Kurdistan Adventures

The citadel at Erbil, Iraq. The city has been chosen to be the Arab Capital of Tourism for 2014.

ERBIL, Iraq — Erbil is preparing to greet visitors as the Arab Capital of Tourism in 2014, a singular honor for a non-Arab city. It won out over Beirut, Sharjah and the Saudi resort of Taif.

Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, already plays host to tourists from the Arab world, not least Iraqi Arabs, who come north to escape the heat, and the violence, elsewhere in the country.

Erbil has boomed in the decade since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq ended the regime of President Saddam Hussein. Resorts and upscale housing developments have sprawled out across the once-empty plain between the city and mountains to the north. Erbil now boasts half a dozen world-class hotels, with prices to match, as well as luxury car showrooms, designer stores and Western-style fast food outlets.

To win the Tourism Capital designation from the Arab Council of Tourism, authorities in the Kurdish autonomous zone promised to host a range of activities, from winter ice-skating to an international marathon and a beauty contest, to entertain an anticipated 3 million visitors in 2014.

With the help of international experts, authorities are restoring the ancient walled citadel that dominates the center of the city and has revealed evidence of human occupation dating back 8,000 years.

Still, it might seem an odd place to plan a holiday.

Shia and Sunni neighbors to the south are on the brink of what could be a new civil war, a resurgent Al Qaeda is operating in neighboring Kirkuk province, and armed fighters of Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers Party are preparing to move into the Iraqi Kurdistan mountains as part of a peace deal with Ankara.

On Kurdistan’s northwestern border, refugees are spilling across to seek sanctuary from the conflict in Syria.

The autonomous region nevertheless enjoys a high degree of calm and security, thanks to its own peshmerga army that mans the frontiers of the territory, and which in recent weeks deployed southward to secure areas of Sunni-Shiite tension.

Erbil is now home to a growing expatriate community of investment consultants, oil executives and language trainers – for younger Kurds, English is now the second language of choice rather than Arabic.

The city itself, despite its rapid Dubai-ization, has limited appeal. Standing on a featureless and somewhat dusty plain, it has more in common with the hot flatlands to the south than with the snow-capped landscape more typically associated with Kurdistan.

Little over 10 miles to the north, however, the road along which Kurds once retreated to escape the forces of Saddam Hussein winds steeply to an escarpment and then on to the mountains.

Heading toward the Zagros range that marks the border with Iran, it is a spring landscape of green hills, wild grasses and poppies, and traditional hill resorts such as the town of Shaqlawa that are rapidly expanding to meet a growing tourist boom.

Further along the road, built for the British between 1928-32 by Archibald Hamilton, a New Zealand engineer, leads through a dramatic gorge to the waterfall of Gali Ali Beg. An Austrian-built cable car is among the modern attractions.

The Kurds were once Iraq’s most despised community. As non-Arabs prone to rebellion, they faced periodic onslaughts by the previous Baghdad regime, including the Anfal campaign that followed the end of the Iran-Iraq war.

Kurds were driven from their homes and tens of thousands were killed as villages were destroyed and chemical weapons were used against them.

Now the autonomous region is an island of stability in a sea of troubles, and its politicians are increasingly important players in the turmoil afflicting the surrounding region.

Erbil’s designation as Arab Capital of Tourism will, the authorities hope, be a further opportunity to promote Kurdistan’s culture and newfound influence to a wider world.

Editor’s Note: Harvey Morris is the co-author of “No Friends but the Mountains: The Tragic History of the Kurds.”

Source: http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/welcome-to-erbil-tourism-boom-town/

An Australian/Kurdish joint venture since 2009, Kurdistan Adventures combines local knowledge with Western tour operating management. We pride ourselves on immersing our small groups of travelers in Iraqi Kurdistan culture with safety, security and professionalism. Our 8 day escorted tour includes the 3 major cities of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulymaniyah. A dedicated local guide will take you to key historical sites, explain local customs, dine with you in traditional restaurants and allow you to experience this amazing culture. Citizens of many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Canada, the UK and the USA are granted a free visa on arrival.

Back in early February, I was sitting at home in England looking at the dank grey sky, when the phone rang. It was the office. “Oliver, we would like you to go to Kurdistan next week, start doing some research.”

Kurdistan. My mind scrambled for bits of information and scraps of conversation I had picked up over the years. I confess, I knew little about it apart from a vague notion that Kurdistan, or at least Greater Kurdistan, spanned across the modern borders of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

I knew that the Kurds were not to be confused with Arabs or Turks or Persians, that they were a distinct and proud people who had been striving for a homeland of their own, against the flow of 20th and 21st Century geo-political interests.

However in the UK we hear little of the concept of Kurdistan, apart from a few reports of skirmishes between the PKK and the Turkish forces. Most of my friends thought it was somewhere near Uzbekistan.

“No, no” I replied a little mischievously, “the part of Kurdistan I am going to is an autonomous region in the north-east corner of Iraq”. They raised their eyebrows in alarm.

