Erbil: The host city of sports t ournaments - Kurdish Globe

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The Kurdish Globe No. 276, Saturday, October 09, 2010 4 REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen Al-Maliki agrees to most of the Kurds’ demands Kurds and al-Maliki nearing closer to Seven months after Iraq’s Presidential Electtions were held, political blocs take a small step toward forming a stable, functioning government. Chances have increased for curre rent Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to remain in the prime minister post for a second time after Shiite groups joined his State of Law alliance and nege gotiations stepped forward with the Kurds. But further deals with other political blocs are yet needed to form a government. Al-Maliki officially answered the Coalition of Kurdistan Blocs’ (CKB) letter offered to the Iraqi winning lists about 19 points of Kurdish demands as a deal for taking part in the next government. He agreed on most of the letter’s items proposed by Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani, announced Fuad Masum, CKB member, saying that they received al-Male liki’s answer in an official letter. The item that al-Maliki has note on is a Kurdish condition for resolving the government once Kurdish parties decide to withde draw from it. Al-Maliki asked that this item be rephrased. “The State of Law was the first to respond to the demands among all other blocs,” said Mase sum , noting that the CKB will government formation Members of Iraqi National Alliance (INA) and the State of Law (SOL) coalition hold a meeting in Baghdad October 1, 2010. hold meetings with other politice cal blocs, including al-Iraqiya list, to discuss the Kurdish issue in the country and accelerate the formation of the government. "Al-Maliki’s position on the Kurdish demands is positive and considered closest to the Kurdie ish people's rights, despite disae agreeing on some of the items.” Also concerning attempts at government formation, al-Male liki called on al-Iraqiya List--led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi--to connect its discusse sions and submit its notes for the previous phase, pointing out that the National Coalition and the State of Law were able to form a coalition and al-Iraqiya should negotiate on return. The National Coalition is a combination of al-Maliki’s State of Law list and the Iraqi National Alliance led by Amme mar al-Hakeem. This combinate tion, which involves the Shiite parties, recently decided in a meeting on al-Maliki as their candidate to form the governme ment. But al-Hakeem’s Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq Party and al-Fadhila Party refused to attend the meeting, expressie ing their refusal of al-Maliki as their candidate. Thus, al-Maliki and Allawi still are competing on guaranteeing enough Parliame ment votes for their nomination as prime minister. In a press conference after his visit to the headquarters of the Fadhila Party in Baghdad, al- Maliki reported: “If al-Iraqiya list were able to form the large est bloc, we would have joined it," adding that "al-Iraqiya list should submit its observations to be discussed." According to al-Maliki, "Not all the demands of al-Iraqiya list should be implemented, as well as the other blocs, because most of the demands contradict one another. Al-Iraqiya comments regarding the right of the Nate tional Alliance to form the gove ernment are inconsistent with the Constitution and the Federal Court's discourse. Our meeting with the Fadhila Party shows the depth of our relationship and the confirmation that they constitute important partners in the next government." For his part, the general secrete tary of the Fadhila Party, Hashe em al-Hashemi, stated at the press conference that his party “adheres to form a government of national partnership and not a government of Sunnis, Shiie ites, and Kurds," adding that his party was “committed to the pose sition of the coalition to estable lish a national partnership that embraces all the winning blocs of the elections." Iraq held parliamentary electe tions on March 7, and winning parties continue to struggle with who should become the prime minister. “Not to throw garbage is an act of nationalism” Kurdish youths define “new” Showing respect to one’s country and people is taking shape to become part of the “new” nationalism, according to Kurdistan’s youths. nationalism Hemin Muhammad is a young Kurdish boy from the town of Halabja. He was not yet born when Iraqi airplanes poured chemical gas on his city in spring 1988. His grandmother was one of the 5,000 innocent victims of the attacks. The chemical attacks, prefaced by the mass-murder of hundreds of thousands of Kurdish citize zens in the Anfal Campaign, was another link in a chain of ethnic cleansing conducted against Kurds in Iraqi Kurdiste tan. By taking a look back at the bitter memories of the past, Hemin came to a new and diffe ferent conclusion. “It is right that we were suppressed and oppressed. We lived a miserae able life, but we should put a full stop to it. It is time to live up to the global expectations of us,” he said. Hemin defines nationalism as “being respectful to the counte try and people.” “A few years ago, I had pure love for my country. But nowadays, this love needs to be accompanied by respect as well. We have to love the soil, but the dignity of the human beings