prison. S,êx Xeznewî died on May 30, 20 days after his "missing", wrote an Amnesty Statement from Beyrouth. He was detained by Syrian services, and the NGO tells that he is the sixth Kurd to die in prison because of torture or bad treatments, since 2004 March uprising. Neil Sammonds, the representative of Amnesty for Syria called Syria to open an independant investigation about the death and to judge the killers.

S,êx Xeznewî was Vice-president of the Islamic Sutidies Center in Damascus and was very popular, even out of Kurdish community. He was 46 years old, and endeavoured in his teaching to stress the compatibility of Islam and democracy. He was one of the spokesmen of Kurds in Syria, and the imam of Qamis,lo. He was firmly opposed to violence and has recently called Syrian authorities to reforms and dialogue between the different religious communities. In February and March he went in Norway, Brussels and Germany to establish relations between Eu and his community.

Nazir Mustafa; the General Secretary of Syrian KDP, told S,êx Xeznewî had been seen in a military hospital of Teshrin in Damascus, and, according to physicians, had physical marks of tortures.

He was buried in his town of Qamis,lo. Kurdish sources say that dozen of thousand people were present.

But Syrian government denies, and stated that the sheikh was rapted by a criminal gang (well, indeed, Syrian power IS a criminal gang).

Sheikh Mohammad Mashouk al-Khaznawi dies of torture

2005-06-01T04:18:00.000-07:00

The Kurdish community is shocked and saddened by the horrible and senseless murder of Sheikh Mohammad Mashouk al-Khaznawi. This is a tragic day for the Kurdish community, and our thoughts and prayers goes out to the victim, his family and the Kurdish people in West-Kurdistan. The sheikh was widely popular in Syrian Kurdistan and

Syria

, and was known for teaching that Islam and democracy are compatible. Sheik Knaznawi will be deeply missed. The bravery by his words about freedom of speech and religion will never be forgotten.

May he rest in peace.

You can find a news report here:Kbu news

A wave of arrests in Iranian Kurdistan

2005-06-01T00:57:00.000-07:00

According to a statement from the Kurdistan Democratic Party- Iran, since 2005 April, Iranian Kurdistan faces a new wave of arbitrary arrests, especially among young people which express political opinions differents from authorities' ideology. Thus, dozens of people have been arrested. The situation of many of them are unkonwn, and their family ignore even the place of their detention.

It is the case for six persons arrested on April 6th in the town of Nodcheh. Here are their names :

- KAMKAR Jiyan.
- KARIMI Wuria
- EBADI Watan
- RASULI Khaled
- ANVARI Kaveh.

some others had been judged in mock trials and heavily condemned. It is the case four persons in Mahabad, here are their names :

- AMINI Reza, sentenced to 20 years of prison ; he will be soonly transefered to the prison of Tabriz.
- HASSAN AZARPOUR Halmat, sentenced to 15 years of prison ; he will be soonly transferred to the prison of Urmiah.
- MOHAMMADI Abdullah (aka Dostali), sentenced to 15 years of prison.
- MOHAMMADZADEH Khaleg, sentenced to 10 years of prison ; soonly transferred to the prison of Maragheh.

Protesting against these mock trials, the four prisonners have begun a hunger strike in the prison of Mahabad where they are presently detained.

KDP-Iran blames these "inhuman and liberticid acts" by the Iranian regime and call the international organisations of Human's rights defence to react quickly, for supporting the freedom of expression of these men, imprisonned because of their opinions. KDP-I considers these facts as another evidence of the unscrupulous violation of fundamental rights and freedom by the Islamic republic of Iran, especially in Kurdistan.

David & Layla and other stuff

2005-05-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

A while back it was the topic of kurdish movies, so who rememebers this one

David and Layla

Story synopsis : kurdish girl falls for jewish american in new york. Culture clash gala

I remember when this was going on in a forward a few years back: the newrozfilms site had the script written and asking for ppl to do the roles of leyla,her brother, some gulf businessmman who leyla was supposed to marry.
But I didn't think the movie went through cos' I never heard of it afterwards. And the girl that plays layla is the wife of Dylan McDermott.. very nice!! Not sure where she is from but probably persian according to the name and the story is based on a true story

Not sure where this movie is available but check out the reviews on imdb

Probably has a better chance of being classified as a kurdish film then the others
Mainly cos it's mostly filmed in america and not in countries that are so over-possesive where you can't take a dump in without them claiming its theirs

Hehe though the reactions to Hiner saleem's Kilomete Zero were funny... they went out of their way to classify it as Iraqi (except elaph because they're uber-cool) but
then a week like the same newspapers were like WTF this movie insults what we stand for (cos of its extreme bashing of saddams regime, the middle eastern mentality and the director constantly saying it was a country put together by outside foreign forces).