It sounded too good an opportunity to miss and the mystery made it all the more appealing. Besides, anything would be better than sitting out a long, brutal British winter.

My mind cast back to a book I had read a few years ago and I dug it out of my bookshelf. ‘The Way of the World’ by Nicolas Bouvier is an extraordinarily beautiful travel memoir of two friends from Geneva who set out in a Fiat Topolino in the early 1950s, travelling from their home city in the Alps to the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan. They passed through Kurdistan and I set about re-reading those specific chapters.

“Below the village, the stream cascaded between willows, hazel-trees and Asian poplars: a sparse Eden, but Eden nonetheless.”

It certainly sounded quite different from the Iraq that appeared on our evening news bulletins every day of bombings, kidnappings and spiraling violence in the desert. So if the Kurdish landscapes, people, the history and the culture are unique, why is so little known of Kurdistan in the West?

As the famous US investor Warren Buffett once said: ‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.’ Perhaps Kurdistan would be a case in point.

It has been a month now since I have been in Kurdistan. I remember arriving bleary-eyed at 4 am on a cold February morning and driving through the empty streets of Erbil to my hotel, steel and glass buildings lining the side of the road, occasionally lit by glowing neon signs and LCD screens.

Modernity has certainly hit Erbil, although the Eden that Bouvier describes still does exist as I have discovered on trips through the majestic mountains north to Rawanduz and Soran, or east to Sulaimani and Halabja.

The famous Kurdish hospitality is also intact, as I have experienced on many occasions when attempting to pay for my meal only to be waved down with a simple “you are our guest in Kurdistan, you do not pay.” We do not always treat our guests in Europe with the same courtesy and duty.

Kurdistan is booming and nowhere is this more apparent than in Erbil. While the citadel retains its charm and aura of centuries gone by, and the traditional tea-houses and bazaars of downtown Erbil continue in their business much as they have done for countless generations, on the outskirts of town a different city and vision is becoming apparent.

Cranes and newly finished high-rise apartment and office blocks peer into the blue sky, while massive tracts of freshly-churned land compete by displaying futuristic posters of a ‘new city’. It took me back to my first impressions on arriving in Riyadh many years ago: my romantic notions of an Arabia of deserts, palaces and frankincense quickly dashed by the monotony of glass, steel and traffic jams.

Kurdistan has a rich and beautiful culture and heritage. I have read many articles labeling Erbil as ‘next Dubai’, and although these comparisons have been rightly dismissed by most, it does show that Kurdistan needs to be careful in its vision and development.

Kurdistan will undoubtedly achieve greater success and prosperity by promoting its own sense of identity, while differentiating itself from the instability that continues to afflict the rest of Iraq.

To achieve this it is vital not to simply ‘copy and paste’ the model of development and skyline of other cities and regions, but instead to highlight its individuality, not just geographically and politically, but also culturally, socially and historically.

Oliver Moss is the Editorial Director of the Report Company. He is in Kurdistan producing a report that will be published in the British daily newspaper The Guardian.

Source: http://rudaw.net/english/people-places/30032013

An Australian/Kurdish joint venture since 2009, Kurdistan Adventures combines local knowledge with Western tour operating management. We pride ourselves on immersing our small groups of travelers in Iraqi Kurdistan culture with safety, security and professionalism. Our 8 day escorted tour includes the 3 major cities of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulymaniyah. A dedicated local guide will take you to key historical sites, explain local customs, dine with you in traditional restaurants and allow you to experience this amazing culture. Citizens of many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Canada, the UK and the USA are granted a free visa on arrival.

Kurds of all ages have been quick to take up skiing in the pristine mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan.

When 37-year-old Igor Urizar first happened upon the isolated mountain village of Penjwin, 300km north-east of Baghdad, he had a vision of this border town – nestled in the pristine, snow-capped mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan – transformed into a haven for skiers.

Now, after four years of hard work, Urizar is the proud founder of the first ever ski school in Iraq, and can hardly contain his satisfaction. “It has been a long way to get to this point but I really think it was worth the effort,” the Basque ski instructor told IPS.

This past winter, until the early months of 2013, over 100 visitors flocked to this long-forgotten region that has witnessed scores of conflicts – from the Gulf war in 1990-91 to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 – and discovered something other than war: the pleasure of donning a pair of skis and gliding through the powdery snow.

But most visitors are happily oblivious to the challenges of establishing this recreational site in one of the world’s most volatile geopolitical regions.

“My first attempt was in 2009 in Baskale – a Kurdish village in Turkey about 1,000km east of Ankara,” Urizar said. “Snow conditions were perfect but the Turkish police were so suspicious of a westerner in a Kurdish village on the border with Iran that I was forced to leave the place a week after I arrived.”

Back in his hometown of Durango, 400km north of Madrid, Urizar contacted the Tigris Association, a non-profit organisation of Basques and Kurds supporting development projects in Kurdish areas, which suggested that he try again in 2010 – only this time in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the local Kurdish population has enjoyed a high degree of autonomy since 1991.

