Nizar Qabbani, a Syrian poet, once said: “Love in the Arab world is like a prisoner, and I want to set it free. I want to free the Arab soul, sense and body with my poetry. The relationships between men and women in our society are not healthy.”

While sectarianism is weak in the Kurdistan region and freedom of religious expression is practiced, one of the most perennial social and cultural issues is gender discrimination and domestic violence. Street harassment, child marriage, a dowry system, forced marriages and superstitious beliefs have declined with comparison to the 1980s and 1990s. But even though Iraqi Kurdistan has experienced economic growth after the collapse of the Baath regime in 2003, violence against women, s, sexual assault and suicides have increased. Victims of sexual violence face social and cultural opposition to being allowed to reintegrate into society, let alone getting a job or achieving economic independence.

Systematic discrimination by outside forces has fostered a narrative of victimhood that is unique to the Kurds. This narrative reproduces itself repeatedly around social issues, with those who are different and independent-minded often paying the price of this chauvinism. Kurdistan is recovering from the ramifications of its failed 2017 independence referendum, and the Kurdistan Regional Government is yet to address tribal and patriarchal mentality that is still widespread, as are primitive cultural restrictions, economic backwardness and social taboos.

Originally born in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Kurdish novelist Kae Bahar addresses the region’s complex social fabric in his debut novel, . Bahar resorts to literature to criticize both Kurdish internal issues and external threats. Bahar studied in Europe and worked as a documentary filmmaker and actor. He produced several films for Channel 4, BBC and Al Jazeera, and is the author of several screenplays.

In this guest edition of The Interview, Aras Mhamad talks to Kae Bahar about the controversial nature of his first novel, the many taboos of Kurdish culture, and the past and the future of Kurdistan.

Aras Ahmed Mhamad: The protagonist of your novel, Marywan Rashaba, is a neuter (boygirl), and he is not circumcised. He asks his mother about virgins and wine. He has sex with his aunt while he is still a teenager and is sexually harassed by his religious teacher. He grows fond of Mullah Zao’din but later thinks of poisoning his food. He masturbates, but feels guilty. He feels responsible for his mother’s suffering because she has given birth to a sexless child. Why have you created such a controversial character?

Kae Bahar: Sex plays a very important part of our lives, and yet in most societies, including some who consider themselves advanced, talking about sex is still a taboo as if discussing something dirty and unhealthy. This is mostly due to the negative way sex is portrayed in religion, especially Islam, Christianity and Judaism, where sex is considered a sinful act. This is not our true nature, but a culture imposed on us so that we see sex as something bad instead of a beautiful gift offered to us humans.

I grew up with this way of thinking in Kurdistan, but thanks to the cinema, where I watched films from an early age, I freed myself from the barriers holding me back to discuss topics like sex openly. I believe our wrong approach to sex is the cause of many of the problems we face in the world —��man-made problems — especially those commanded and caused by [men]. Therefore, I wanted to have a lead character who would allow me to explore and expose sex and sexual acts and their effects on us, as well as allowing to take readers along on a complex sexual journey.

Mhamad: The novel is packed with memorable characters. Marywan is beaten by his father, Darwesh Rashaba, regularly and brutally. He is a conservative dervish and is ashamed when Mullah Zao’din tells him Marywan is not circumcised. He feels proud when he sees Marywan inflicting pain on himself by head-butting the wall while the other dervishes recite a religious ritual. He avoids talking about politics and prohibits Marywan going to the cinema. What is it that you want to convey through these type of characters?

Bahar: I understand why you are asking this question. In many of the Kurdish stories and tales characters are usually flat — they are portrayed more like black and white, precisely because those writers were bound by cultural and traditional restrictions their societies imposed. Those writers usually did not feel free enough to go deep to explore and create characters that could overcome the taboos and be brave enough to discuss topics like sex and politics openly. Often their characters are either bad or good, cowardly or brave, basically two dimensional and not very interesting in the fictional world.

But I think we are much more than that. We are complex creatures with many intrigues, and at times it is hard to predict or explain how and why we act in some strange way.��I did not want my characters to be flat, boring or framed specifically as one type or another. Even if writing in a fictional world, it was crucial for me to treat my characters as real people with all the real actions, feelings and emotions that affect our daily life and drive it forward. Our interaction with family members, friends and others in the society we live in and share also shapes our behavior, which means we are not always in command, but act accordingly. Some of us can manage the ups and downs and keep calm in difficult times when facing crises, whereas others could easily lose the plot under pressure and could change drastically and unexpectedly and behave like a beast. Darwesh Rashaba is one of those people.

Mhamad: Almost all the characters have a nickname. Hiwa is nicknamed “Rabbit”; Jwana, “Beautiful”; Ashti, “Peaceful”; Khorataw, “Sunshine”; Papula, “Butterfly.” Even Marywan disguises himself when going to the cinema. Whereas these are optimistic nicknames, almost everyone Marywan knows or has befriended will die. His sister, uncles, aunt, friends, teacher and even his lover die while they are still young. Is this a hopeless and dystopian or a realistic lookout for the future of Iraq and Kurdish question?

Bahar: The use of the nicknames has a different propose: The novel is written in English aimed at worldwide readers, and Kurdish names could be difficult for foreign readers to remember. The nicknames are much easier to familiarize with because they are words with universal meanings known to us all. Another reason for the nicknames is the importance I give to my characters’ names and how I wish the names to describe their personal characteristics clearly. For example, Peaceful — his nickname describes what kind of person he is and most likely helps the reader to like him and sympathize with him. But this is also true for the other characters that are not pleasant, like Zao’Adin — and yet his name means “The Light of Religion.”

Is the story hopeless reflecting my pessimistic view of the future for Iraq? Well, my story is set in Kurdistan, and like Marywan, I don’t see Kurdistan as Iraq. I have never believed that Iraq could survive and succeed as one country. The call for “one Iraq” is imposed by the superpowers, especially the UK and the US for their economic interests and benefits — keep the status quo, keep fuelling the war. We all know “Iraq” since its creation by the British Empire in 1921 has never had peace because it was never a country shared equally by Arabs and Kurds. This is why I believe the best solution forward for the Arabs, Kurds and other ethnic minorities in the region is to divide Iraq and recognize independence for Kurdistan, a hopeful step forward in the right direction toward a possible peace. The separation of those two countries will be the key to end the endless wars so that Kurdistan and Iraq could live side by side peacefully as two good neighbors.

Mhamad: The setting of the novel is Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic and disputed territory. While there is almost no mentioning of any Kurdish or Arab movies or movie stars, there are many references to Western films such as The Lion of the Desert, The Elephant Man, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and film stars such as Clint Eastwood, Julie Christie, John Hurt, Charles Chaplin, Joe Pesci and Mathew Modine. Can you explain why these references resonate throughout the novel?

Bahar: The setting is in Kirkuk, not because I grew up in the city but because, along with Jerusalem, Kirkuk is one of the most problematic cities in the Middle East, mainly caused by its vast oil reserves. And as you know, Kirkuk’s been the heart of the conflict between the Kurds and the Iraqi Arabs for more than 100 years now. In 1970, when Saddam [Hussein’s] government accepted a peace deal with the Kurds recognizing autonomy for the Kurdistan region for the first time, Kirkuk also benefited from the truce, and myself too. The five cinemas we had in the city started to screen films coming from all over the world, including the US, Italy, France, Britain, India and Egypt. I was in the cinema every opportunity that I could sneak away.

This is why throughout the novel I have mentioned characters from films produced in those countries and beyond. Of course some are mentioned more because I loved those films, the settings, the actors and the directors. But at the time there were no Kurdish films screening in the cinemas. Also, all along I wanted to tell the world about the Kurds through my novel and the references to cinema and film characters could help bring foreign readers much closer to Kurdistan.

Mhamad: Letters form a Kurd feels like an autobiographical narrative. It is a coming of age story of Marywan Rashaba experiencing the most inhuman treatment. What do you have to say about that, and what do you miss the most about living in Kirkuk?

Bahar: Often during the Q&A sessions in my presentations for Letters from a Kurd I am asked if this is autobiographical. The answer is no — it is a work of fiction. Like every writer, I also benefited from my personal experience to write the story. Marywan, the protagonist, and I have in common our deep love for films, long hair and are both rebellious patriots fighting for Kurdistan’s independence. Apart from this, all the characters are based on real people I have known, read or heard about.��In the same way, the events, the geography and history are all accurate, based on thorough research —��basically, the dramatization of a reality in a work of fiction to appeal to a wider readership and because of my love for storytelling.

My novel is not full fantasy like Harry Potter, but more like The House of The Spirits by Isabel Allende. Marywan lives a tough life just like his people, the Kurds, live a very inhuman life because they are persecuted and are deprived of their freedom, their land and forced to become stateless. What I miss most about Kirkuk is sleeping on the flat rooftop during the spring and summer months from where I could look at the flames of the Babagurgur oilfields that kept our hopes high for a better life.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

The post Letters from a Kurd: A Conversation with Novelist Kae Bahar appeared first on 51�Թ�.

The Kurds are known for their resilience, peshmerga fighters, disunity and failed attempts to create an independent country in the rough mountains of their contested homeland. The time has come for the Kurdish people to tell their stories through music, art and literature, to attract the attention of the international community through their rich culture, and not just politics.

Getting access to a Kurdish novel in English is quite a feat, mainly a result of the oppression of Kurdish culture. Moreover, since the establishment of the first Kurdish parliament in 1992, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Culture has not made a concerted effort to translate Kurdish literature into English. Bakhtyar Ali’s , originally titled Ghazalnus and the Gardens of Imagination, is the first Kurdish novel into English by Kareem Abdulrahman, published by Periscope in 2016.

Novels function as a reliable medium through which societies can be analyzed and understood. The Kurdish novel — much like politics, history, business, sport and the media — was dominated by men until the 1990s. Against all odds, Qasham Ali Balata’s is the first Kurdish novel written in English by a female novelist. Originally from Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan, Balata tackles the patriarchy and women’s struggle in the region.

In this guest edition of The Interview, Aras Ahmed Mhamad talks to Balata about the significance of literature in depicting issues facing women and their continuous struggle to achieve equality, liberty and freedom in Kurdistan.

Aras Ahmed Mhamad: Novels written in Kurdish are full of characters suffering from unfulfilled sexual drives and unresolved erotic conflicts. But in Run Away to Nowhere, there is almost no depiction of sensual portrayal of female physicality or sexual intercourse. Did you self-censor while writing the novel?

Qasham Ali Balata: I did not face any sort of self-censorship while writing my novel. I didn’t want to follow the path that makes women a cheap product or an object for marketing. I didn’t think any of that was necessary to serve the plot. I think the joy of writing is when the writer is free to put whatever he or she wants to write about.

Mhamad: Nareen, the female protagonist, is almost flawless. There are other almost perfect female characters in Run Away to Nowhere, like Aishe, Befreen, Buhar, Zeinab and Jihan. Is this impeccable depiction of Kurdish women a response to patriarchal mentality or a rebellion against female oppression?

Balata: I don’t think that my characters are flawless or perfect. They have their ups and downs. For example, Nareen is very real but at the same time very simple and not as deep as Karwan or Buhar. All she cares about is her future with Karwan. Befreen gets married to someone she doesn’t know well and eventually gets a divorce. Aishe always complains about her father, and when he gets lost, she feels guilty. Jihan feels guilty and thinks that she is not a good mother because she left her two kids in Duhok while she was studying in Mosul. None of them is perfect because I believe there are no perfect human beings.

Regarding the second part of this question, I see that the impeccable depiction of Kurdish women is not just a response to patriarchal mentality, but it is a response to all social traditions as well as being a way of showing strength and resiliency toward all difficulties of life. Let’s not forget it was a true description of a Kurdish woman in the last part of the 20th century.

Mhamad: ��Karwan and Nareen are intensely in love, and their love story drives the plot. But Karwan decides to choose Kurdistan over Nareen and is killed in the fight defending his city, Duhok. Nareen decides to spend the rest of her life unmarried, though people ask for her hand.��Would Karwan have chosen Nareen’s destiny if he were alive? Who is the true victim, Karwan or Nareen?