Anyway this claiming nonsense is done by the same ppl who would go apeshit if i were to say something like divine intervention was an israeli movie. But then oh i forgot one set of rules for themselves and entirely opposite one for the rest of the world. I mean seriously if my zionist-appeasing booosh-loving mentality can see the difference betweeb the two why cant the ever patrioitic truth-loving group see that

Is Iraq really in a place to put out a movie anyway... so far it looks like it's split between ppl who think haircuts are haram (sinful) and another who think chess is
And anyone there with a spot of non-religious creativity has to watch out for himself

PAH i say... its not that i am anti-iraqi or anyhting just asking to put credit where its due.
anyway was checking the comments page and ther ehave been some great movie ideas here that i put in the forum
Also another comment on not letting me add what i want to the template

KBU NEWS

2005-05-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that Kurdistan Bloggers Union , started its own news site , called KBU NEWS

in the last 2 days that we were testing it, we covered more than 6 news that other Kurdish sites didn't find. The KBU NEWS editorial is Vladimir .

if you want to help us , in this news site please leave a comment on Vladimir's blog
we will love it if you help us in translating Kurdish News such as Peymaner.com or Kurdish Newspapers (from Kurdish to English).

Recently Vladimir has become KBU's right hand and without him we don't have many things , and he is being more Kurd than some of the Kurds . We appreciate it.

I am sure KBU news site will be interesting enough for all who follow middle east news, because Kurdistan News covers Turkey,Iran,Iraq,Syria,Armenia,Azerbaijan ....as well as Kurdistan.
so if you link to it , you wont regret. :)

and also we have added another new section ,KBU Maps,which is Complete collection of Kurdistan Maps .

+ some other new things are comming soon ,so keep on visting KBU and enjoying it.

Saddam says he would rather be dead than in custody

2005-05-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

Saddam Hussein has told his lawyer, Khalil al-Duleimi, that he would prefer to be dead instead of having been arrested. The Arab newspaper Al-Quds al-Arab says he expressed his regret that he did not die a martyr at the moment of his arrest. He is said to have told al-Duleimi during their latest meeting: "If I'd had a rifle at that moment I would be dead or would have killed at least one of the Americans, but fate did not give me the chance."..

The former dictator told his lawyer that the place he was caught was the house of a friend of his in the al-Doura area of Baghdad, where he had been hiding for several days. He also claims that he was arrested because one of his inner circle betrayed him, but he would not identify the person.

"The arrest was made just before sunset, while he was sitting on his prayer mat reading some verses of the Koran and waiting to pray," said the lawyer. "At that moment he heard the voice of the friend he was staying with, saying: "the Americans have come." Immediately afterwards the US troops entered quickly, and - according to Saddam's version of the events - pinned him to the ground straight away, punching him with such force that they broke his hand and left leg and injured his forehead."

Saddam is also said to have confirmed that at no point during his detention had he left Iraq, denying the rumours that they wanted to hold him at the US base in Qatar. The version given by Saddam's lawyer contrasts with that given by US command, according to which the former Iraqi president was arrested in his hometown Tikrit on 13 December 2003, while hiding down an underground hole.

But according to the lion of Kurdistan, Kusrat Rassul Ali this isn't true.[2]
He said: "We found a bodyguard connected to Saddam Hussein in Tikrit. I gave the lead to the Americans. The bodyguard led them to the hole where the dictator was hiding," Ali said.

"Saddam is a coward. He was armed but he didn’t fight. In any case, I am happy that his sons were killed before his arrest. He is also suffering the pain of a father," Ali said.

What do you think? Should we grant him his wish and kill him? Or let him suffer him some more? I think it's clear

[1]ADNkronos international
[2]AFP

One last go...