is much more precious,” he explained. “I see many people who claim to love their country, but they don’t respect their country in practice. When someone throws garbage on the streets, he is dishonoring that love. So not to throw garbage is an act of nationalism.” Ahmadi Khani, a famous Kurdish poet from the 17th century, wrote in one of his poems: “Leave it to God’s wisde dom. The Kurds in this world’s state. Why are they deprived of their rights? The Turks and the Persians besiege them from four sides at once. And they both make the Kurdish people into a target for Fate’s arrow.” It appears that Kurdish youths don’t think like Khani. They don’t emphasize the ethnic background of nationalism. “Nationalism is to do what is upon you to your country and your people. By people I mean everyone, regardless of their ethnicity and religion,” said Bahman Abdulrahman, a unive versity student in his 20s. He stated that he didn’t have the same opinion in the past. He doesn’t hide his problematic relations with other ethnicities. “I had some negative encounte ters with other friends from other nationalities before, but I regret them now. I should have been more moderate. We have to keep emotions away and bring rationality more and more into the context.” Bilind Ali is another young Kurd from Kirkuk. His city is still a place for the ethnic conflicts between his people and other ethnicities. Kurds in Kirkuk suffered a lot at the hands of the previous regime. Bilind’s family was among the thousands of Kurdish families forced to leave the city “merely for being Kurd.” But Ali, who is now studying archaeology at Salahaddin University, bele lieves that ethnic nationalism is not the answer to the proble lems of his city. “The people who are representing these nationalist claims are not since cere in their causes, and they have other private interests,” he said. “Nationalism changes forms according to the change of time and place. The globe balization era needs a totally different form of nationalism from the one we have become accustomed to. We can be good nationalists by committe ting small acts of service to our country.” When asked whether they prefer an independent Kurdie istan with no democracy or a democratic Iraq, all three answered a democratic Iraq without hesitating. “In a demoe ocratic Iraq, the hope for an independent Kurdistan still exie ists, but in a country under dicte tatorship, there is nothing to be hoped for,” said Bahman. Dana Jaf Suleimaniya dananewzer@ hotmail.com
The Kurdish Globe No. 276, Saturday, October 09, 2010 5 Car accidents increase in Kurdistan One million vehicles crowd Kurdistan’s roads As automobile imports from the U.S., South Kore rea, and other countries rise, cars clog the roads of Kurdistan Region, leaving little to no room for operate tor error. The population of Iraqi Kurdistan Region is about 4 million, while there are almost 1 million vehicles in the region. Drivers say driving is not fun anymore as too many cars operated by poor drivers clog the streets. “When I drive it is like I am at war. I feel my car will be hit at any second,” said Kawa Hussein. I must be extremely careful and look in the mirrors all the time. Many people do not respect the rules and they don’t know how to drive,” said Hussein, an engineer working for a Turkish company in Erbil city. Hussein has a 2009 Nissan pickup and got his driver’s license two years ago. But since then, he noticed that he is stressed out and ange gry when he gets behind the wheel. The General Director of Kurdistan Region Traffic, Brig. Rizgar Ali, stated that in the past 10 months more than 400 people have been killed in car accide dents in Kurdistan Region, including in Kirkuk city, and about 5,000 have been A parking lot near the Erbil Citadel is depicted in this photo. injured. “In Suleimaniya province, 176 have been killed and 2,075 have been injured. In Erbil, 116 have been killed and 1,675 have been injured. In Kirkuk, 62 have been killed and 570 have been injured. Rege garding Duhok province, in the past 10 months 57 have been killed and 565 have been injured,” said Ali. In the past 10 months, 140,555 people received driver’s licences, added the Brigadier. People have long compe plained of drunk drivers, and according to Erbil’s main emergency hospite tal, the number of car acce cidents due to alcohol is rising. Because of that, the General Directorate of Traffic issued a decision saying that “anyone caught driving under the influe ence of alcohol will either be arrested and jailed for three months to one year, or fined for 300,000 to 500,000 dinars.” Meanwhile, cars continue ue to flow into Kurdistan Region. According to gove ernment officials, 11,220 vehicles, mini-trucks, and trucks were imported into the Region from different Western and Asian counte GLOBE PHOTO/Qassim Khidhir tries through Haji Omare ran, an Iraq-Iran border crossing. “From January 1 to July 1, 2010, there were 11,220 vehicles imported into Kurdistan only from this border point,” said Salam Arab, manager of the Haji Omaran border gate. Arab said that the cars are made in the U.S., South Korea, Japan, and Germany. They were sent through Dubai to Iran as transit and then to Kurdie istan. Among the most prominent cars were the Japanese Nissan, Korean Kia, and American Ford. “The KRG gets tax from imported vehicles accordie ing to the model and cylie inder. They range from 800,000 Iraqi dinars to 