Balata: As a matter of fact, I can say both Nareen and Karwan are victims of war and society. I think it is a personal decision for anybody to get married or not after the death of a lover, but in Nareen’s case I think she has her beautiful memories with Karwan. Also, she has her inner peace. Plus she is a hard worker and has her family, students and a group of nice friends. In reality, you can find many women who decide not to get married after the death of their husbands, and sometimes their lovers. I don’t think Karwan would stay unmarried if he was alive and Nareen was dead because very few Kurdish men stay unmarried after the death of their wives or lovers —��almost none.

Mhamad: Women are seen as the embodiment of honor. Physical and emotional abuse, female marginalization and male hegemony are everywhere in the novel. In the past, mountain law and honor law replaced court law. These days, political parties have established tribal “social institutions” (mektebi komelayeti) to replace the courthouse. How would you comment on this?

Balata: I do agree that women are seen as the embodiment of honor.��Physical and emotional abuse, female marginalization and male hegemony are rampant in my novel because this is the reality of Kurdish society, especially at the time of my novel, which is 1991-1992, and before that time.

I’m personally against mountain law, honor law, tribal law and mektebi komelayeti, and my point of view is very clear in chapter three about how much I’m against tribes and [tribal leaders]. I think Kurdish society is still not coping with the rest of the world because of the tribes.

I’m with the strong and just governance through the three branches of government, especially the judicial branch, where the role of law is dominant.

Mhamad: “Passionate,” “kind-hearted,” “soft,” “caring” — these adjectives are usually attributed to women. Do you think this kind of repetitive word choice can define an appropriate image of women? What kind of political damage can this do when, for example, elections are held?��How can women transform themselves from voiceless victims to social and political activists?

Balata: I totally believe that women are and should be passionate, kind-hearted, soft and caring. These humane characteristics are very appropriate to define a woman and her image because it reflects her true nature and complies with her role as a mother, wife and as a solid base for any society.

Do these characteristics mean that she is the weakest link in the society? Not at all, because true politics is based on passion, love, peace and humanism. When you are passionate for your land and people you can make a very successful politician and leader because you can achieve the ultimate goal of politics, which is the welfare of your people. History gave us a very good example of a passionate leader such as [Mahatma] Gandhi. At the same time we have examples of strong, fearless, cold-hearted leaders who destroyed their country, shamed their people and wasted the wealth of the [nation] in conflicts and corruption.

Therefore, women can change from voiceless victims to social and political activists by spreading the message of love and passion for everything good in this region. Also, they can change the typical image of women when they start to believe in themselves as strong social forces and refuse to accept any political view just because they were raised in a family that believed in that view. A woman needs to make her own mind about every single matter and shape her views out of love and passion for her cause.

Mhamad: “Politics is a man’s game. So is writing.” This is a common belief in Kurdistan, Iraq and across the Middle East. What are the most notable changes in Kurdish society in recent years regarding women?

Balata: Regarding Kurdish society, things have changed, but not as we expected. We thought that if one day we became free we will make huge differences in every aspect of our Kurdish society, but unfortunately none of that happened — and the main reason is corruption and struggle among political parties.

Regarding Kurdish women — she looks very stylish and modern these days. There is some progress and change in her thinking too, but she still has very little involvement in issues regarding society, and of course we cannot stereotype a whole group of people because there are always individual differences. I believe any changes in Kurdish society and Kurdish women occurred mainly because of the influence of globalization and revolution of communication technology. Therefore, some people just imitate what is happening around the world and don’t act out of the need of our society. No serious changes are planned by the government or social institutions.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

The post A Kurdish Novelist’s Challenge to the Patriarchy appeared first on 51�Թ�.

When on June 7 Masoud Barzani, Kurdistan’s incumbent president, announced a for September 25, a wave of internal backlashes followed, and this unilateral decision. External pressures have instigated fear, highlighting the possibility of closing the borders and imposing sanctions on the import of food, medical supplies and electricity. The suspension of the Kurdish pipeline through Turkey’s Ceyhan port is expected, with .

On the domestic front, none of the major political parties in the Kurdistan region have officially declared their full support, including the Gorran Movement, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and the Kurdistan Islamic Komal, making it even more difficult for Barzani to continue ahead with the project, despite some PUK and KIU politicians having expressed their support.

Gorran persists with its demands to amend Kurdistan’s presidential law and delaying the referendum until all the necessary requirements are met, including logistical prerequisites. Gorran, the second biggest party in the Kurdistan region, demands a change from a presidential system of governance, which is supported by the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), into a parliamentary system. On August 12, asking the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to formally cancel its austerity measures that have reduced salaries by half, to bring more transparency to the oil trade and domestic income, and to reconvene parliament, which has not met since October 2015. The statement considers Barzani’s call nonbinding.

Public opinion in the provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja is blatantly and visibly against the timing and procedure of the referendum. There have been public meetings, seminars and campaigns opposing Barzani’s call for a referendum, asking him and the KDP to instead , send public servant’s payrolls on time, provide better services and prepare the population for a national reconciliation.

No for Now

On August 8, a was launched. Shaswar Abdulwahid, owner of NRT TV, is considered to be the mastermind behind it, having formally announced his opposition to the referendum on August 5 and claimed that the leaders of the major political parties have no courage to say no to Barzani’s decision. Abdulwahid has the referendum a “gamble” and claims, “We are not against having a Kurdish state, it is rather a dream for all of us, but this referendum is not for having a country.”

Although Abdulwahid’s campaign may not present any significant obstacles, and that the No campaign activists might not be allowed to organize public gatherings in Kurdistan’s capital, Erbil, and Duhok, both of which are under the control and administration of the KDP, they still legitimize Barzani’s decision and demonstrate the existence of democracy.

The No for Now movement has also established a TV channel broadcasting and encouraging people to vote no in the referendum.��According to its , “A No for Now” vote means “No” to the failure of the experience of the Kurdistan Regional Government. “No” to a kleptocrat government of political businessmen. A “No” vote means “No” to selective politics of authority, the selectiveness by which they have proved they do not have anything to serve us except vulnerability and self destruction.” The statement also criticized human rights abuses, the and accused of feudalism and tribal authoritarianism.

Rabun Maruf, speaker of the movement, has stated that the referendum is a historic and dangerous mistake that could bring more conflict, poverty and vulnerability to the region, demanding instead a rule of democracy and an accountable government where exchange of power and political coexistence are guaranteed.

On the external level, the neighboring countries, including Iran and Turkey, have their and opposition to the referendum, warning Kurdish officials about the prospect of civil war. Iraq’s Kurdish president, Fuad Masum, expressed his hope that Iraq would maintain its integrity, encouraging the central government and the Kurdish officials to find a middle ground for their disagreements. “Independence referendum in Kurdistan is an ambitious dream whose realization is not possible under the current circumstances in Iraq and the region,” .

The , insisting on the importance of the unity of Iraqi forces in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), though Kurdish peshmerga proved to be reliable allies in toppling the former Baath regime and defeating IS on several occasions. Besides, the Kurdistan region embraced around 2 million refugees and internally displaced people fleeing IS. Russia has also insisted on preserving , encouraging Kurdish authorities and the government in Baghdad to solve their issues through meaningful dialogues. Germany warned about the possibility of if the Kurdish referendum takes place.

A Sovereign Hope

Despite internal divisions among the political parties and external threats, a dysfunctional government hampers the long-awaited aspiration for a Kurdish sovereign state. Peshmerga forces have yet to be united, and parliament has not convened in nearly two years. The KRG is three months behind . Disputed territories, including Kirkuk, will also prove a massive burden in case the referendum is successful as the KRG will have to provide electricity, clean water, food, medicine and salaries for those territories as well.

The decision to conduct the referendum is apparently against the will of the international community and neighboring countries, and brings potential long-term repercussions, such as the closure of the Kurdish airspace. Since the area is landlocked and political pressures and economical threats are mounting, the KRG has to work on multiple fronts to assure its citizens that the referendum will at least not further reduce their salaries, and that the price of basic needs of survival will be maintained.

The in Kirkuk, Shangal and Kobane have stimulated a sense of national pride and a revival of the spirit of Kurdish nationalism. But what if the central government stops sending monthly food rations, and the intra-Kurdish political rivalry deepens post-referendum? There need to be military preparations to preserve the borders and economic plans to rebuild the infrastructure and overcome any unexpected consequences. Regional interference and internal competition over the control of the sources of power and revenue will also pose a tremendous threat.

If the referendum is to take place in due course, a yes vote is highly likely. In 2005, the Kurdistan Referendum Movement, in an asking people whether they wanted to remain part of Iraq, found that a staggering 98.8% favored an independent Kurdistan. However, the geopolitics of Erbil, surrounded by the Shia governments of Tehran and Baghdad and the Sunni government of Ankara, would require the commitment and endorsement of the major international forces in order to survive. A peaceful Kurdexit based on reasonable dialogue with Baghdad will at least prevent a violent separation, if not an economic embargo.

In order to strengthen the pillars of the long-overdue sovereign state of Kurdistan in the Middle East, which is marred by political mayhem, religious rivalry and ethnic division, there needs to be internal reconciliation. Without political agreement to unite people and guarantee their endurance and support in case of war and economic embargo, the referendum may achieve internal acceptance in the long run, but it will face multiple challenges to obtain international recognition, making it difficult to translate the dream into reality.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

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“Kurds did not write their own stories.” “Kurds do not have a unified lexicon.” “Kurds are scattered and are continuously oppressed.” “Kurds are tribal and uneducated.” “Kurds deserve their own independent country.” These are some of the most frequently-used words in political discourse to describe Kurdish history and struggle, allocating little room if any for their art, music, culture and, more importantly, literature.

Kurdish literature entered a new phase, seeing the publication of hundreds of novels since the establishment of the first Kurdish parliament in 1992 and the proliferation of the press, particularly after the US-led intervention in Iraq in 2003 and the consequent development of Kurdish economy and political sphere. This new phase coincided with the of the Islamic State (IS) in 2014 and its brutal on the Kurdish town of Shangal, the enslavement of more than 5,000 Kurdish Yazidi girls and the killing of the Yazidi men after attempts to convert them.

The mass enslavement and rape of Kurdish women and justifying the act through religion is nothing new to the Kurds. Through the 1980s, under Saddam Hussein’s Baath regime, tens of thousands of Kurds were killed or imprisoned during the . Yet very little is known about the rape of the Kurdish women because of tradition and lack of media coverage. After the 1991 , 20,000 girls have been killed for in the Kurdistan region but due to society’s close-minded approach to women’s issues. These horrendous crimes remain hidden and unsolved, and the beatings and the killings continue.

Kurdish novelist,��Nabard Fouad, combines the tragedy of Shangal and Anfal in his debut novel Tuti, which translates as parrot. Fuad, like many typical Yazidi Kurds in Shangal, lost family members during the Anfal campaign. Tuti is the first Kurdish novel on the Shangal genocide.

In this guest edition of The Interview, Aras Ahmed Mhamad speaks to Fuad about the importance of literature in conveying the miseries and calamities faced by the Kurds.

Aras Ahmed Mhamad: What inspired you to write Tuti? Kurds have historically faced oppression and subjugation, so why Shangal and Anfal?

Nabard Fuad: The main inspiration that urged my writing of this novel is that there is a strong relation between true writing and pain in storytelling. Writing will become a cloud to cover every angle of life during destructions. Moreover, I believe pain will only be conveyed honestly through literature. The victim or the witness will have enough freedom to narrate their stories. Tuti wants to send the message that novelists can write history better than historians. In the future, people may talk about the liberation of Mosul and forget all the calamities that the fighters brought upon the civilians, especially women. True literature should continuously show our wounds in order to heal them.

The Yazidi plight is no less than any other slaughter and oppression that other nations face. I thought Shangal and Anfal would serve some central purposes. First, it is to let people know our miseries and be informed about Yazidi history and religion as one of the oldest religions and people of the Middle East. Yazidis have been living with Christians and Muslims for centuries, but little is known about their belief and history. This shows that they were religiously oppressed, targeted and massacred.