Urizar discovered Penjwin on a hunt for the best skiing spots in the region. Luckily, he said, he had brought a few pairs of skis with him so was able to present his project to the local authorities, who finally gave him the green light that year.

The initiative would not have been possible without the help of Falah Salah, a Kurdistan Regional Government official and member of the Tigris Association. “Our long-term goal is to import the successful ‘white week’ model into Kurdistan,” Salah told IPS, referring to the annual 14-week period when over 5,000 schoolchildren from northern Spain’s Navarra region converge for skiing trips in the Pyrenees mountain range that forms the natural border between France and Spain.

Over the past 30 years, this programme has become such an integral part of the economy of Spain’s Roncal valley that many fear it will not be able to sustain itself without the ski industry. Innkeepers in the region told IPS that they earn 70% of their annual income during the winter months.

Salah believes the economically depressed Iraqi border region, where cattle rearing and farming have traditionally been the primary means of subsistence, could benefit greatly by promoting a similar scheme.

Skiers demand equipment rentals, they eat kebabs at local restaurants and eventually spend the weekend in a village that has hitherto only served as a transit spot for refugees fleeing from either side of the Iran-Iraq border.

It was not difficult to cultivate a love of snow and winter sports among the local population here. Having grown up in the rocky mountains that are covered for several months of the year in a thick white blanket, Kurds of almost all ages have been quick to participate in this playful activity, which Urizar labels “sustainable skiing”.

No ski lifts or other metallic eyesores ruin the beautiful landscape here. Instead, a simple municipal building, located close to a ski site, houses the equipment. Just outside, an unobtrusive track guides cross-country skiers through the shrubbery.

Dlosh Fatah, a physical education teacher at a school in the neighbouring Rania district, 330km north-east of Baghdad, won a pair of skis in Penjwin in 2012 and said the experience was so satisfying that she came back as an instructor a year later with a group who had received training in the Pyrenees during the first week of April.

Though her technique could do with some improvement, “for the time being, it’s more important to convey what I have learned to our children here”, the 25-year-old told IPS, and proudly produced a diploma issued by the ski school of the Roncal valley.

Chia Hassan is another future Kurdish ski instructor to whom Urizar will probably pass the baton in the winter of 2014. “During our visit to the Pyrenees we have seen the development cross-country skiing brought to a mountainous region similar to ours,” Hassan told IPS. “Like us, [locals] were living on wood and cattle until they discovered that snow could also be economically profitable,” the 31-year-old Kurd from Rania told IPS.

Penjwin’s ski centre got a boost this year when local TV channels and newspapers picked up the story. The news has piqued curiosity on the other side of the border, including an invitation from the Iranian Kurdish town of Sardasht, 430km west of Tehran, to share details of the project.

“We will definitely visit our friends in Sardasht but we must also struggle to take the project to other valleys in Iraqi Kurdistan,” Urizar said. He believes the best skiing spot is in the Qandil mountains, an imposing watchtower peering down from a height of 3,000 metres, located at the spot where the borders of Turkey, Iraq and Iran meet.

“If negotiations between Ankara and the Kurds of Turkey stay on track we might be able be able to ski there one day,” Salah said, hopefully.

For the time being, the mountain range remains a stronghold of the Kurdistan Workers Party, a guerrilla group engaged in an armed struggle for rights and recognition. The recent ceasefire between the guerrillas and the Turkish government has sparked optimism over a negotiated solution to a conflict that has dragged on for over three decades.

Locals can hardly wait for the moment when the sound of gliding skis replaces the bullets and shells in a location that Salah describes as “a paradise yet to be discovered”.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/apr/20/iraqi-kurdistan-skis-replacing-bullets

An Australian/Kurdish joint venture since 2009, Kurdistan Adventures combines local knowledge with Western tour operating management. We pride ourselves on immersing our small groups of travelers in Iraqi Kurdistan culture with safety, security and professionalism. Our 8 day escorted tour includes the 3 major cities of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulymaniyah. A dedicated local guide will take you to key historical sites, explain local customs, dine with you in traditional restaurants and allow you to experience this amazing culture. Citizens of many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Canada, the UK and the USA are granted a free visa on arrival.

In the troubled security and political landscape of Iraq, the autonomous northern province of Kurdistan has emerged in the past 10 years as an inspiring success story.

The region’s progress is on full display in its capital city of Irbil, some 400km (249 miles) north of Baghdad.

Iraqi Kurds, roughly estimated at five million, have stunningly rebuilt a dirt-poor and traumatised society from scratch since they gained their autonomy in 1991.

Irbil is unmatched by any other city in post-Saddam Iraq and is prospering like no other part of the country.

‘Zero worry’

“We have turned Irbil from a run-down and shabby place into a little Dubai,” Mahmoud Othman, an MP for the Kurdish Alliance, said proudly.

The skyline of the city, famous for its citadel and ancient monuments, is changing rapidly, with new hotels being built to accommodate visitors form Iraq and beyond.