1,000,800,” said Arab. Observers complain about importing these vehicles into Kurdistan. “The over-importation of vehicles has caused traffe fic jams. We do not have enough roads for all these vehicles,” said Mussa Muhammad, lecturer at Salahaddin University in Erbil. Qassim Khidhir Berlin qassim. kurdishglobe@gmail.com The identity of Iraqi cities in danger Lack of strategic planning, security, and income has put the identity of many Iraqi historical cities in danger. Before the 2003 invasion, Mosul city--some 400 kilometers northwest of Baghdad--had different ethnicities, including Arae abs, Kurds, Turkmen, and Shabaks. It was a city of different religions, such as Muslims, Christians, and Yezidis. Now, the city’s identity has changed since many Christians, Yezidis, and Kurds were forced to leave due to threats and sece curity deterioration. Moreoe over, Mosul is very rich in Islamic, Christian, and Assyrian history. In Mose sul province are many old mosques, churches, Iraq’s first municipal building, and old shrines--includie ing a Jewish shrine and a Jewish school. Many need urgent care and revitalizate tion, but lack of security and income makes it diffe ficult. “Over the past four years, it has been very difficult for us to visit archaeole logical sites and other old places in Mosul province for research and study due to lack of security,” said Dr. Akram Muhamme mad, lecturer at College of Archaeology at Mosul University. “Fortunately, at this time security is impe proving slowly. But still there is no financial suppe port to conduct research about the old places in the province and renovate them,” Dr. Muhammad added. Dr. Muhammad is conce cerned about the identity of Mosul city, which is going to be permanently changed soon if authorite ties do not act seriously. He said that since 2003, hundreds of thousands of people from villages Archaeological treasures on cusp of disappearing in Mosul and towns in the province have settled in Mosul city; the majority of them have built illegal houses in the city and in the former milite tary bases that belonged to Saddam Hussein’s regime. “Now in Mosul city, there are a lot of slums; there is no clear master plan for the city,” Dr. Muhammad noted. Currently, Iraq faces a huge housing problem. The Iraqi Ministry of Rece construction and Housie ing stated that Iraq needs more than 2 million housie ing units, and the Ministry said it has talked with 300 international companies to build those units. On October 3, Iraqi unive versities in Baghdad, Diye yala, Duhok, and Mosul, and the TU Dortmund Unive versity in Germany, held a three-day joint conference on planning in Duhok city. The conference dealt with sustainable revitalization of historic cities within a regional context. In Februae ary 2009, the German and Iraqi governments signed a memorandum of unde derstanding on university cooperation with the longterm goal of establishing a German-Iraqi university in Iraq. As a preparatory step, five German universities were commissioned to deve velop specific components for this future university. TU Dortmund University was tasked to design the planning education and research component. Professor Christa Reiche er from TU Dortmund said historic cities can only be successful within context. Professor Reicher pointed out that people are leaving the historic towns and citie ies to live in big cities, in particularly young people, for job opportunities. She complained about the way the historic Erbil citadel is being renovated. “The Kurdistan Regional Gove ernment shouldn’t have forced Citadel inhabitants to evacuate in order to renoe ovate; inhabitants should have stayed so that they could be involved in the renovation.” She added: “Strategic planning is cruce cial to sustain the historic cities--strategic planning not only for the building, but also for the people who are living in the histe toric cities.” The Erbil Citadel in Erbe bil city is now under renove vation by UNESCO. The estimated 8,000-year-old Citadel, located in the center of Erbil, claims to be the oldest continuoe ously inhabited city in the world. There are over 500 residential buildings inside the Citadel, most of which are built around courtye yards and made of brick and short-span timber with mud roofing. Many buildie ings have opulent interior decoration with painted ornaments, colored glass windows, carved doors, arcades supported by timbe ber, and marble columns. Now the Citadel is «tempe porarily» listed on UNESCe CO’s World Heritage List. After the conference, participants will tour the Erbil Citadel and visit histe toric cities and towns in Duhok and Suleimaniya province. Chairman of the Higher Institute of Planne ning in Duhok Universe sity, Dr. Nazar Numan, described the conference as a great opportunity for Iraqi universities to hold a conference together with a German university in this difficult time for Iraq. He remarked that five students from Duhok University are now studying in TU Dortmund in Germany-- three of them are studying for their bachelor’s dege gree, and the other two are Ph.D. students studying urban planning. This is the first time Iraqi universities and a German university discuss urban planning. A similar conference is planned soon in Erbil city.
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Erbil: The host city of sports t ournaments - Kurdish Globe

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