Second, it is to tell the world about yet another genocide of the Yazidis and tell the superpowers to stop selling weapons and arming one party to kill the other. It is true that through selling the weapons they will gain a huge amount of money, but they should also realize that with those weapons, people are forced to become sex slaves, and innocents are killed for no reason.

Mhamad: Why did you call it Tuti? What is the relationship between tuti the bird and the content of the novel?

Fuad: A parrot is a bird that does not migrate. Yazidi girls, especially those who are [expelled] from their lands, have been sex victims and slaves and could not migrate. Like parrots, they were trying to go back to their nests. Parrots love to nest on top of trees. Kurds, particularly Yazidis, love the unreachable mountain peaks. During the enemy’s attacks, just like parrots the Yazidis flew from one peak of the mountain to another. Parrots never betray. When a male parrot dies, the female never marries again, and vice versa.

Yazidis live mostly in the Middle East and in that particular part of the world, there is something called honor and virginity, which are more precious than the soul of a human being. When they were attacked and became sex slaves, they were raped. But when some of the Yazidi girls [escaped] from the hands of the beasts, their male lovers received them very dearly and with more love and care than before. This is how the Yazidis hold the beautiful characteristics of parrots. Yazidis love each other so much, just like parrots.

There is another thing about parrots: They don’t say words randomly—they say what they have been taught. Yazidi girls say what they have seen and happened to them; they never stop speaking to think. This is the reason that one of the characters of the novel name is also called Parrot.

Mhamad: “This pain is hurting me severely; uncle I am dying. For God’s sake, have mercy.” Can you explain as to why these words resonate throughout the novel?

Fuad: When a killing or rape happens, only the victim and the killer know the last words between them. Repeating these sentences in the novel is to emphasize the last pain ordeal of a young 13-year-old girl at the hands of dogma and [cruelty].

In any literary text, repeating a word or sentence means this statement was said in a particular time. On the other hand, I want to tell the world what kind of belief allows you to rape a 13-year-old girl while she asks for mercy, let alone rape her. The rapist doesn’t care about any humanistic values or behavioral criteria. Does ideology make humans kill each other?

Always men have fought, while women and children suffered. How long will all those who rule countries not listen to the Middle East children’s cries? If a child of United Nations delegate cries for help while in the hands of a rapist, what would the world feel and how would they react? We are a nation who gives our treasure to those countries in return to live in peace. “This pain is intolerable” is not just a word of a little girl. This is the cries of all Kurdish nations in the history. We have been attacked millions of times, genocide conducted against us numerous times. So all of us can say that pain of being a Kurd and a human is really intolerable.

Structurally, the sentence is for the little girl. But, metaphorically, this sentence is for all Kurdish nations, for all humanity, for Holocaust girls and for the Armenian girls who were crying “This pain is really intolerable.”

Mhamad: Revenge, hate, fear and nostalgia overwhelmingly dominate the characters’ lives and drive the plot. What is it that you want to convey through creating compelling sentiments, ruthless events and shattered characters?

Fuad: In the early days of the 20th century war started between Russia and Japan, after nine years World War I started. Then the Russian Civil War began; Italy and Ethiopia fought each other ‘till 1939. After that, World War II happened.

I am the 21^st-century generation. Those who lived in the beginning of the 21^st century have lost happiness. People who lived in the last and at the beginning of this century are the unhappiest creatures on earth. What’s worse, the world witnessed September 11, 2001 attacks, war between America and Afghanistan, the Iraq war, the Arab Spring, and now war on terror and ISIS. Aren’t we humans living in fear, nostalgia and revenge? Politics have put all of us in a bad condition.

Characters in the novel are all people from 20^th and 21^st centuries and the vents reflect what has happened in these two centuries. Humans live in a confusing psychological status. We grew up in fear, hate and revenge. Our religion is full of fear. From the first grade of school we have been taught that God will burn us, reptiles will eat us in our grave. We have been told if somebody hurts you, you either forgive or revenge. Aren’t all these factors driving us to live in fear, hate and revenge?

Mhamad: Hadi Khalaf continuously and secretly watches his parents having sex. He kills his father and joins the Baath party. He brings young girls for his Baath party leaders to have sex with them who then becomes an Islamic State fighter and rapes Yazidi girls. What is it that you want to convey through Hadi?

Fuad: The novel starts by introducing and describing Hadi, the terrorist. Similarly, when a TV presenter happily talks about the death of a terrorist we all give a smile with gratitude to the killer of the terrorist. Terrorists kill humans and later security forces kill the terrorists. Are not terrorists human? After all, a human holding any ideology is a human. Why shouldn’t we know the reason of turning them from a normal human into a beast who in the name of religion kills women and children and beheads their fathers and husbands?

Our sisters and mothers have been raped and enslaved in Anfal operations. But none of them had that bravery to describe what happened to them. In Nugra Salman camp our sisters got raped, then buried alive. Those who miraculously survived secretly admitted that they were raped.

Hadi has a confusing and wicked character. He runs away from his house and later gets a stepmother who married his father after meeting in a brothel. Hadi kills his fathers and becomes a beast. Who knows, maybe if he was from a healthy family he could become a good and fruitful person. I want to tell the reader that Hadi is a victim and all terrorists are victims of a certain ideology. Sometimes people do not want to become terrorists, but their lives go on a wrong direction and they become terrorists whom we wish to die fast.

Mhamad: Number eight is repeated throughout the novel and even the novel is eight chapters? Why eight not nine or ten or any other number?

Fuad: Although numbers get along with what happens, number eight is very common. Number eight physiologically, chemically, astronomically, geologically and biologically is a symbol in Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism.

Yazidi girls, for instance, were raped in August, and heaven has eight doors. A spider also has eight legs that catch pray. The Yazidi girls were eaten like this. Iraq-Iran war lasted eight years. In 1988, Iraqi regime conducted the process of genocide against the Kurdish nation and in the same year killed 5,000 Kurdish people with chemical weapons. The process of genocide took place in eight stages and after eight years the civil war between two major Kurdish forces the PUK [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan] and the KDP [Kurdistan Democratic Party] started.

In August 1996, the KDP brought Iraqi forces to the Kurdish Parliament. Coincidently, nearly after eight years, Saddam Hussein was executed. Eight years after Saddam’s execution, the Arab Spring took place. Sometimes some of us may have a special number in their lives but I think number eight is the worst number for Kurdish people, not thirteen.

Mhamad: How would you describe your journalistic experience and your visit with the Yazidis after the attacks? Did you find any similar stories between the Yazidis and your family members?

Fuad: After the Yazidi plight and due to journalism work I was able to reach those who were saved from ISIS. The girls who were captured but then ran away, I could see bravery in their eyes. Very courageously they were describing the incidents for me. When they reached in their narrations the part that they were raped, they started crying.

When the novel was published, none of my sisters read it. I have got many messages that were threatening me.

Kurds have been attacked so many times. Our sisters and mothers have been raped and enslaved in Anfal operations. But none of them had that bravery to describe what happened to them. In our sisters got raped, then buried alive. Those who miraculously survived secretly admitted that they were raped. Because of our rigid and closed society it was almost impossible for a girl to confess publically that she was raped repeatedly. The experience of journalism and visiting them is very different from what we write. The victims’ faces, emotions and movements can never be depicted via writing as there are countless women raped in Vietnam, Rwanda, the Holocaust, Dersim and elsewhere.

Mhamad: Why does the narrator feel so hopeless and pessimistic?

Fuad: “You fear death, I fear breathing.” This is a quote from the novel. When we see all these slaughtering and devastated houses, how can we be happy? We should divide those things that bring happiness. A human must not be happy when he sees a child’s house is destroyed and one of his/her legs is cut off and cries when they see the leg severed.

What could be happiness? A mother is killed by a dictator’s bullet. Another mother bleeds and her baby sucks her dead body’s breasts for milk. How can we prevent people from committing suicide? What beginning is there for us to start a nice life? Making atomic weapons to destroy each other kills happiness. Using gunpowder, preventing people from having clean water and putting freedom fighters in jail, there are thousands of reasons to force people to resort to suicide and I want to bring people’s attentions to these evil deeds in order to heal the wounds before they become unhealed.

Mhamad: A peshmerga, who is a taxi driver in the novel, tells the narrator: “Throughout history, we were the reason behind the success of our enemies’ plans.” Also, several times the narrator criticizes the Kurdish political leadership and their policies in Shangal and elsewhere. How would you comment on that?

Fuad: In Kurdish history, there have been many peshmerga and people who fought for Kurdish rights. If we look at some dangerous periods, we see many perilous false steps. Kurds have a problem: They don’t have a true leader that all the people trust and follow. In the Kurdistan region, so many people joined the armed struggle for getting their rights, putting so much pressure on their families. Among Kurds fortunately everyone feels that we have been deprived from our right and that we are ready to fight for them.

But it is known that our forces don’t have enough military preparations and knowledge. We fought as partisan groups against those who have cleansed us. I can argue that if we look at Kurdish history we find many big mistakes due to lack of a true leader. I will give only one example to this. In Shangal, the KDP security forces left the area. They did not allow the inhabitants to leave their houses, nor did they protect them.

Mhamad: Have you faced any backlash or been blamed within your family circles, relatives and friends for so explicitly talking about sex and rape in the novel, taking into consideration that sex is a taboo topic in our society?

Fuad: I live in the area where the Anfal campaign took place and many women were raped but, due to their family’s honor, they kept it as a secret. Correspondingly, few years ago, there was a girl whose menstruation cycle was delayed and her belly was a bit bigger than normal, where they doubted whether she’d had sex before marriage. They killed her in a graveyard in the moonlight. Then the judiciary doctor and the forensic staff checked and stated that she was virgin and that she only had ovary inflammation.

Writing a novel that talks about sex explicitly in such a place will undoubtedly create problems. In Middle Eastern societies killing, stealing and bribery is not a shame. But talking about sex, or if you kiss someone outside marriage, is a big problem for your family, especially for the girls and women.

When the novel was published, none of my sisters read it. I have got many messages that were threatening me. Here, when somebody wants to be different and break the norms, they have to pay for it individually, socially, politically and economically.

Many have told me what you have done is not groundbreaking, rather bringing scandal on your family. One of my relatives told me that if I write one more like this, nobody will ever marry me.

Always somebody becomes the victim first, then the next generation benefits. Those who want to be different must not fear anything, because breaking taboos needs sacrifice. Kurds have all types of writers but we need someone to break the established norms and tell society about their hidden wounds and then we can move forward. Any society who does not know its psychological and sexology problems can’t understand problems outside their bodies.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

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Education is the most effective means of bringing about responsible people who believe in the values of cultural diversity and coexistence. Military conflicts and religious violence in the Middle East will only be solved if the next generation is educated from the outset.

Everyday people have lost hope in politicians to bring stability, peace and prosperity to countries like , where sectarianism is on the rise and people often lose their loved ones, their homes and their jobs. Security issues and economic uncertainty dominate the headlines, causing a forceful disregard to education.

The existing Iraqi and system needs reform if peace, trust and integration are to be restored.

In this guest edition of , Aras Ahmed Mhamad talks to Maysa Jihad Alwan, a PhD candidate at the University of Essex, United Kingdom, about the challenges facing the Iraqi and Kurdish education system.

Aras Ahmed Mhamad: Do you think the current education system in Iraq and the Kurdistan region has the ability to combat unemployment, ensure equal access to jobs, secure unity among members of society, and provide the knowledge and skills to embrace diversity and oppose inequality?

Maysa Jihad Alwan: The current education system in the Federal Republic of Iraq is not influential concerning the aspects that you have mentioned. There is no direct relation between the education system and unemployment.

Every year we have a good number of graduates from universities and technical institutes, and a number of them get employed according to the needs of the governmental institutions or the private sector. Their employment does not necessarily depend on the quality of education that they have received. Employment sometimes can be obtained only when you know the right people. Education in Iraq, under the current political situation, cannot secure unity among members of society.

People seem to follow different political ideologies which have representations in the parliament, but unfortunately, the inner conflicts between those parties affected people negatively, and the result is the loss of unity and a real sense of belonging to this land. The education system is weak in its confrontation with all those crises brought about by the current Iraqi government.