2005-05-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

...before it gets really lame
You gotta love the spin offs made from the saddam thing.. here's one i got as a forward from my dad comparing the pics to a pop video by lebanese popstar nancy ajram. comment at the bottom says "where did this nancy put the towel"

and then i found this in the aliraqi forum the comment next to it says scrub sdayem(nick for saddam maybe) scrub properly

and another thing to remind u that iraq is not like the middle east... these are the congratulatory msgs going about iraq regarding zarqawis injury
this msg here says "congratulations to iraqis for the pig zarqawis injuries and to hell for all these dirty murderers" compare that with the other messages on the website "Forgive and heal our sheikh, the mujahid Abu Musab al-Zarqawi". I don't wanna be picky but the bbc seem to have translated the prayer message to zarqawi but didn't translate the iraqi message. I wonder. Oh yeah and they published the authors name in the text msg, is that allowed?

Kigdom of Heaven

2005-05-25T03:21:00.000-07:00

Kingdom of Heaven is a good action movie, very pleasant to watch, with a lot of "arrangements" with the historical truth, as so much as a novel of Dumas, but I've never found it disturbing.

But its success in Arab countries and the interviews of the Syrian actor who plays Saladin set teeth on edge, while Kurds in Syria fight to exist within a state that they did not chose .

Extract from Ghassan Massoud's interview in the Daily Star :

" "Everything in Saladin's own life is also my philosophy," says Massoud. "My culture is that of Saladin. My religion is the same religion and I speak the same language, have the same geography and the same history. "

" Saladin was an example for the Muslim hero who returned to Arabs and Muslims their pride and their dignity ".

" I was there to give the West a good image about Islam, about the Arabs, about Saladin - this huge leader," he explains. "They need to make revisions about their information about Arabs and Islam."

In fact, in the movie, we can not see one single Kurdish emir, no more than one Turkish warrior in Saladin's army, though it was mostly composed by Kurds, Turks, and Mamluks of various Caucasian origins... Saladin and his family are shown as pure Arabs...

We can notice that in the Daily Star the words "Kurd, Kurdish" never appear. They need to make revisions about their information about Saladin, Kurds and Islam."

BBC Vs Kurds

2005-05-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

As I did abit better today in my business module I am not going to to bed early so I want to write! it is somehow related to Dilnareens post.

The topic is too big for me to judge, discuss or even give you some good information about the relation, as I dont have much experience apart from some things that I have which I will write and my own views from the way they handle stories related to us or anything to do with us in deed!

I remember calling them once "controversial media" in this blog, well I know you would say who gives a damn about your views towards such a big company. But I was just reading through Stuart Hughe's blog as I found the link here in KBU and in fact it was his posts during the war which made me think one more time about BBC Vs Kurds.

I remember, when I first started reading BBC website and having heard about them so many times either at my school days or during my English classes, I naively (simply Kurdana) wrote an email to the contact email, I wish I had that email now, something like

"To whom it may concern,
....some greetings...some introduction...then
as a Kurd, I read your website frequently and I am sure there
are many other Kurds who read this website,too. May I ask you to provide us just
as the other nations have, a Kurdish section where we could read in our
language, too?"

the response I vaguely remember was:

"Dear reader,
Thanks for your email, BBC is blah blah blah, goverment blah blah we can not do anything unauthorised by the government!"

and I was so happy to have had an answer, thinking "oh yea, one of those J. Simpson look-alike ones have responded and well poor guy he can't do anything if he is not allowed. Think about it hiwa, just like someone who is working for a PUK or KDP paper, they cant do much can they?"

Years passed, and I turned from L to Hiwa, slightly opened my eyes, talked to several reporters and freelance journalists for BBC like himself(I have to say never raised this concern to them), but the story was very different from that email (of course!) ...ermm for a moment.. who else have Kurdish broadcast? VOA, oh hell how can Americans disappoint their Turkish allies? or their Arab Allies?!

Google? come on man, just like Mircrosoft Turkey will ban the whole searching engine, it is impossible!!!

The Turkish goverment, the goverment which tries people ONLY because they spoke Kurdish, itself now have Kurdish Broadcast!!

Jamal Abdul-Nasir(Arabic-Link)? Never ever, he wouldn't allow that! he had best relations with Faisal, then all other Arab leaders of Baghdad....or was he not the ONLY one who alloawed Midhad BadirKhan to publish the first EVER Kurdish Newspaper at the heart of Arabland, Egypt?!

come on guys, stop calling my seperated land, Northern, South East, Western and Eastern parts of carved Maps. Please stop calling someone who is trying to glue back together the pieces which Ataturk tore apart, a Seperatist Leader; with all his mistakes is Ocalan a seperatist or the Turkish goverment? Is it NorthernIraq or South of Kurdsitan, and other parts North, West and East of it?