Irbil has a glittering airport, European-styled traffic lights, well-paved roads and highly functional infrastructure.

“It is the safest place in the whole of Iraq and Irbil has been named the 2014 tourism capital of the year [by the Arab Council of Tourism],” Mr Othman added, a smile breaking out on his face.

“We have flourished because we are no longer run with an iron fist or fear.”

“Investment is very, very lucrative in Iraq Kurdistan,” said Tony Abu Nakad, a Lebanese investor whom I met in the lobby of his luxury hotel.

“In Irbil, you have zero worry. As a businessman, you don’t have to be preoccupied with the security hassle in other cities like Baghdad.”

Newly discovered oil has fuelled the economic prosperity.

Kurdish officials predict that Kurdistan could surpass Libya’s output by 2019 by producing 2m barrels per day, putting it in the list of oil-producing giants.

But oil is a mixed blessing. It has strained relations with Iraq’s central government in Baghdad as there is no agreement on how to share revenues.

Kurdish dream

The Kurds have angered Baghdad by striking lucrative contracts with dozens of oil companies. Baghdad calls such contracts illegal.

The President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, hinted last month that the region could seek full independence if disputes over oil revenues and oil-rich territories like the city of Kirkuk were not resolved.

But what is not independent about Iraq Kurdistan today?

The region has its own flag, parliament, government, president, powerful armed forces and its own language.

Most of the young Iraqi Kurds, like Tazreen Zaman, a 21-year-old with a degree in accounting from the prestigious Saladin University, do not speak Arabic even as a second language.

“I was more keen on learning English than Arabic because English is a global language and can secure me a decent job in such a competitive market,” she told me in impeccable English.

The Kurds are sticking hard to their identity and their mother tongue.

When Shiwan Ismail learnt I was Egyptian, however, he switched to Arabic, which is not widely spoken across Iraq Kurdistan.

“Our heritage is our only asset,” said the 65-year-old, who wears traditional Kurdish costume, never out of fashion in Irbil.

It has long been the Kurdish dream to establish “Greater Kurdistan”, a land connecting the Kurdish-inhabited areas of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.

“It is shame that a nation like us with a total population of 40 million people in the diaspora does not have a homeland,” said Mr Othman.

But Turkey and Iran remain opposed to an independent Kurdish state.

“I know it is unrealistic to seek independence because we don’t want war,” said the Kurdish MP. “Greater Kurdistan is still a fantasy but we will not give up our dream.”

Iraq’s Kurdish capital

• Average monthly wage rose from $300 (£198) to $1,100 over past decade
• Government spends tens of millions sending postgraduate students abroad
• Rated by New York Times as 34th in a list of tourist destinations
• In 2011, appeared on National Geographic’s list of 20 best trips

(Irbil Chamber of Commerce)

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21900576

An Australian/Kurdish joint venture since 2009, Kurdistan Adventures combines local knowledge with Western tour operating management. We pride ourselves on immersing our small groups of travelers in Iraqi Kurdistan culture with safety, security and professionalism. Our 8 day escorted tour includes the 3 major cities of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulymaniyah. A dedicated local guide will take you to key historical sites, explain local customs, dine with you in traditional restaurants and allow you to experience this amazing culture. Citizens of many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Canada, the UK and the USA are granted a free visa on arrival.

Kurdish women in traditional dress and men dance during Nowruz celebrations in the southern Turkish city of Mersin, March 21, 2003.

Every year on March 21, the Kurds and other peoples across the Middle East celebrate the festival of Nowruz. It marks the beginning of the Kurdish New Year and coincides with the beginning of the Iranian New Year and has begun to carry symbolic significance for Iraqi Kurds.

Nowruz day (New Year’s Day) is the first day of the solar Hijri calendar (March 21) and is celebrated by Persians, Kurds and Turks alike. Nowruz is a Farsi word, with “Now-” meaning new, and “-ruz” meaning “morning light” signifying the coming of a new day.

Previously, the Kurds of Iraq celebrated this holiday and lit the flame of Nowruz by setting fire to rubber tires — something that was detrimental to the environment. Nowadays, Kurds use Nowruz as an opportunity to showcase Kurdish heritage, folklore, language and dress. The celebration aims to boost tourism and each year new events are added, while the tradition of the flame of Nowruz is kept alive, though firewood and fireworks have replaced burning tires.

According to the General Authority for Tourism Statistics in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, more than 150,000 tourists came to the Kurdistan Region during the days of Nowruz.

All of the streets are decorated with lights, millions of flowers, and Kurdish flags (red, green and white with a yellow sun disk in the center). Animals are slaughtered in public squares in preparation for the feast.

Every year the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq provides support to cultural and artistic institutions so that they may set up a variety of events and activities to enrich Nowruz festivities.

Once only celebrated for a single day, Nowruz celebrations now stretch on for more than 10 days after the ministry of education gave schools a 12-day spring break that coincides with the holiday. In addition, there is now a three-day official holiday for all government institutions March 20-22.