I am sure that any education system must arm its subjects with knowledge and skills, but how far [is] that knowledge and those skills effective? This depends on the political and economic situation in which they work. Embracing diversity and the opposition of inequality come after you prepare a generation willing to have this frame of mind—namely respecting opposition and regarding it as a motivation for change and development.

Mhamad: What is the right age to introduce sex education at school?

Jihad Alwan: The sex education subject is a sensitive issue for our society, but it is an important one. In advanced countries, they start to teach sex and relationships [SR] at an early age of 5. Certainly, this subject is being taught in a gradual way according to the ranges of the students’ ages up to the upper grades of high school. In our society we need to start SR education, but it needs monitoring and much awareness from the teachers as well as from parents.

According to my opinion, it should start from intermediate school when the child is of 11 years old due to the conservative nature of our society. Probably after some years from now, we need to teach it at an earlier age as societies keep changing and people’s mentality becomes ready to accept this issue as a fact of life. Topics of homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender are not tolerated in our society so we need a gradual approach to them, but we should not deny them as not existing.

Mhamad: Do you think it makes sense to teach primary school children religious books in first grade and force them to memorize certain passages and verses? How would you comment on the moral and intellectual aspects of this trend?

Jihad Alwan: The subject of the Islamic religion should be taught in schools, but I encourage the embracement of other religions within this subject. The emphasis should not be on the philosophical argument on the supreme being or the afterlife and its rewards and damnation, but rather it should be on the moral side of the religion told through stories about the prophets that teach about God as mercy and love, and also on how nations can grow by their morals, and connect that with actual examples from life.

I do not encourage teaching directly from the Quran or the Bible. Memorization of verses from [the] Quran is useless. It does not teach morality and human rights, which are the essential topics of every religion. It makes students memorize without understanding, and also causes resentment of the subject in general.

Mhamad: How can the politicization of the education sector negatively affect the process of educating citizens on the basis of citizenship and principles of democracy, and not party loyalty?

Jihad Alwan: It is obvious that political parties have influence on the employment and the assignment of administrative posts to certain members in the education sector. [This] kind of attitude results in the absence of the honorable competition spirit among staff members and nurtures grudges and hatred, which might affect the education process negatively. Any work environment should be healthy. Members should not feel that their rights were taken by others. Otherwise, they will lose the sense of commitment and loyalty to the bodies they are working for.

We lack resources and access to big electronic libraries, and there is a chasm in the knowledge between the Middle East and the rest of the world.

The enrolment of students in higher education institutions also happen according to nepotism and special admission. This can result in the sense of inequality and injustice among students. Moreover, the huge number of admitted students every year leads to extra hours of teaching and, hence, less research hours which are more important for the development of the educational institution as a whole.

Mhamad: The fact that party leaders and the majority of government officials send their children to private schools and universities abroad tells us a lot about their failure to build a developed education system inside Iraq and in the Kurdish region. How would you comment on that in terms of trust in governmental schools, hospitals and banks?

Jihad Alwan: Our education system, under this difficult political situation, is not trustworthy for us. We lost our faith in each other as people who are able to produce knowledge and work faithfully and, hence, if we have money to send our children abroad for study, we would not hesitate to do that.

We lack resources and access to big electronic libraries, and there is a chasm in the knowledge between the Middle East and the rest of the world. The teacher does not feel secure on the financial level, and the recent financial crisis is evidence that the government has failed to provide a stable economic condition for the citizen to work and be productive.

Mhamad: Do you think Kurdish education since 1992 and Iraqi education since 2004 have been able to create homegrown theories and ideas, and individuals who perform their responsibility and demand their rights according to the rules of law?

Jihad Alwan: On the theoretical level, we have a number of researchers who provide us with good visions concerning the education system, but the implementation of those theories did not find a peaceful and stable environment to grow and thrive. The quality insurance project in the Kurdistan region is successful so far as it encourages teachers to improve their performance and fill the gaps in their information, and I think in the long term, it will give good results. But again the political stability is important for such projects to develop.

On the country level, the Ministry of Planning and Development published a report in 2013, stating that 26% of Iraqi youth, 15 years and younger, are illiterate. This rate is sad especially when we know that UNESCO had considered the education in Iraq as the best in the Middle East prior to 1991, when the rate of enrolment in schools reached 100%.

During the blockade years, the education system suffered from a severe lack of resources, and many teachers migrated to other countries. After the fall of Saddam’s [Hussein] regime, the rehabilitation of schools started, but it was interrupted throughout the years of civil war and political unrest that the country [has faced]. After all, what is the use of a book if I don’t have a lamp to help me read it?

Mhamad: What are the main reasons behind a student’s weakness? Is it a problem with the system and methods of teaching or the individual teachers?

Jihad Alwan: I think we as teachers should be aware of the different types of learners. There are learners who depend on their listening ability, others on their visual sense, and others have to move and talk in order to learn. We need the lesson to be diverse in its means, and the teacher should change and mend his approach always in order to satisfy most of the learners’ needs.

There are other issues that might contribute to the weak performance of the learner, which might be personal or familial. In this case, the education institution should attempt to help through the student advice office and psychological support.

Mhamad: Memorization is widespread in Iraqi and Kurdish education. A huge emphasis is given to the right answer and, usually, students are passive receivers. Arguments, participation and interpretation are limited and sometimes absent. How would you comment on that?

Jihad Alwan: That is true. We still depend on the teacher to provide knowledge for the student, while the student’s role in producing knowledge is very limited or may be absent. We still have the idea that the student is nobody to add his/her opinion to the world of knowledge. That is why we encourage the one path given by the teacher.

It is important that the student knows the major theories in his domain, but on the practical level, he/she should use those theories to have his/her own vision and opinion or even arrive at new results. We need to show the students the way of how to produce, and when they produce we need to trust them after examining their arguments.

Mhamad: Is formal classroom learning and a premeditated curriculum enough to prepare students for the market and to fill the gap between the demands of society and university?

Jihad Alwan: The classroom environment and the curriculum are playing a role in the preparation of the students for the market after graduation, but other skills should be obtained throughout the years of education. They should be educated on how they [can] sell their abilities and, hence, get good job offers after graduation.

We need to provide opportunities for job contracts for students while they are still doing their undergraduate work. Encouraging volunteer work on campus is also important and gives students another chance to practice new skills before they indulge with the business world off campus.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

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Translation is more than just transporting words or sentences from one language to another. It involves the translation of feelings, emotions and thoughts. The real challenge a translator faces is: Can one translate all the sentiments attached to the text, bridge the cultural differences and overcome language barriers?

It is for this reason that translators are accused of being traitors. Even if a translator is capable of conveying the message, he or she may still lack the ability to transform either the music, rhythm or deeper meaning of certain words and expressions.

Despite this, technological advances have made the job of translators much easier in terms of speed and quantity, but not quality. Electronic translation runs the risk of not only losing meaning, but also the music of language. However, the artistic aspects of some texts and the importance of scientific discoveries make translation crucial to people’s ability to understand each other and share experiences.

In this guest edition of , Aras Ahmed Mhamad talks to writer Jutyar Zhazhlaiy and lecturer Lona Mariwany about the endless challenges of translation.

Aras Ahmed Mhamad: Is translation a job or an art? What is the bedrock for the act of translation?

Jutyar Zhazhlaiy: In reality, there are still different opinions on this. Translation is more of an art. Like many various genres of art, it demands such artistic ability which, in the case of many translators, happens to be inherent.

Let us take the example of a musician. The guitarist’s trade, for instance, is with fingers and strings, while the��translator’s is with fingers and words. In both, not everyone can play well, and from both petty and prodigious works/translators can emerge. Besides, like the musician, the born translator enjoys the whole process of translation, sometimes reviewing his bulky productions several times.

Having said that, translational skills are still subject to improvement, but the talent with words and the passion a translator needs to possess should be there in the first place. Later, an original work triggers them and the translator is born. These days, quite a few people in Kurdistan speak a second language well, but we have only a few translators. That is because translation is much harder than what you think.

Mhamad: Meaning is sometimes lost in translation. How does that make you feel as a translator and teacher? ��

Zhazhlaiy: Loss and/or violation of meaning is exactly what fine translation is not about. There is no room for this in professional translation because it is not only very unimpressive, but also questions the translator’s overall ability to comprehend the source language and translate from it. This problem could also be the result of reading inattentively.

If you sense you have lost meaning somewhere in your translation, you should expect the reader to put your work down at any moment. Loss or maintaining the meaning of the source text are the touchstone I use to weigh good and bad translators.

Mhamad: What are the most obvious problems that translators encounter while��translating a text from source language into target language?

Zhazhlaiy: The translator may struggle with finding the right equivalents in the target language—usually the case with the field of medicine and law. Lacking sufficient knowledge of the source and the target languages can also trouble a translator.

One should be aware of all characteristics of languages—from knowing the different meanings words may have to semantic and cultural differences between languages and the culture of their speakers. To exemplify the above, we may first think of the translation of homonyms (words with the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings), which can raise difficulties for a translator. Words like “right,” “type,” “suit,” “fair,” etc., should be handled carefully in the process of translation for the fact that they have more than one specific meaning. Furthermore, homophones and homographs may mislead the translator too.

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As for cultural differences, for example “an ox” symbolizes strength in English culture and it is fine to describe someone as “as strong as an ox” without sounding offensive, but if the same idiom is translated into Kurdish as aley gaye, it will sound offensive; and at the same time it gives a different meaning because to describe someone as an ox in Kurdish culture is usually reference to people who eat a lot. Thus, a translator should find another way to translate the word in a way the idiomatic expression is kept and the target language readers can relate to it in the way the writer meant it. Extra attention should also be given to the translation of colloquialisms, hidden meanings and slang and humor expressions.

Mhamad: The funniest joke in English may be a flat joke when translated into Kurdish. Can this also be true for idioms, songs, poems and proverbs?

Lona Mariwany: While there are some jokes, idioms and proverbs that have a universal theme and can be found in any language, there are many others that are culture-bound. These create an obstacle for translators. This is more common with songs and poems that rhyme because you cannot usually keep the rhyme when translating these into a target language, and this becomes even more challenging when there’s a pun or play on words.

Usually the pun is lost in translation, and this also applies to jokes that depend on a play on words. However, understanding or finding jokes funny sometimes relies on how familiar you are with the culture of the text’s source language.

Mhamad: The translator’s ideology, the history of the source and target languages, and the psychology of the translator play a significant role in translation. How would you comment on that?

Mariwany: These can sometimes affect a translator’s approach to the text they work on, but whatever the text one translates may be, they should stay as objective and professional as possible.

However, sometimes one needs to translate using terms understandable to their audience, and here the translator’s choices are derived from the culture and history of the target language because one cannot always use footnotes to clarify certain things. For example, the Kurdish society used to be mainly an agricultural one that depended on the joint efforts of all its members, including women, to survive. Instead of slavery, there was the feudal system that exploited poor Kurdish farmers. In fact, the very first black people the Kurds encountered were the ones that came with the Muslim armies that invaded the area.

Therefore, while in English there are several words to describe black people (many of which are considered offensive), fortunately Kurds have a very limited vocabulary for that. In translating To Kill a Mockingbird, I faced many of these words, some of them were not considered offensive at that time and others were offensive but in common use like the word “nigger.” In Kurdish, we don’t have as many words to refer to black people; therefore, I stuck to the two Kurdish words we have, one is qul or qule reş, which is offensive, and reş pěst, which literally means dark-skinned and is considered acceptable. I used the first for the word to translate “nigger” and the second for the other variations—for the convenience of the readers to avoid describing in the footnotes what each word meant.

Mhamad: Literary, scientific, political and philosophical books have different contents and styles. What do you think is the best approach in translating a literary text?

Mariwany: The translation of each type of text differs from the other, while for some texts all you need is to translate the meaning of the original text to get an idea through. In other texts, particularly literary texts, the style and literary devices the writer uses are as important and sometimes even more important than any other elements of the text.

For example, in some well-known novels we hardly have any plots or interesting events, but it is the writer’s style, their choice of words and the kind of language they employ that make the novel very popular in the first place. Novels like Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird or Roddy Doyle’s Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha! that don’t have clear and consistent plots, and we have so much interruption in the narrative following a child’s train of thoughts, but that in itself is what gives these novels value. In translating such works, one often struggles to keep the childish and sometimes messy narrative as it is in the original text, avoiding big words and mature expressions.