I wish I could find a link, a book, something to understand what is the secret behind BBC using more than two words to describe the place where Stuart had his best rewarding day(read Saturday 15th March 2003) in his professional career in it? and moreover educate all their staff on the same ideology, is there something that I am badly missing? there must be something very dangerous to BBC about us, something like the threat from Turkey to Microsoft! or...is it just me who is till naive!

picture-from Stuart's blog,

dont you guys think they, too must belong to a country?

I have to say surprisingly I found the word Kurdistan twice, when he mentions the Turkmen-Kurdish relations, which I have to say is the best place to use Kurdistan word!

do you need snapshots?

here is one from 2001 ... "Kurds" (writen by a Kurd(!), watch for clauses avoiding Kurdistan)

March 2005 .... "Dutchman in Iraq genocide charges" (mind this new one, attack on the Kurdish Iraqi town of Halabja, but the Dutchman himself says 'Kurdish city Halabja')

Does anyone need more?

Do ppl this stupid really exist?

2005-05-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

550+ dead iraqis in less than a month = hardly a ripple... c'est a vie
old man in droopy underwear = Horror , barbarism.. violation of the geneva convention

Agh the stupidity of all this kills me, anyway why was this bastard walking around in his underwear anyway?
ppl walk around in their underwear at home anyway but why outside?
i think he's closet flasher really... hehe wonder what casual fridays would be like

What even annoys me more is the ppl they get to comment on this... yes there have been a fair deal of good comments (mainly from ppl the likes of elaph or bbc arabic have your say or sharq alawsat)
But i'm concentrate by those comments from what i can only classify as poor mans laxatives:

Basama Abdullah, 25, a government worker in Baghdad, said, "Regardless of whatever he was before, he is still an Iraqi. ... The goal of showing these pictures is to put shame on the Iraqis."
Oh never mind he killed hundreds of thousands of iraqis surely the CRIME of him voluntarily walking about in his underpants is much bigger

"This is very shameful and sad for all Iraqis," said Rita Yago, 35, another government worker in Baghdad, who contrasted the photographs with those seen of Hussein "for 30 years looking respectable on TV."

Speak for ureself yoda... i don't breakdown when i see people not dressing like they do on TV

And if you wanna feel something more painful than shooting yourself in the face read some of the commentary on the english bbc have your say:
Makes you realize how living in the first world has no effect whatsoever on mentality

And then there was jazeerah showing that they do have ethics... they can show and defend beheadings but a dictator in Y-fronts... "get outta here"

wonder what they would have done if someone from this current government was in those photos. Replay, slow motion ,pause Zoom in Zoom out (with a flashy soundtrack) i could go on

And while we're on the topic of commentary check out the "people" they found for this article arab reaction to zarqawi:
Mainly this one:

"This is a deviant notion and Zarqawi, with all due respect, is not an expert on Islamic jurisprudence. His views are illegitimate" said Saudi Islamic researcher Youssef Al-Dayni.
WITH ALL DUE RESPECT?
A rapist cum slaughterer of the masses commends respect and from what a supposed man of religion, why is he trying to brown nose him anyway.

These ppl are definitely stored in a cave or lab somewhere and released when they need opinions regarding the middle east

update:
if that wasn't bad enough check out the zarqawaites begging the world to pray for their leader.. because he is recovering from his heroic injuries (u know all that hiding does give a hamstring strain). (thanx fay for the link)

Long live HINER SALEEM

2005-05-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Twelve months after Michael Moore scooped Cannes' top award with "Fahrenheit 9/11," - a scathing indictment of the Bush adminstration's handling of the war in Iraq - a very different movie director screened a very different view of the war at the world's premier cinematic gathering.[1]

Director Hiner Saleem did not win the Golden Palm this year. But his film "Kilometre Zero" created a good deal of buzz at the competition, which closed on Saturday, not least because of its final scene.

"We're free! We're free!" two Iraqi Kurdish exiles shout exultantly as they hear the news of Saddam Hussein's overthrow on April 9, 2003. "We're free! We're free!"

That joyous reaction to the invasion of Iraq is not likely to go down well with the European audiences who idolized Mr. Moore. But Mr. Saleem, an Iraqi Kurd, is equally worried about being adopted as a standard-bearer by the war's supporters.

"My film is not the opposite of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' because I don't judge George Bush or the United States," Saleem says. " I judge Saddam Hussein and I simply say he was a monster."