Federal government institutions in Baghdad still celebrate Nowruz for only one day. On that day, all government institutions and departments are given an official holiday, unlike the regional government, which gives a three-day holiday.

The Nowruz festival showcases Kurdish heritage and language by putting on concerts and inviting singers and bands from Kurdish communities from neighboring countries and non-Kurds from abroad to participate in cultural and artistic ceremonies.

This year in Erbil, Iraqi Kurds hope to enter into the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest dabke (a folk dance in which participants link arms) with 5,000 young men and women encircling the Citadel of Erbil in the presence of a Guinness special committee. Taher Abdullah, deputy governor of Erbil, told Al-Monitor that with this dabke they hope to keep Kurdish heritage alive through folk dance, encourage young people to take pride in their heritage and showcase their culture to the world.

During Nowruz festivities, Kurds don traditional loose Kurdish garb, especially the women, who spend months preparing their outfits for the event. Many visitors from the Arab world and elsewhere also wear traditional Kurdish clothes during Nowruz festivities.

The typical outfit for a Kurdish man consists of a long-sleeved shirt, loose pants, and a vest that opens across the chest and folds into a waist band, which consists of a piece of cloth four to five meters in length wrapped several times around the waist.

Kurdish women typically wear bright colors, with the most distinguishing feature of their outfit being the loose, colorful robe that stretches from their shoulders to the ground.

Persian, Azeri, Afghani, Pakistani and Indian peoples all celebrate Nowruz, a day that marks the natural shift to spring and the season of fertility, thus signifying renewed life for the cultures of many Asian peoples.

Abdel Hamid Zebari is a contributing writer for Al-Monitor’s Iraq Pulse. A reporter from Erbil who works in print journalism and radio, he has published several reports in local and world media, including Agence France-Press and Radio Free Iraq (Radio Free Europe).

Source: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/iraqi-kurds-celebrate-nowruz.html

An Australian/Kurdish joint venture since 2009, Kurdistan Adventures combines local knowledge with Western tour operating management. We pride ourselves on immersing our small groups of travelers in Iraqi Kurdistan culture with safety, security and professionalism. Our 8 day escorted tour includes the 3 major cities of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulymaniyah. A dedicated local guide will take you to key historical sites, explain local customs, dine with you in traditional restaurants and allow you to experience this amazing culture. Citizens of many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Canada, the UK and the USA are granted a free visa on arrival.

By Martin Fletcher – The Times

In numerous trips to Iraq over the past decade the one commodity I had never encountered was fun. Terror, grief and despair yes — but not fun; at least, not until I visited Sulaimaniyah in the Kurdish north last week.

I arrived on the eve of Nowruz, the Kurdish New Year. It was dark. Fireworks were exploding over the city. Tens of thousands of noisy, exuberant Kurds were packed into the central boulevard of Salim Street, which was ablaze with festive illuminations.

The women and girls, many with their heads uncovered, wore make-up, golden jewellery and shimmering, sequined dresses. The older men sported traditional Kurdish costumes with baggy trousers. Every few hundred yards Kurdish musicians were playing on stages. People danced in groups. Parents bought kebabs, spiced broad beans and roasted sunflower seeds for themselves, ice-creams and candy floss for their children. Teenagers flirted discreetly.

A fair number of southern Iraqis and Kurds from neighbouring Iran had come to enjoy the revelry. A few manifestly gay men, and even the odd drunk, wandered uncensured through the happy crowds.

The previous day more than 50 people had been killed in sectarian car bombs in distant Baghdad, but here in Sulaimaniyah, in the largely autonomous and peaceful region of Kurdistan, security was relaxed. Though Western, I felt entirely safe. Never before in Iraq had I experienced such tolerance, friendliness and absence of fear, which was at least partly because Nowruz has nothing to do with religion.

The festival celebrates the beginning of spring and, according to Kurdish folklore, the toppling of Zuhak, a child-killing tyrant, by Kawa, a blacksmith. Zuhak was so evil that spring never came to his kingdom, but it arrived the day after his death and his subjects celebrated by lighting fires on the hillsides.

More recently, of course, the Kurds have celebrated the toppling of a modern-day tyrant — Saddam Hussein — which is why, today, they find Nowruz particularly sweet.

Saddam waged a genocidal campaign against Iraq’s five million Kurds and their culture. He killed more than 180,000, destroyed 4,000 villages and used chemical weapons against the town of Halabja. He banned any celebration of Nowruz, and Kurds feared to observe it even in the privacy of their homes.

Now that Saddam is dead, and oil-rich Kurdistan is prospering as never before, they are making up for lost time. Wednesday’s festivities were merely the preamble. Early on Thursday, whole families piled into cars and vans festooned with Kurdistan flags and streamed out of Sulaimaniyah. Almost the entire population, or so it seemed, decamped into the majestic hills and valleys that surround the city. They went to hail not just the spring, but the Kurds’ own renaissance.