This is why translating literary texts is very tricky because you have to translate things that are beyond meaning. You translate certain impressions and feelings that the writer could create with a single word, and you have to find words equal to that in the target language.

Mhamad: “Taxi,” “ideology,” “pizza” and “philosophy”: These words have been universalized and the world is getting smaller. What is your expectation for the future of translation?

Mariwany: Because in translation we usually use standard language rather than street language, there are some words that will never manage to enter any translated texts, especially some words that are already well-known to all. However, maybe in the future there will be two kinds of translators and two kinds of translated texts: The elite who keep to the standard text and use standard language in their translation, and a larger group of translators who allow the new words in their translation.

I expect the second group will be bigger because people are usually drawn to the easy way of doing things, but I personally hope the first group will keep its grounds for long enough.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

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One fundamental problem for Middle Eastern countries is that a majority of the rulers are illegitimate. While each country has its own history and trajectory, common patterns prevail across the region: Those in power have not received their positions from a fair and transparent electoral process. They see themselves as above the law and misuse their absolute power.

These autocrats act as a guardian of the people or treat them as an enemy. Sets of tribal and religious convictions replace law in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and power is fundamentally linked to tribalism or religion.

How have power struggles, religious conflict, discrimination, security issues, colonialism and Western hegemony, values and intervention shaped the Middle East? This author spoke to PhD students, academics and university lecturers to learn more.

Muhammad Waladbagi, a PhD candidate at Durham University working on Turkey-Iraqi Kurdistan relations, states that the modern history of the Middle East has witnessed frequent interstate wars, numerous revolutions, coup d’états, civil wars and economic problems:

“These are signs of fundamental problems in the region’s political culture that at times has set the ruling regimes against their people. It is quite difficult to identify and explain the reasons behind such phenomena in a few sentences as the origins of the problems differ in each specific case, and Middle Eastern states are not homogeneous as they have many differences.”

The role of religion

The feeling of attachment to tribalism and fake patriotism under the umbrella of religion is stronger and more apparent than respect for human rights and pluralism in the Middle East. Patriotism is used as a tool to accumulate wealth and oppress the rights of minorities, while religion and tribalism are often militarized, making the use of violence legitimate and normal.

Sabir Hasan, a lecturer at the University of Human Development and a PhD student at the University of Leeds, says religion—specifically Islam—is an inseparable part of Middle Eastern society, and it is one of the most influential domains of Kurdish social life:

“It is not surprising that different tribal and so-called patriotic groups resort to religion to gain legacy and popularity. As for ‘fake patriotism’, as you termed it, we need a simple glance at the contemporary history of Middle Eastern regimes, including Kurdistan, to see what�� have been committed in the name of patriotism. It is axiomatic that those who first claimed to be loyal patriots have eventually become millionaires, all at the expense of the public. Those who misuse religion and patriotism can be regarded, at best, as opportunists.”��

In a region where exchange of power often causes destruction and chaos, the psychology of the rulers is structured in such a way that they consider themselves to always be right, thus there is no need for an election. Humans are not seen as humans, but as either friend or foe. Ironically, one has to act like an enemy to be a friend and a friend to be an enemy. That is to say, one has to be the enemy of freedom to be the friend of an oppressor, and to be a protector of an oppressor to be the enemy of democracy.

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Power struggles

Analyzing the issue of power struggles from a psychoanalytic perspective,��Mohammed Akoi, an assistant lecturer in Raparin University in Sulaymaniyah, says:

“Sigmund Freud talks in detail about the Oedipus complex; that is, the unconscious rivalry between the father and the son. I see a similar type of complex when it comes to rulers in the Middle East. There is a myth in Kurdish folklore that could say a lot about father-son rivalry in the Middle-Eastern context.

“The story goes that a father, after having lost all his sons but one, arranges a wedding for his last son, Saidawan. As the party ends, Saidawan goes hunting to the mountains, and so does his father. Saidawan dresses in a wild goat’s clothing in order to attract other goats and thus hunt them. His father, on the other hand, seeing a supposed wild goat and not knowing it is his son in disguise, kills him and thus loses his last son.

“The story is often told as a tragic misfortune on the part of the father. However, approaching the incident from a Freudian interpretation, it is the father who kills his son unconsciously. Much has been said about the Middle Eastern father as an example of divine authority who is always there to punish the son.”

Akoi argues that rulers in the Middle East play the role of a typical superior who enjoys the authority of the father. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that democracy, the product of Western consciousness, always fails to shake the Middle Eastern father’s position.

The dictators of Middle Eastern countries see armed struggle as a pathway to their eternal need for power. Instead of promoting coexistence, they embrace war and military confrontation; instead of building legitimate institutions, they destroy the country’s infrastructure; and instead of organizing an inclusive, lawful military force, they establish militia units for the sake of adding fuel to the sectarian disputes. This paves the way for the dictators to remain in power as long as they want or until they are forcefully deposed.

For Sarkawt Shamsulddin, a political analyst at the Kurdish Policy Foundation specializing in governance and security and NRT TV’s bureau chief in Washington DC, two issues are of pivotal importance: the abuse of religion and a lack of good governance. The focus here is on governance.

“The rulers in the Middle East have been oppressing their people for decades and they have used different means to do so, such as undermining human rights, democracy, freedom of speech and civil society as a whole. They have undermined opposition groups. They have mostly invested in military and security institutions. Therefore, when revolutions or what is called the ‘Arab Spring’ emerged, they use their military capability to stay in power.” ��

In the underdeveloped countries of the Middle East, security and military forces are dominated and ruled by tribal chiefs and religious figures. Infringement of political rights is authorized through elastic rules, and the confiscation of democratic values is fallaciously considered a religious duty. The public sphere is in total chaos, and the government has too much influence through the and even on the private lives of the people. This abuse of power has become an inherent part of governments’ mechanism to uproot any kind of freedom—be it freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of conscience or freedom of the press.

Zubir Rasool, a PhD candidate of Middle East politics at the University of Exeter, argues that there are numerous problematic issues that can contribute to the structure of current conflict in the Middle East. The main issue in this regard has to do with the structure of the so-called “nation-state”��on the one hand, and its political, social and economic functions on the other hand.

“The evolution of the nation-state did not come from a natural process in the Middle East. Large groups of Middle Eastern countries were the results of colonial operations—whether it was from the Ottoman Empire or European colonialism. Both of these historical moments’ legacies share a responsibility for the creative chaos in the Middle East nowadays. The terms nation-building or state-building was just a figurative cover for the combination of different ethnic, tribal, linguistic and cultural identities. The legacy of the Ottoman Empire is based on the distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims; also, non-Muslims were divided among their ethnicities and religious sects.”

The middle-class has deteriorated and the professional workforce is almost non-existent. A lack of public facilities, low income and high unemployment keep people frustrated. A lack of food quality and stable electricity, poor health care and stagnant education keep people over-occupied and struggling. This way, people do not have the means to revolt.��They are more occupied with providing the basic needs to survive, let alone the strenuous dangers of migration and the perpetual challenges of resettlement, identity, discrimination and cultural integration.

Refugees

Ramyar Hassani, a human rights observer in Latin America, Europe and Kurdistan, says that in a Middle East that is burning because of sectarian wars and extremist organizations, being a refugee has become a normal phenomenon.

“On the one hand, the proxy wars of regional powers have forced thousands of Middle Easterners to flee and leave everything behind. On the other hand, the wrong policies of Western and world powers led the Middle East into a clash of extremists, which resulted in thousands of refugees [heading] to a safer country [and] dreaming of a life without violence.”

With that in mind, whenever there is a revolution, the faces change, but the mentalities are the same. That is to say, a new despotic clan will take over power, establishing the same sort of mechanism to replace and then rule in the same manner as the ousted autocrat. Each clan or tribe controls a certain territory with their own armed force and militia in hand and their own rules in place.

That being said, constitutional legitimacy is threatened by political outbidding and revolution. The legitimate exchange or handover of power and social justice are vulnerable in the face of political and economic corruption, which is why disorder, instability and war have always been part of the autocrat’s culture and mentality.

Sherko Kirmanj, a visiting senior lecturer at the University of Utara Malaysia and the��author��of��, believes the question of legitimacy is one problem that faces the Middle East.

“One of the major problems confronting Middle Eastern societies is that the process of modernity in the region is not home-grown, but rather an imposed one. Modernity with all its dimensions and outcomes, including the nation-state, secularism, democratization, freedom, etc, were alien concepts introduced into Middle Eastern societies in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The introduction of these concepts and the values that embrace such equality, justice, fairness, freedom of speech and freedom of religion—just to name a few—led to a clash with local and traditional values of these societies.”

In the End

Western leaders and institutions have a limited understanding and familiarity with Middle Eastern societies, cultures and politics. This often leads to a focus on increasing arms and ammunition supplies and offering military training, especially in times of a violent insurgency, instead of the much-needed humanitarian, educational and developmental aid. This creates an ongoing cycle, wherein whoever has the most military strength holds power and steps into the same pattern of governmental rule.

What has blinded the West is the age-old misconception that Middle Eastern societies are anti-civil society, anti-democracy and anti-multiculturalism. This thinking leads to the conclusion that these societies are doomed to remain in bloodshed, where the best treatment is the importing of more and more weapons. This approach fails to address the root problems and instead contributes to the cycle of violence.

The West must realize that the real danger lies in the empowerment of religious fanatics and systemic corruption that have replaced true critical thinking, quality education and effective institutions.

By publishing and glamorizing radical groups’ propaganda on media platforms such as YouTube, the West can demonstrate how significant a culture of diversity and rule of law is for consolidating democracy. These two elements—rule of law and a culture of diversity—are the only means through which autocracy and religious fundamentalism can be overthrown.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

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The lighting advance of the (IS) in June 2014 remains��a direct threat to coexistence in . Sparking intensified religious conflict, and economic and political , the sudden surge��prompted fears of��further destruction in the minds of the country’s various communities.

The IS and appalling��acts against religious minorities is the legacy of the unresolved, deeply rooted distrust that successive Arab politicians brought about while in power. In particular, they failed to promote a culture of coexistence due to their��abuse of political power and by neglecting the rights of other ethnicities in Iraq, including but not limited to the Kurds. IS poses a grave danger to Iraq’s fragile unity and to its neighbors, as recent events in highlighted.

Hundreds of thousands have to Iraq’s region. How do the people see the conflict and potential ways forward? I spoke to Kurdish students, academics and authors to learn more.

Minorities, Despotism and Coexistence

Jalal Hasan Mistaffa, a PhD student at Newcastle University and lecturer at the University of Human Development, points out that the dreadful deeds of IS have historical and political-religious bases:

“Historically, a quick look at the history of the early Muslims demonstrates that minorities, either political or cultural, were not sufficiently respected. As an example, Imam Hussein and his followers, a political minority, were ruthlessly eradicated by the political majority of Muawiya��and his followers. IS considers the establishment of a caliphate as a religious requirement, which is, in fact, a political concept. Accordingly, this has massive consequences for the way IS has been treating minorities. Minorities, either political or religious, have been perceived as threats on the way of strengthening their caliphate and, thus, have been subject to an eradication campaign.”

Erbil, Iraq © Shutterstock

Prior to 2003, always endorsed the hegemony of Sunni Arabs and smeared the Kurdish nation in his wars against in the 1980s and Kuwait in 1990. Further, the tendency for rulers to hold onto power and refuse to step down has long plagued the .��Throughout the past hundred years you are unlikely to find any Iraqi leader who has retired from their post unless there is a coup d’état. Late Prime Minister Abdul-Karim Qasim, for instance, overthrew King Faisal in 1958 and was then overthrown himself by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr’s Baath Party in 1963. The party��then remained in power until it was overthrown by coalition forces in 2003.