As the primary victims of Mr. Hussein's brutality, subjected to poison gas and mass executions, "we Kurds would have been happy if the French or the Swedes had liberated us," he adds. "But it was the Americans who came. For us, the result is positive."

In fact, the controversial ending was tacked on to the original screenplay to give the film more currency, for fear that foreign audiences might find the central story line too distant. Most of the film - about a young Kurdish man press-ganged into Iraq's war with Iran in 1988 - explores the suffering and humiliation that the Kurds experienced at the government's hands.

The movie follows Ako from his village in the Kurdish mountains to the front line near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, and then back again when he is assigned to escort home the corpse of a fallen comrade.

"The Kurdish army gave me 200 pounds of TNT," Saleem recalls. "All the explosions are real, all the bullets were real. That meant I had to do all of those scenes in one take."

The resulting film met with mixed reviews at Cannes. The French critics were lukewarm, some wondering how the movie made it onto the select list of 20 films in competition. Though British and American critics were kinder, the Arab press has been "aggressive," Saleem says.

Even the US-funded Arab satellite TV channel, Al Hurra, which might have been expected to celebrate the first-ever Iraqi entry at Cannes, ran a disapproving story.

"When it comes to Kurds, their nationalism comes to the surface," Saleem sighs. Though his does too, of course: He doesn't regard his film as an Iraqi one, nor himself as an Iraqi. Both, he insists, are Kurdish and only Kurdish.

Partitioned between Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran, Kurdistan is home to 26 million Kurds, the largest ethnic group in the world without their own country, and the Kurds' voice has often been drowned out in the din of others' national interests.

Kilometre Zero's prominence at Cannes, says Saleem "gives Kurdish cinema a passport to the world. That is fantastic."

"The antiwar people accuse Kilometre Zero of being pro-Bush, and I'm afraid the other side will just say 'Look, we told you so.' We are meant to think either like the Europeans or like the Americans," Saleem complains. "Well, I want to think like a Kurd.

[1]Christian Science Monitor

I wished more Kurds talked like this! This article is great (only there were some lil mistakes)
Biji Hiner Saleem

50.000 Kurds demonstrate for Sheikh Mohammad Mashouk al-Khaznawi

2005-05-22T00:58:00.000-07:00

According to a representative of the Kurdish Yekiti party 50,000 Syrian Kurds demonstrated in the Kurdish city Qamishli, demanding to know the whereabouts of Sheikh Mohammad Mashouk al-Khaznawi, a missing Kurdish cleric. His son and human rights groups said he was kidnapped by Syrian security agents, a charge Syria's Interior Ministry denied this week. The protesters carried posters of al-Khaznawi and placards that demanded to know the man's fate. Witnesses said riot police and security agents watched the demonstration, which was largely peaceful

I also attended to a conference about the Syrian Kurds. Here I got to know more about the current situation about the regime and the Kurds. There were representatives of amnesty international, Dutch government, Yekiti party, refugee organisations, etc. A new committee set up for the Syrian opposition shall meet the Dutch minister of foreign affairs on Tuesday.

There will be more demonstrations for Sheikh Mohammed Mashouk al-Khaznawi today in front of the Syrian embassy in Brussel (Belgium).

Unbelievable

2005-05-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

Arsenal = Lucky Gay Boys.

No mess with Kurdish blood, b******

2005-05-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

This made me forget me failing yesterday's exam!
He deserves worse,
Geneva Gonvention is for Human being, he is NOT!

interview with a Syrian Kurd

2005-05-19T05:03:00.000-07:00

Syria and Western Kurdistan (Syrian Occupied Kurdistan ) is one of the most unfocused parts of world.nobody really knows what happens there and there is no Syrian or Western Kurd blogger.

I was so lucky to found a well educated syrian kurd in internet "by chance" , I asked him to do an interview ,and after so much fear he accepted, he trusted me because I had a Peshewa Qazi Mohammad photo on my avatar . (President of Kurdistan Republic 1946) I really apperciate this and thank him that accepted and put himself in danger to answer my questions . now I invite to read this interview about Syria and Western Kurdistan,

First of please tell us about Syrian Kurds, their population , their dialect of Kurdish , their religion , ..
The Syrian Kurd they are about (2 to 3 million) according to unregular research ,they are living in infrequent strip beside Syrian Turkish international border (width 40 to 75 k.m.) from east to west with high Kurdish density in north and low density in south .
They speak Kormanc dailect of Kurdish.