They played and picnicked in the warm sun. They lit fires and feasted on roasted lamb and chicken, mounds of rice, onions, tomatoes and chillies, and piles of flat Iraqi bread. They hung hammocks from trees, and ropes for their children to swing on, flew kites, played football, held tugs-of-war. They put up tents for shade. They turned up their car radios and performed shuffling, rhythmic line dances. Some dozed or smoked their shisha pipes.

Late in the afternoon, as the sinking sun gilded the snowy peaks of the distant mountains, the Kurds packed up and drove contentedly homewards — a long-persecuted people enjoying peace, security and freedom for the first time in generations.

Source: http://www.krg.org/a/d.aspx?l=12&a=47022&utm_source=KRG&utm_medium=KRG.org

An Australian/Kurdish joint venture since 2009, Kurdistan Adventures combines local knowledge with Western tour operating management. We pride ourselves on immersing our small groups of travelers in Iraqi Kurdistan culture with safety, security and professionalism. Our 8 day escorted tour includes the 3 major cities of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulymaniyah. A dedicated local guide will take you to key historical sites, explain local customs, dine with you in traditional restaurants and allow you to experience this amazing culture. Citizens of many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Canada, the UK and the USA are granted a free visa on arrival.

It’s also a hub of business.

Volatile situation in Baghdad and everyday prowl of soldiers left him with no better choice than leaving his home and settling down with his two sons and wife in Erbil.

Laith Selman, people call him “Abu Ali” meaning “Ali’s father” in English. The sectarian tensions, political strife and violence in 2006-2009 in the central and south of Iraq pushed many people to flee for safety and seek a better life; for thousands Kurdistan became a safe haven. Abu Ali is one of them and his family is one of thousands.

Abu Ali opened his barbershop in Erbil in 2011. His customers are mostly Kurds. He is quite happy with the job and his customers. Though, sometimes language is a difficulty for communication.

One hour before the sunset, an Arab in the Kurdish capital city of Erbil tries to understand a Kurdish customer who wanted just wanted to have a blowout. After they made it through their communication, both surprisingly, though with difficulty, started chatting on various interesting social topics. This makes the barbershop the last civic forum in Kurdistan for: socializing, strengthening Kurd-Arab social relations, discussing latest political and economic updates and even doing some business during the haircut-time.

In just one hour, the doe-eyed barber, not very tall and, his youngish movements doesn’t cope with his grey hair, cut the hair of four people; all were Kurds. As you get in the barbershop, you immediately see posters of several Kurdish pop music singers. Everything around the shop is Kurdish. An Arab owning a Kurdish style barber shop in the heart of Kurdistan makes a perfect contrast and a sharp point telling Kurdish and Arab leaders, who are at loggerheads now, that people at the grassroots level are living side by side comfortably.

When asked if he would let his son marry a Kurdish girl, he smiled, patted his colorful shirt to remove hairs from all over his body left from the previous haircuts, cleared his throat and said “Sure, why not? They aren’t bogeywomen” and continued with a barking laugh “even if I could make it two, my second wife would be Kurdish!”

Kurdistan received 60,000 IDP (internally displaced people) families, out of which only 20,000 have so far returned home.

People in Kurdistan see the influx of Arabs in their country differently. Some think the influx is good, some have no problem with them and others say they are here for no good.

When asked about Arabs in Kurdistan, he sat with a shrug on a wooden chair in an Erbil based café where Arabs constitute most customers. “Well, Arabs are everywhere in Kurdistan: every turn, every mall, every shop and every café,” Karzan Fekhraddin, a business graduate student, while enjoying a chat with his friends, mostly Arabs, said after he had one deep inhale of his apricot Sheesha.

The influx of thousands of Iraqis to the Kurdistan Region from central and south of Iraq is unprecedented. Besides holidaymakers, Arab dwellers in Kurdistan reach tens of thousands.

Iraqi immigration minister, Dindar Nejman Doski, said 198, 000 families have been displaced inside Iraq. The figure means one million and 177 Arab people. And according to the Kurdistan Regional Government more than 150,000 (from 40 thousand families) are in Kurdistan now, most from Mosul, Diala, Baghdad and Anbar.

They do different things from both private and public sectors: business ownership, civil servants and they are all entitled to buy and sell properties. Arab tourists for sure soar the figure, as the flow of Arab tourists to Kurdistan is increasingly at rife.

Many Kurds complain about having such a big influx of Arabs in Kurdistan. Zana Ahmed, 29, a high school teacher said “they buy our properties and if the Arabs invade us that could have disastrous consequences.”

Others point out that the influx of Arabs in the region has economical benefits to Kurdistan as the Arabs “have brought many job opportunities with them into the region” because many of them have started big businesses here and they hire local people.

According to the Kurdish chamber of commerce, hundreds of Arab-owned companies work in Kurdistan. Jabbar Shahban, owner of a building company, said he has been in Kurdistan since 2006 and has started his general contracting company in 2007. “I have more than 100 local people working for me.”

Bestun Akram, on-site project manager of the company said he’s doing great with the company and learned a lot from it: language, culture and etiquette of business.