Yasin Mahmoud Aziz, of Dum Dum Castle, tells me��that the culture of despotism was established due to the creation of Iraq and other Middle East countries by colonial powers:

“This despotic culture has grown into a culture of war and hatred, consequently leading to a continuously volatile situation in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. This is rooted in the colonial powers’ reliance on the culture of tribalism and religious and ethnic differences, with their own political agenda at stake. Therefore, there was no space left for the values of tolerance and respect for human rights and democracy. Added to that were the Baathist regime’s policies of corrupting and dehumanizing Iraqi society. Thus, patching up a sense of togetherness in Iraq is impossible. However, the final solution for the current situation in Iraq might be three loose autonomous regions under the umbrella of a federal government.”

Speaking about the tools that were used to dehumanize the Kurdish people, Aziz explains that the Baathist regime forced people to support them, to become Baathist and to spy on others regarding any political activities against the regime:��

“Their allegiance was conditional to get good jobs or higher education posts, and they had to spy on their neighbors, family members and friends, reporting them to the security services if need be. Undermining all the religious, friendship, familial and human values, that is dehumanization, is it not? People feared losing their jobs and the regime’s reprisals such as arrest, torture and execution. They were dehumanized for the sake of the regime’s survival. It used all methods of repression, including barring people from leaving the country. That is why many young people gave up their own life and went to the mountains to join the ; there was nothing left to hope for. As Peshmerga knew, most probably would be killed or badly injured, but they still went to fight the regime.”

Erbil, Iraq © Shutterstock

With regard to the escalation of violence and extinction of the culture of coexistence and pluralism among the various nations in Iraq, Pishtiwan Faraj, assistant lecturer at the University of Sulaimaniya and a PhD student at Brunel University, thinks that more than anything else, the age-old rivalry and animosities between Shiite��and Sunni and the toppling of Saddam have sparked a wave of between the two sects:

“The civil war, insurgencies and political upheaval that followed regime change and characterized former Prime Minister ‘s��Shiite-dominated government damaged all the fabrics that once held Iraq together. Therefore, it is logical to assert that Iraq was not, is not and will never be a stable, tolerant and peaceful country, unless it is further divided into three semi-autonomous states. The Kurdistan Regional Government already presents an ideal model for others to learn from its principles of coexistence, prosperity and the rule of law.”

The Kurdish Struggle: Past and Future

In the past, Kurds struggled to survive due to a lack of recognition, lack of political representation and statelessness, particularly after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 suspended the commitments of the Treaty of Sevres in 1920, where the Kurds were promised the right to an independent state.

However, in recent years, their struggle has taken other forms due to the dramatic changes in the Middle East and Kurdish resistance against political and religious intolerance of the occupiers. Kurds across the region, in general, and in Iraq, in particular, now demand equal access to , cultural activities, health care, unemployment insurance, economy and political participation. Needless to say, Kurds in Iraq have better access to education since 1991 compared to those in Iran, and . This is due to the 1991 uprising by Iraqi Kurds and the eventual establishment of semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, including the region’s ministry of education.

Jafer Kakawawisi, an MA student with a BA in Law at Staffordshire University, tells me:��

“Landlocked on all sides, Kurdistan has been partitioned between four invading countries. For centuries, the Kurds have been coerced into the harsh reality of having to live with their occupiers, whilst fighting one of the longest as well as bloodiest struggles for their independence. Inspired by the recent geopolitical developments in the Middle East and the rapid rise of the self-proclaimed Islamic State��in the region, the Kurdish struggle has reached a new level, with many analysts believing that the Kurds are closer than ever to their long dream of independence. As inspirational as it may seem, this idea of coexistence in perpetuity with the enemy is on the verge of a total breakdown and an independent Kurdish state appears to be one of the most credible alternative in the circumstances.”��

© Shutterstock

Iraq was known as the home��of the prophets, the cradle of civilization and the land of the Code of Hammurabi. The country was known for various religious and nations, especially at the time of King Faisal. Iraq was a place of art, invention and intellectuals, despite sporadic instabilities.

However, a quick look at the history of Iraq tells us that in no era have the minorities faced attacks and destruction as often as in recent years. For example, the Baath regime, under the name of religion, committed genocide and mass killings of the Kurds. Today, IS jihadists target minority groups much in the same way the Baathists did for decades.

Noting the main religion of Iraqi people and IS’ claims to a caliphate, Goran Sabah Ghafour, a novelist from Iraqi Kurdistan and PhD/GTA journalism student at the University of Kansas, tells me that “Muslim” and “” are two different terms:

“The latter is the program and the former are the executors of the program. Therefore, it is a mistake to judge Islam by Muslims as the same is true for judging Christianity and Judaism by Christians and Jews. According to Islam’s definition for a Muslim, IS militants are not Muslim by any means. They use religion to brainwash people and gain power and money. Since their progress in several ways —��the economy being the most important one — the Kurds have become a threat, or at least are considered as such by the Arabs, Persians and Turks. IS is a complicated case created by many stakeholders with a political agenda.”

On the topic of isolation and oppression of minorities, especially regarding the Kurds, Sabir Hasan, a lecturer at the University of Human Development and a PhD student at the University of Leeds, says there have been moments of tragedy throughout human history, but the bloodiest tragedies humanity has ever witnessed seem to have started from the 20^th century onward:

“I think minorities have been victimized throughout history in some way, form or style. However, Kurdish tragedies and atrocities at the hands of the Baath Party in the 1980s, and the tragedies of other minorities at the hands of IS today are the most infamous in the region. The harsh reality is that some parts of the Middle East are today living in political chaos, where blood-thirsty ideologies compete to seize power by fair or foul means, without feeling responsible for the pain, suffering and tragedies they inflict upon the public at large and the minorities in particular.”�� ��

Kurdish people are known for their generosity and hospitality. Therefore, helping all refugees and displaced persons affected by the current war is not only reviving the spirit of coexistence, but will also build up a valuable legacy of peaceful coexistence in Kurdish society for generations.

Erbil, Iraq © Shutterstock

Tara Fatehi, a PhD student at Flinders University, tells me��that Kurdistan has always been a safe haven for all ethnicities and religions:

“The world witnessed this on a grand scale after the influx of nearly 2 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Iraq and Syria. I know from experience that when speaking to Australian politicians and important decision-makers, this is always the point of relevance for greater support for the Kurdish people and their forces. The fact that Kurdistan was the ‘safe haven’ in Iraq and remained that way after the massive onslaught of IS just reiterated what the Kurds have argued all along:��that a free and independent Kurdish state would be a model of not just democracy, but tolerance, multiculturalism and harmony in the Middle East. We have also seen this across the self-declared autonomous Kurdish regions in Syria. I know, personally, I am very proud of the fact that Kurdistan has such a reputation — as Kurds, we have every excuse to be intolerant and aggressive to our neighbors, but choose love and peace.”

The Future of Iraq

The hegemony of religious intolerance, close-minded and self-centered politicians in Baghdad is the reason why Iraq is unmercifully divided. Their thirst��for power has led to social fracture, religious intolerance and bloodshed, and trumped respect for pluralism and democracy. Cooperation and assistance between the Sunni and Shiite political elite are undergoing a very difficult phase and there seems to be no light or hope for repairing this relationship, despite efforts by , the Iraqi prime minister, to integrate Sunni politicians into his government.

However, only time will tell if he is be able to gain not only the trust of Sunni rebels and tribal chiefs, but also some well-known religious figures among the Shiite to eliminate the IS threat. Moreover, Abadi must��work on gaining the trust of Kurdish Peshmerga and Erbil if he is��to win the war against IS, as��Kurdistan shares a border with IS-held territory and since Kurdish forces have proved to be more effective than the Iraqi army.

According to Mohammed Shareef, of The United States, Iraq and the Kurds: Shock, Awe and Aftermath, all the major political groups in Iraq, whether Sunni, Shiite or Kurdish, are pursuing different agendas:

“There is currently no national solidarity, nor any intention to achieve that end. The Shiite majority are clinging on to power, which they feel is rightfully theirs after decades of suppression and subjugation by Sunni-dominated Baghdad. The Sunnis, on the other hand, think they have been forcefully and unfairly removed from power, which they feel is rightfully theirs. As for the Kurds, they are working towards diminishing any influence of Baghdad in the Kurdistan region. Iraq is fragmented and dissolving quickly — the problem is the West and regional powers still refuse to acknowledge it.”

The current situation seems to be the most hopeful for the Kurds, especially after countries like the , , , , , and the have offered military and humanitarian assistance.

Accommodating the vast number of IDPs and refugees will have a huge impact on the legitimacy of the Kurdish question, and serves as a clear reprimand and reminder for those who oppose the Kurds and accuse them of being mountain Turks and illiterate people. It was the Kurds’ spirit of hospitality toward refugees that influenced millions of people around the world to put pressure on the international community through demonstrations, in order to support the Peshmerga and quell the IS threat.

The defeat of the Iraqi army at the hands of IS in 2014 and the theft of advanced American weaponry by Sunni groups have paved the way for IS to further expand its military assaults — especially in those places where minorities reside. As a result, many Yazidis have been killed, while Yazidi women and children were captured and enslaved. Furthermore, many Christians from Qaraqosh escaped and are now mostly sheltered in churches in Kurdish territory.

Kurdistan is the��only place on the divided map of Iraq where a glimpse of light appears for harmony between all sects and minorities. In this region, there is still breathing space for creating a pillar of��peaceful coexistence.

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Iraq’s����region is thought to be����approximately 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDP) and��. This number is expected to rise due to ongoing instability in����Kurdistan and Iraq’s Nineveh province, especially with escalating violence in areas surrounding��,��‘s second largest city. The sudden occupation of Mosul by (IS)��militants��in early June forced tens of thousands of ethnic and religious minorities to seek refuge in Iraq’s Kurdish region, as they fled execution, sexual enslavement and cultural elimination.

This new surge of IDPs has��stretched��local resources beyond their limit while putting enormous pressure on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), as well as local nongovernmental organizations (NGO). The KRG is already facing significant economic challenges. The payment of civil servant salaries has been delayed as the central government in Baghdad has withheld large parts of the Kurdish share of the national budget since February, due to����over oil exports to����and revenue sharing.

Life Inside the Camps

There are approximately��26�� in the Kurdistan region, which are usually half-finished and very crowded, with limited privacy due to shared areas for bathrooms and showers. In addition, thousands of public buildings, particularly schools, are inhabited by refugees and IDPs — in some places, Syrians and Iraqis mix together.

The physical and mental conditions of refugees and IDPs are very difficult. Each displaced person has tragic stories of his or her own escape from war-torn regions and how they undertook long and dangerous journeys to reach safety, leaving behind homes and loved ones, which has led to trauma and suffering. For many families, there is at least someone who is missing, killed or still struggling to leave the conflict areas.

Karwan Haidari, the communication manager at��, a Swedish humanitarian aid organization, told��51�Թ�:

“The largest camp is Domiz refugee camp in Duhok, where more than 40,000 Syrian refugees reside. I believe Duhok governorate has the most mixed-up IDP population; IDPs can be seen everywhere inside and outside the city, most of them living in harsh conditions without having any specific settlement. In Erbil, there is Bahirka camp, where you can find displaced people from most of the violence-affected areas in Iraq.”

The refugees who fled violence said that locals treat them with respect. Most families 51�Թ� spoke to do not want to return to their homes until peace has been restored and the war is over.

European and����officials����the KRG for opening its borders to accept the displaced and offer humanitarian aid regardless of ethnicity or religious identity. The KRG, however,����the international community to offer financial support and medical supplies to deal with the large flow of refugees and IDPs.

Marco Rotunno, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) camp manager of the Arbat Camp near��, did not deny the harsh conditions for refugees and agreed that KRG officials were supportive and the locals were hospitable. “The sudden flood of refugees has placed great stress on the NGOs and humanitarian organizations,” Rotunno added.

Health Conditions

Disease runs high in Arbat Camp and other public buildings that are used by IDPs, due to a shortage of water and medical supplies. Rotunno confirmed that they are only able to provide basic health facilities, but “whoever has a severe case is given a specific ticket to be treated in governmental hospitals.”

Iraq’s��Kurdistan��region is thought to be��hosting��approximately 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDP) and��refugees. This number is expected to rise due to ongoing instability in��Syrian��Kurdistan and Iraq’s Nineveh province.