How is the life in Western Kurdistan -Syrian Occupied Kurdistan ?
The life here ? I don’t know what did you mean I will answer as I see for economic side, the annual income of person (for us) not good due to our activity, Because we don’t have he same chance with our partners in this country .

Can you give us some examples of discriminations that you face in Syria as a Kurd?

Discriminations ...t’s the big problem but not wide distribution ,the Kurd facing this problem in high government sections such as (military intelligence … etc. ) in another sections its under possibility because you can buy every thing by money not just for Kurd but for any one.

How many people have access to modern tools, such as , computer ,internet ,Satellite ,TV in Western Kurdistan?

a. TV . I don’t know the real ratio but I expect the users of this tool reach to 98% And I expect 2% don’t have electricity in villages which don’t have electric power.
b. Satellite receiver . the ratio here its between (15 – 30 )% of houses
c. Computer . the ratio of this group may be 30% among the educated peoples Which have a computer in his house or his work or they have knowledge to use . And 80% of computer users are between students because this tool its new in our schools program .
d. the ratio of this group is 5% using this tool which belong to c. (5% of 30%) or sharing with user one .

How many TV channels does the Syria has and is there any Kurdish programs among them? do they even mention there is a Kurd and Kurdistan in Syria?

Syria has two local channels and one satellite channel and they don’t have any Kurdish programs , about the mention of Kurd and western Kurdistan they never did , because they treat our existance here as we are refuges or immigration peoples coming from northern Kurdistan, until a few months ago , (from five month ago our exististance here became regular ,? during the interview with foreign satellite the Syrian president said the Kurdish nation is a part of Syrian structure ???!!!).than later that interview rebroadcast in Syrian satellite that was only mention !

can you tell us ,How the Arabs in Syria feel about Kurds and how do they treat to you ? do you see any changes in Arabs behavior to the Kurds before and after Iraqi war?
the big ratio of the Arabs in Syria looking to us without different with any one in Syria but the another ratio which belong to Saddam Husseins regime look at us as enemy.
about the change in Arabs behavior after Iraqi war , some of the first group join to the second group, and the second group became more enemy to us.

During the recent years, there was Kurdish movement in Syria which was quiet but in Serheldan(insurrection) March 2004 we saw a sadden revolutionary movement by Kurdish people toward the Syrian government can you say why that happened suddenly at that time?

that movement of Kurd was result of two reasons : the first reason ,the difficultis which we face here like discrimination , our right……..etc ,
the second reason : during the football playing between “Elgihad” team which belong to Qamishlo city (the team players are Kurd) and other team which belong to “Deer Elzor” city , the fans of this team (Deer Elzor) are saddamist , even more than saddam himself

during the play the second teams fans (Deer Elzor) raised the saddem’s photos and saying the dirty words to the Kurd leaders in north Iraq –Southern Kurdistan-, then the fight began between the fans of the two teams -and the regime polices assististed and shared in the fight with second teams fans against Kurd people and……etc.

How do you see the division between different political parties in Western Kurdistan? ... How strong they are, are they popular enough among Kurdish people?
my opinion about division between different political parties is same with every educated person here , what we think about the leaders of kurdish parties …….? ,not good
because every one want to keep his chair more than directing people ,and they are not popular among people ( I think their strength comes from their popularity ) and the last serheldan(insurrection) determined that their popularity was not even 10% of the revolutionary people which share in serheldan (insurrection).

Do you have any hope for changes in Syrian Kurdistan ? do you think the changes in Iraq , will result changes in Syrian Kurdistan ?
A : I think we will spend many years to get changed because the leaders of democratic change in world, are investigating about the works for their companies, to get more activity and movements to their economic sectors, I think Iran will be before us.
B: .about the change due to the changes in Iraq ,it will result in decreasing the pressure on us , I hope in near future we will be better .

Hiner Saleem received a medal in Cannes

2005-05-17T03:42:00.000-07:00

Hiner Saleem has received the decoration of "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres", a French medal for intellectual or artists. The French minister for Culture, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres has stated, giving his decoration : "This artist comes from Kurdistan. He is an artist from a country which has been shared. For his artistic work, I congratulate him and nominated him "Chevalier des arts et des lettres".

Source and picture from Avesta.

It is a French tradition to decorate a foreign artist in Cannes, or in other intenational events. Once, it was Silvester Stallone who received it... Well at least the word "Kurdistan" does not afraid our minister... Probably that the White House will see it again as a personnal attack of frog-eaters against US policy... too bad for French American relations...