Economists say such a big influx of Arabs in the region serves the economic infrastructure of the region. Khalid Ashad, an independent economist, said Arabs as tourists and as dwellers in Kurdistan bring economic good to the region as they create more jobs by starting new businesses. He further said that one can hardly find a hotel to stay in, especially during the holidays. “That’s one big boom!” he said enthusiastically.

Besides tough security measures at the Kurdish main gates of Erbil, Sulaimani and Dohuk cities, Arabs still flow in, buy houses and settle in the region. They mostly settle in the newly built housing units such as Engineering Group, Aynda, Komalgay Lawan in Erbil city, and many more in the other two provinces.

Security is relatively good in Kurdistan but there are some cacophony voices demanding reconsidering the tough security measures, especially at the checkpoints.

Up to 370 hotels, 180 motels and 45 tourist villages operate in the three provinces of Kurdistan; plus a large number of tourist restaurants, facilities, markets and modern malls, all of which depend mostly on tourism. All this receives tens of thousands of tourists and the KRG has to provide security and safety and fix prices to ensure the comfort of citizens and the Arabs, Ashad suggests.

According to the KRG ministry of tourism Kurdistan received over one million tourists from central and south, mostly Arabs, in just the first nine months of 2011. Half a million more added to the figure in 2012.

The reaction of people in Kurdistan fort he influx is good but a former Peshmarga thinks differently. Hasan Hamad, 43, a former Peshmarga, said Arabs are destroying this region because of “them prices of everything have flown.

Many others thought the same except Ashad who optimistically stated, “high prices have nothing to do with the large number of Arabs in the region but it’s due to an increase in demand and high incomes of people.”

Abu Ali was also upset with the unfixed prices. He complained like the locals do here as if he was really one of them. He criticized businessmen who “have no conscience” as they bring “crappy goods” and sell them very expensive.

Amongst the Arabs who settled down in Kurdistan, many wish to go back one day to where they came from while others can’t think of bettering the situation in the central and south in the perceivable future and prefer to stay in Kurdistan for now.

“If Baghdad’s condition would become like Erbil, of course hopes of having Baghdad to be better than Erbil are not possible for now, then I would decide to go home, until then Erbil is my home,” concluded Abu Ali with a tender smile and mixed feelings of excitement and sadness.

Source: http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-article.html?id=97BD8E81FF579351D2FEB750329E55F7

An Australian/Kurdish joint venture since 2009, Kurdistan Adventures combines local knowledge with Western tour operating management. We pride ourselves on immersing our small groups of travelers in Iraqi Kurdistan culture with safety, security and professionalism. Our 8 day escorted tour includes the 3 major cities of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulymaniyah. A dedicated local guide will take you to key historical sites, explain local customs, dine with you in traditional restaurants and allow you to experience this amazing culture. Citizens of many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Canada, the UK and the USA are granted a free visa on arrival.

We need to do more to make this city tourist friendly.

Erbil is undergoing major renovations to retain its heritage, enabling tourists to understand the history of this ancient city.

A country is best known for its history, and through that we can find out about its lifestyle, culture and local customs. Societies that preserve their culture and heritage tend to have a greater sense of identity than those that are modernized to an extent where they imitate other societies. What makes Kurdistan different is that we are Kurdish, and we have something to offer that other societies do not have. The reason tourists are excited to visit this city is because we are ‘different’ from where they come from culturally, and if we destroy all that is cultural about this city, we are in effect destroying the huge economic boost from tourism that this region could attract.

I often walk by the Citadel in Erbil city. There are construction workers all over the place. Changes are being made to the markets, and a great level of attention is given to this historical site, which is one of the world’s oldest. Looking at the Citadel, an overwhelming sense of pride overcomes me. This is our city, and one day we will rightfully call ourselves a country, in our own right. We have the responsibility to make sure, when the day of independence comes, we are fully prepared. This includes treating the tourism sector properly, and ensuring that we locals don’t forget our customs.

While in London, I loved the ‘Britishness’ of everything. Despite the major changes, there were obvious aspects of it that screamed ‘British’. Similarly in Istanbul, there were ‘Turkish’ practices that were obvious to tourists, and in Kurdistan we need ‘Kurdish’ things to be identified immediately by tourists. This is how we can reclaim our heritage, and ensure that our society prospers for generations to come, despite the obstacles that might come our way.

The oldest inhibited place known by mankind is the Citadel, which we have in Erbil city. It is a national treasure, a beacon of pride and joy. It highlights what is different about us, and in those little houses within the Citadel, there are many stories to tell, but few have been told. Unfortunately, some aspects of this marvelous citadel was ‘modernized’ and ‘modified’ while people were still living there. Consequently, the additions that were made destroyed its ‘ancient’ look. However, renovations are now being made to restore its old image, and to give tourists a sense of what this city has to offer.