Khiada Aimen, a 26-year-old mother of two, was desperate to get help for her younger daughter. “An organization came about a year ago to check my daughter, but they never let me know what her exact disease is,” she told��51�Թ�, holding her younger child. “My daughter has a severe pain in her stomach and I do not know what to do with her.”

Salah Ramadan Rasul, a 35-year-old father of seven, said his main concern is that he cannot buy diapers and infant milk for his children because he is jobless. “Usually, two of us are sick and the quality of medical supply is not good.” Another man sitting beside Rasul said he cannot see properly and his condition is deteriorating day by day.

Farid Khalaf Shamsadin, a 40-year-old father of eight, complained about a water shortage and the sewage project that was supposed to be finished a while ago. During this author’s visit, a group of Shamsadin’s friends asked for canned food and complained about the quality they receive. Some stated that they sold the goods in the market to buy food they like.

Besides concerns over water shortage, electricity and sanitary arrangements, refugees and IPDs are in dire need of psychological sessions and counseling, to��overcome their fears and the repercussions of war.

Unemployed Youth and Peshmerga Recruitment

51�Թ� spoke with many young people — men and women — inside the camps. They asked officials to find them job opportunities because, as they stated themselves, they spend most of their daily lives wandering unproductively. Fatma Ramadan, a 20 year old, was one of the few refugees who were hired by the IRC along with seven other women and five men. She said there are many young people who have the potential and will to work alongside the NGO teams, but they usually hire people outside the camp to run their affairs. “[The] IRC gives me less than $200 per month. It is not enough to provide for my family,” Ramadan stated.

Four young men were demanding to be employed as security personnel, so they could “defend their dignity.” Ashraf Mohammed said: “We seriously need to register our names as volunteer ��because our very existence is under threat.” He added: “It is not only Syrian Kurds who have been victims of civil war, but also our Kurdish brothers and sisters in Arabized lands surrounding Mosul. Our Kurdish identity has been targeted.”

The majority of IDPs and refugees who were interviewed asked for more aid in terms of food and medical supplies. However, other factors like the need to protect the Kurdish identity and deal with the psychological damage that has been caused by IS and other militant Sunni groups were apparent. This was symbolized by Walid Imael, who stated with pride: “I am young and have the energy to protect anyone, and my people need me. Freedom is more important than electricity and food.”

Refugee Influx and NGOs Operating in the Region

According to the����High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at the time of writing there were over 221,000����Syrian refugees in the Kurdistan region — mostly Syrian Kurds — and 948 others awaiting registration. Estimates for the IDP����displaced by IS range at around 862,000 people.

Jane* Hill, the manager of a local NGO operating in Sulaimaniya province whose focus is primarily on child protection, claims that before the crisis there were only 2,700 registered IDPs in Sulaimaniya. Now, the number of registered IDPs has jumped to over 171,000; among them are 66,000����and 23,000 Shabaks, with the rest being Christians,����and Kakayis. In addition, there are 6,500 children accounted for under the age of 15, who are looked after by local and international charity organizations.

IS continues to target vulnerable religious minorities in its military campaign, especially Yazidis and Christians. When it overran��Sinjar��in northwestern Iraq, home to the Kurdish-speaking Yazidi minority, it forced 200,000 Yazidis to flee their homes.��

Regarding the role of NGOs and the local government, Tafan Kamal, head of the International Reports Department at Youth Activity Organization (YAO), said not all local NGOs are supported equally. This is mainly due to the large number of recently founded local NGOs. Moreover, due to the current Syrian refugee and IDP crisis, funds are getting harder to come by. Kamal added: “One can easily notice that there is no complete fairness in terms of fund allocation, which can sometimes prove disastrous. However, there is hope that competence and delivery by NGOs are taken into consideration and priority is given to those who score more.”

Asked whether the donors and local charities specify to whom their donations should go, Kamal reaffirmed that there are many NGOs that are not funded properly by their donors, which is apparently an issue raised by an increasing number of organizations. This is despite the fact that, according to the new NGO foundation��,��it will not be easy to start a local NGO as there are now strict regulations in place.

Speaking about cooperation between NGOs and local authorities, Karzan Fadhil, the national coordinator of Arab Youth Climate Movement, told��51�Թ���that NGOs usually do not receive support from the government, but sometimes resort to other organizations either inside or outside Iraq for financial support. This issue has caused many NGOs in Kurdistan not to perform their tasks effectively and efficiently.

This must be seen in the context of the aforementioned budget dispute that has been ongoing since February, which has significantly affected living conditions in the Kurdistan region. Delays in salary payments for KRG civil servants have been reoccurring for the past eight months, and there have been hundreds of����across the region demanding that the central government and the KRG resolves the issue. The KRG’s����to increase gasoline prices from 500 Iraqi Dinar to 900 in order to manage the budget hole is also having an impact.

Security and Humanitarian Situation

The KRG‌’s appeal for urgent international humanitarian assistance has been met generously —��supplies have been pouring in, including food, clothing, bedding, medical supplies and tents. When asked whether the supplies have reached the IDPs fairly and on time, Hill replied: “We have made sure that at least the basic items have reached the children, even if we had to raise funds and buy these items locally.” She went added: “Local communities have been extremely helpful; without them, it would have been almost impossible to achieve this.”

In response to a question regarding the security risks of NGOs, Hill said:

“Most of the IDPs we deal with are based in Sulaimaniya and can be reached with ease. We, however, do avoid areas like Kirkuk or closer to the conflict zone. We also have a slight concern about the radicalization of young Kurds who may potentially establish links with ISIS [Islamic State]. We tend to manage our security by talking a lot with other agencies and we share information. We also get information from the government and the local security forces.”

Every community has a local security force office. As trucks drove near the gateway of Arbat camp distributing packages of food and other supplies, security forces were vigilant to avoid chaos as men, women and children were pushing each other to quickly receive as many supplies as possible.

IDPs and Refugees Living Together

Azad is a camp official working at one of the schools outside of Sulaimaniya, where 80 IDP families are residing. He said: “There are IDPs from different ethnic and religious backgrounds choosing to live separately and with people of their own ethnicity or religion. This is causing issues in terms of shelter availability.”

Faisal Khazi Aziz, a Shabak IDP aged 51 from Bashiqa — a historically Assyrian town near Mosul — now residing at a school building just outside Sulaimaniya, said: “Supplies and accommodations are good; however, we have issues with clean bathrooms and toilets that are closer to the buildings and the need for privacy.” Aziz further commented by praising the local officials and security forces for treating them with respect.

With regard to the tensions inside the camps, Haidari detailed that there are many tensions between the IDPs. People from different religions, backgrounds and identities are intensively mixed up inside the IDP camps. This has led to a number of problems, such as fighting over limited resources and social interaction. The most noticeable social challenge within IDP camps in Iraqi Kurdistan is the high rate of divorce.

Yazidi Plight

Meanwhile, IS continues to target vulnerable religious minorities in its military campaign, especially Yazidis and Christians. When it overran����in northwestern Iraq, home to the Kurdish-speaking Yazidi minority, it forced 200,000 Yazidis to flee their homes. The number of dead Yazidis is still unknown, but preliminary figures show that nearly 1,000 women were����by IS in August and are feared to have been subjected to sexual enslavement. Yazidi‌ holy����were destroyed and the community’s dignitaries are routinely murdered.

In the very first days of the Sinjar onslaught, thousands of Yazidis sought refuge in the Kurdistan region, while hundreds crossed the border to Northwest (commonly referred to as Rojava by Kurds). Yazidis are thought to be the most vulnerable IDPs, as they literally had nothing with them when they sought refuge in the Kurdistan region.

Furthermore, they were the main target of IS jihadists and their main area, Sinjar, is still under occupation. There are still thousands of Yazidis����on Sinjar Mountain. For over a month now, 22 Yazidi families have been given shelter in one of the gardens in the outskirts of Sulaimaniya by a generous local who owns the land. Shkor Rashon is a Yazidi who came to Kurdistan ten years ago to work as a gardener. He supervises the families and calls the authorities to help them.

Describing their perilous journey, Rashon said that the families now residing in the garden went to Rojava first, then came back to the Kurdistan region after first living in Zakho, then in Duhok and now Sulaimaniya.

Overall, whereas it remains unclear when or if the majority of refugees and IDPs will be able to return home, their dire situation is obvious. While physical needs such as shelter and nutrition are more visible, there is also an urgent requirement to provide psychological support for traumatized victims, especially children and women — something KRG officials have been emphasizing..

Identity issues play an increasing role here as well, as the testimonies of several young Kurds and their desire to defend their “Kurdish brothers and sisters” have shown. A lot of relief effort is being provided by the KRG and the international community, but the vast number of displaced people in a region that is economically strained underlines the urgent need for further action.

*Jane Hill is a pseudonym.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

The post What’s Life Like for Those Fleeing the Islamic State? appeared first on 51�Թ�.

A modern education system facilitates development, prosperity and peace. A good education raises awareness, increases tolerance and helps to create broadminded, creative and productive individuals. However, when looking at the and in particular, the blatant neglect of education is an observable and sad truth. The media is partly to blame. Political debate and security dynamics feature more prominently in the media, leaving little room, if any, for raising awareness and highlighting the importance of education and its current flaws.

A good education has the potential not only to rescue the people from economic deprivation, but also to build a stable and peaceful society where support for violence and ignorant practices is rejected, the fight for equality is relentless and where injustice, discrimination and oppression are��unacceptable. From child education all the way to university level, the in the region, as well as the rest of Iraq, is outdated. University graduates lack sufficient skills and competence needed to create a modern and progressive society. Despite the modern advances in education methods, in Kurdistan, Iraq and the Middle East is generally still designed in such a way that memorizing facts wrongly replaces training and practical knowledge. Likewise, listening and writing often replaces discussion and debate.

To learn more about education in Iraq and the Kurdistan region, Aras Ahmed Mhamad speaks to Dr. Mohammed Shareef, a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (London). Shareef��has worked for the United Nations and is a lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sulaimaniya in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. He is the author of��The United States, Iraq and the Kurds: Shock, Awe and Aftermath.

Mhamad and Shareef talk about effective teaching methods, the importance of debate and the impact of Kurdish culture on education.

Aras Ahmed Mhamad: Student, teacher, and curriculum: How do you look at this triangle? Which one is more central to education?

Mohammed Shareef: All three go hand in hand and are central to any quality education. However, I would place greater importance on the academic standards subscribed to by the academic institution itself more than anything else. The criteria adopted by any academic institution define its prestige, input and productivity. So many excellent students and academics are the victims of the poor public academic institutions in Kurdistan.

Mhamad: What are the most important things you first teach your students?

Shareef: Self-dependency, independence and self-discipline are aspects of education I hold in great esteem. However, these are all very difficult to convey and implement at the academic institutions in Kurdistan, which��are fervently committed and passionately devoted to upholding the outdated spoon-feeding culture.

Mhamad: How do you psychologically prepare them for the year?

Shareef: I try to convince them that I am on their side and not against them. I always tell students��in my very first class, at the beginning of every year, that I am more committed to their success and them passing their exams than they are themselves.

I felt the female student population had been excluded, as if politics and law — my area of undergraduate teaching — were professions exclusive to male members of society.

Mhamad: Weak students usually feel unappreciated and become stressed. How do you engage them and let them gain confidence?

Shareef: The current dysfunctional education system in Kurdistan totally discourages students with��lower��intellectual ability. This is an unmistakable reflection of the poor and outdated standards implemented in assessing students for university admission. Many students in Kurdistan are not university-level students at all. However, due to cultural pressure and the wrong parameters implemented, they end up at university.

This phenomenon creates a negative impact on the state of education, disallowing the more capable students a decent and effective education, with the less capable ones simultaneously left feeling disenchanted and disillusioned. The best way is to create various academic institutions catering to different degrees of intellectual ability. Moreover, not all pupils should be required to enroll at university. The culture must change, to this end, and vocational colleges and service sector training should be introduced and increased.

Mhamad: Education is every citizen’s essential right, regardless of religious beliefs, political affiliations, gender, skin color and ability. What is your view��on that?

Shareef: This is undoubtedly true. But I would most certainly introduce various rigorous and effective filters to separate, distinguish and categorize these students into different groups based on intellectual ability, skills and talent — to essentially “separate the wheat from the chaff,” as the English say.

Risking being politically incorrect, I have noticed that many decent and well-behaved students have suffered greatly in Kurdistan, substantially impacting their academic performance at school or university, because they have been mixed compulsorily with less-motivated students of a different social class (i.e. culture).

Mhamad: What are the key strategies for increasing student involvement, motivation and understanding? What do you think is the most suitable pedagogical way of teaching?

Shareef: I was one of the very first academics at Sulaimani University to encourage academic debate and discussion inside the classroom, and was the first academic to insist on weekly seminars, presentation hand-outs and PowerPoint presentations. I tried to convey Western pedagogy to Kurdistan and persevered, despite the enormous challenges in front of me. I also requested that every presentation be given by two students — one male and the other female — to allow and encourage female participation.

I felt the female student population had been excluded, as if politics and law — my area of undergraduate teaching — were professions exclusive to male members of society. All these steps were quite significant and often difficult to persuade and implement in the Kurdistan region, where a spoon-feeding teaching culture was the norm and very dated academic material was being used. I attempted to change the old-school teaching tradition, from memorizing material to comprehension, analysis, critique and creative thinking.

Mhamad: Which one is preferable and more productive: student-focused approach or a teacher-centered one?

Shareef: A student-focused approach is much more effective, as students learn to rely on themselves and evolve��with supervision and guidance from academics. The current academic culture in Kurdistan’s universities has created an absolutely ineffective, totally uncreative, unimaginative, uninspired,��lazy, unreliable and unproductive workforce.

Mhamad: What are the hurdles a teacher faces in communicating with their students effectively?

Shareef: On the one hand, Kurdish culture has clearly set certain boundaries of authority and respect between a teacher/lecturer and the pupil/student, so essentially it is very difficult to change the current situation without changing the culture. On the other hand, a Kurdish student would totally misinterpret and misunderstand any flexibility from the lecturer, and any breaking down of such barriers and would most probably be exploited by students, leading the teacher/lecturer to return to the old and usually strict, less communicative and authoritative posture.

Students in Kurdistan are victims of a dysfunctional educational system that has impacted them negatively since the age of six. Frankly speaking, they are now beyond repair.

Mhamad: How can teachers initiate and foster classroom interactions, develop a student’s self-confidence and improve outcomes?

Shareef: By encouraging debate and free speech inside the classroom, and most definitely by not embarrassing the student, a teacher can get a healthy exchange and increase student confidence.

Mhamad: From your experience, can examinations determine the true value of a student?

Shareef: The student evaluation system in Kurdistan fails four major tests: First, comprehension; second, analysis; third, creative thinking; and finally, critique. So, it hardly allows a fair and genuine assessment of the student. It is more of a memory competition rather than an evaluation of academic ability. It pursues the old-school teaching tradition of memorizing very dated academic material — a method long overdue.

Mhamad: Fear of making mistakes, an inability to take responsibility, unwillingness to read and lack of confidence — these are the most observable traits of some Kurdish students. What is your opinion on this and what are some characteristics of a good teacher? ��

Shareef: I totally agree! Students in Kurdistan are victims of a dysfunctional educational system that has impacted them negatively since the age of six. Frankly speaking, they are now beyond repair. It is far too late to initiate change in the current generation of university students. The only source of hope is to nurture a new generation of pupils/students from a very young age — preferably from nursery.

As for teachers, today’s educators in Kurdistan are themselves a reflection of the poor education system. A new generation of teachers has to be recruited in the future who��are professional, well-trained, well-informed, assertive and have excellent communication skills — traits that are currently lacking.

Mhamad: What are the seeds of learning? Is it the arranged curriculum?

Shareef: Excellent education manifests itself through a host of components and requirements: quality education (enrolling at an academic institution that subscribes to high standards); wealth (adequate family funding helps tremendously in giving the student stability to learn); environment of upbringing; social network (interaction with successful individuals encourages ambition and hard work); values (the values placed by one’s family on education); place of education (the seriousness and prestige of the academic institution); and manners.

Mhamad: What are the most obvious characteristics of a successful student?

Shareef: A successful student works hard and is usually articulate, confident, well-behaved, self-disciplined, independent and devotes time to reading extra-curricular material relevant to his or her area of academic study, in addition to other literature.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

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The capture of by fighters and their allies on June 10 marked a historical moment for , particularly Arabs and . The division of , which has now effectively��, had to occur at some point. A nation like Iraq, where disparate components were annexed together nearly 100 years ago through the use of violence and compulsory assimilation following the ��Agreement, was bound to have a limited lifespan.

Kurds see the current��upheaval��as a historic opportunity to seek independence. The -majority government has failed to not only integrate Kurds, but also persuade Sunnis to embrace the unity of Iraq. As the (re-)emergence of Shia militias, an increase in killings in the Baghdad area, the support by some local Sunni populations for the Islamic State or other Sunni rebel groups, and the����of and minorities have demonstrated, sectarian tensions are on the rise in Iraq.

The recent����and escalating violence are echoes from the past. They hark back to a different era but suggest similar results. To understand the problems of today, one has to look back in history. In order to grasp the policies of the Shia-majority government in Baghdad under Prime Minister , it is crucial to analyze the former regime, its rise to power in 1968 and ensuing policies.

Redrawing the Lines

The map of Iraq changed dramatically over the course of one night, from June 9-10. Iraq was, practically speaking,����into three parts: Sunnis in the northwest, Kurds in the northeast and Shia in the south. The��collapse��of the Iraqi army, trained by the and equipped with the latest combat technology and advanced weaponry, indicated that Sunni-dominated areas are prepared to endorse any kind of group, in order to escape oppression. This is related to the����of the Sunni sect, while they were yearning for more power and to possibly gain the post of president — Sunni Iraqis were in power since the end of until the in 2003. Moreover, the brutal crackdown on demonstrations in 2013 by government security forces exacerbated the political equation.

Kurds have run out of patience with Iraqi leadership that continues to insult and create policies that hurt the Kurdish people. In the past, successive Iraqi regimes deprived Kurds from clean water, health care and moderate education systems, which are basic human rights.

The��fall��of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, on June 10, and the subsequent withdrawal of Iraqi troops from other regions created a political and security vacuum. This was especially apparent in , an oil-rich city traditionally claimed by Kurds but outside the administrative reach of the (KRG). This vacuum created an opportunity for Kurds to regain����and other areas outside the KRG administration, which have been at the center of disagreement since the forced displacement of Kurds in the��.

A decision was made by KRG President Masoud Barzani to�� the , the armed forces, to Kirkuk in order to stop the advances of Islamic State fighters and protect civilians and safeguard oil fields. From a Kurdish perspective, this decision has, in the short-term, proved to be a wise and historic move. Historically, this is the first time Kirkuk has been under the control of the Kurds since the 1957 general census of the population. As Kurds now say: “This house is in the hands of its real owner.” This saying sums up a century of Kurdish struggles against their enemies and the occupiers of Kurdistan’s lands and Arabization policies, which targeted demographic����of Kirkuk and the identity of Kurdish citizens.

Since the takeover of Kirkuk by the Peshmerga, very few terrorist attacks have taken place in and around the city. This refutes ��of Shia officials that Kurds harbor terrorists. Recent upheavals highlight that the Islamic State equally����Kurds not only in Iraq, but also in��. In fact, when Mosul was falling into the hands of the Islamic State and its allies, thousands of refugees fled into the Kurdish region, especially Christians.

Failure to Build a United Society

Several key factors have contributed to the failure of the plan to integrate all components of Iraqi society under the umbrella of national unity after the 2003 invasion. These include the����of Sunnis in government, especially in the military; the����of arrest warrants for high-profile and symbolic leaders; the����of Sahwa militias that defeated al-Qaeda; the����and restriction of the main Sunni areas to vote in the April parliamentary election; the neglect of the Kurdistan Peshmerga by����their salaries and those of KRG civic servants; the centralization of power; and the failure by the Shia-led government in Baghdad to share its power.

When the State of Iraq was established in 1920, the southern portion of the area inhabited by Kurds was annexed against the will of the people. Kurds have run out of patience with Iraqi leadership that continues to insult and create policies that hurt the Kurdish people. In the past, successive Iraqi regimes deprived Kurds from clean water, health care and moderate education systems, which are basic human rights.

The central government resorted to a process of ethnic cleansing and Baathification, in order to change the Kurdish identity and demography of Kirkuk. Likewise, the Shia, despite having a shared history of oppression with Kurds, used them to gain more governmental posts and secure their positions after the fall of under the guise of power-sharing and coalition, while withdrawing the Kurdish share of the national budget in spite of constitutional prerogatives. The Shia-Kurd relationship should have been based on reliability rather than disunity or��.

US President��Barack Obama’s��decision��to deploy 300 military advisers is only a short-sighted move that cannot prevent Iraq’s partition, as revenge��killings��and sectarian��violence��are on the rise. The latter only deepens the internal conflicts, as Sunnis feel isolated from the Iraqi army.

Successive Iraqi rulers sold Kurdish oil not only to expose Kurds to hardship and��,��but also to force other minorities to live in fear, seek revenge and consequently defeat Arabs themselves. Although the KRG����that shipping its oil to international buyers through Turkey is����and in accordance with the Iraqi constitution, the central government causes distraction, apparently to mask its defeat in administrating Iraqi affairs in the past ten years. Baghdad has petitioned a US court to����an oil tanker with 1 million barrels of crude oil from the Kurdish region. The Kurdish people do not have problems with specific Iraqi leaders, be it Saddam, Maliki, Ibrahim Jafari, Hussein Shahristani or others, but the overall mentality of seeing Kurds as second-class citizens.

Iraq has failed to politically and culturally absorb Kurds into Iraqi society since its beginning until after 2003. The army failed to occupy the Kurdish region, despite horrendous crimes against the civilians of����and the notorious����genocide, when some 4,500 villages and 50 towns were leveled to the ground. Kurds were marginalized politically; the Kurdish language was banned; Kurdish books burned; and thousands of Kurdish intellectuals and leaders tortured, killed or forced into exile. In the 1991 uprising, 2 million Kurds were����and migrated beyond Iraq’s borders. These activities have not only failed to integrate Kurds into Iraqi culture and society, but have been counterproductive and increased the community’s yearning for their own nation.

US President ��decision��to deploy 300 military advisers is only a short-sighted move that cannot prevent Iraq’s partition, as revenge����and sectarian����are on the rise. The latter only deepens the internal conflicts, as Sunnis feel isolated from the Iraqi army. Ironically, the US refused to equip the Kurdistan Peshmerga after 2003. Eleven years later, the US sees that Kurdish forces are����not only themselves, but also other minorities in Kirkuk and the Christians who have fled Mosul.

Kurdish Independence

Kurdish de facto independence is already taking place, as seen in the following developments: A Kurdish����was established in 1992; the school system is successful compared to other Iraqi cities; it has a fair banking system and a ��tourism sector; foreign direct investment is flourishing; private universities are ; the region has national health care, with modern hospitals and well-trained physicians; it has advanced telecommunications technologies; it has an enlightened perspective on women’s rights, compared to Arab Iraq; ��opportunities have increased following the����of ��oil companies; and sectarian conflict is non-existent.

These are the realities on the ground, which serve as evidence that the Kurdish people are moving forward despite the policies of the central government in Baghdad. However, Kurds need international support to provide them, for example, with a “no-fly��” if their land is threatened because they are inhabiting a landlocked territory surrounded by Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Any move by the KRG to seek independence will undoubtedly face a backlash from neighboring countries since it will activate national sentiment of Kurds in other parts of Kurdistan, leading to a possible rebellion and internal unrest within the other states. Turkey, for instance, may halt exporting Kurdish����to international markets, if its Kurdish population rises up, threatening that country’s security and thereby bringing about economic crises in the Kurdistan region.

Iraq’s unresolved historical ��for political leadership and the successive Sunni and Shia regimes’ oppression are why the nation is divided. As history shows, Iraq has never been, and never will be, an inclusive country. The ultimate question is: If Kurds themselves do not declare independence, who will they wait for?

The views expressed��in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect��51�Թ�’s��editorial policy.

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