No one can doubt that we are different as Kurds, but we must not become blind by modern buildings, fancy cars and luxurious shopping malls. When people come to visit Kurdistan, they should go back with a story to tell, souvenirs to take, and a positive image of us. If they go back with pictures of tall buildings, and shopping malls, the disappointment for me is beyond expression. We have a rich heritage that needs to be explored, highlighted, and made presentable to the world.

Source: http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-article.html?id=F42E10A52C2F90C48E790CC270A9F674

An Australian/Kurdish joint venture since 2009, Kurdistan Adventures combines local knowledge with Western tour operating management. We pride ourselves on immersing our small groups of travelers in Iraqi Kurdistan culture with safety, security and professionalism. Our 8 day escorted tour includes the 3 major cities of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulymaniyah. A dedicated local guide will take you to key historical sites, explain local customs, dine with you in traditional restaurants and allow you to experience this amazing culture. Citizens of many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Canada, the UK and the USA are granted a free visa on arrival.

Tourists visit the Citadel of Erbil.

Around four million people from across the world are expected to visit Kurdistan.

The Kurdistan Region’s Tourism General Board has allocated 68 billion IQD to implement 77 tourism projects across the region. The board is now trying hard to develop tourist attractions, and turn the attention of tourists from across the world toward Kurdistan.

Nadir Rosti, The Kurdistan Region Tourism General Board’s spokesperson, in an exclusive interview told The Kurdish Globe that the board has allocated an amount of 30 billion IQD to put 47 projects into operation across the region for 2013.

He also explained that there are more 30 projects, with an allocated amount of 27 billion IQD, which the board has been working on them since 2011.

Regarding the types of the projects, Rosti clarified that the projects are varied and included revitalization, cosmetics and protecting archeological projects, as part of the tourist attractions. “Constructing a specialized center for training and developing the skills of the tourist guides is also a significant project that the board established last year,” Rosti said.

‘Tourism master plan’

Three years ago, the board in a very vital step decided to set a five-year-long tourism master plan for all the three Kurdish provinces of the region. It started from 2010 and will be finished at the end of 2015.

Austrian and Lebanese companies have been working on making the Region’s tourist master plan since 2010. They placed the current attractions on the plan, and working to set a comprehensive plan for the future.

According to Rosti, there are more than 3, 500 places in Kurdistan which are identified by the government as archeological places. “Around 10 foreign universities from different countries are now investigating several historic archeological places across the region. Working on some of the archeological sites is now accomplished, and are ready to welcome people, and some more will be completed in the future.”

According to the master plan, four million people from across the world should visit Kurdistan in the last year of the plan. “We are planning to increase the number of the hotel rooms to, at least, 25, 000 at the end of 2015.”

At least US$1 billion and 500 million have been thus far invested in tourism sector, and the board is going to encourage foreign and domestic companies in order to actively invest in the field and boost the invested capital up to US$6 billion in 2015.

Spokesperson of the board additionally said: “In keeping with our strategies, we are intended for employing, at least, 40, 000 people at the end of 2015.” The investment of foreign companies in Kurdistan has led to a pool of opportunities for fresh graduates.

In many countries across the world, tourism is a major source for national revenue. But in Kurdistan tourism has not been so far a vital factor to raise the annual national revenue. Now it makes around three percent of the total national revenue, but the board is endeavoring hard to get the revenue to, at least, 15 percent in the coming years, Rosti explained.

In 2012, around 2, 217, 000 people from across the world visited the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, and the rate is 30 percent higher than the previous year.

‘KRG’s efforts to develop tourism’

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has until now conducted 30 workshops and training courses for improving the level of the employers from both public and private tourism institutions.

“To put the projects into practice in an excellent manner, the board has inaugurated several directorates in the three major Kurdish province’s suburbs such as Khanaqin, Shangar and Raniya.”

‘Extending tourism relations’

To create a center of attention for tourists worldwide, the board endeavors to make its bilateral relations stronger with foreign consulates, diplomats and companies.

We have so far, Rosti says, visited several leading tourism countries such as Egypt, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey to introduce Kurdistan’s attractions to the countries, and to encourage them to promote their inhabitants to visit Kurdistan.

To accelerate the efforts to introduce Kurdistan’s attraction to the world, the board has recently opened marketing department. The main objective of the department is to reach as much as people across the world through website, social media networks, advertisement and publications.

More than 65, 000 tourist posters have been printed in several different languages such as English, Persian, Arabic, Turkey and Kurdish. They will be distributed among those who enter Kurdistan boundary as well as foreign consulates, Rosti clarifies.

The publications include definition of the tourist attractions, contact numbers of the hotels and motels as well as the restaurants.

Source: http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-article.html?id=2E6CDA3F35EFABC5ACDC4CC8FC8161C3

An Australian/Kurdish joint venture since 2009, Kurdistan Adventures combines local knowledge with Western tour operating management. We pride ourselves on immersing our small groups of travelers in Iraqi Kurdistan culture with safety, security and professionalism. Our 8 day escorted tour includes the 3 major cities of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulymaniyah. A dedicated local guide will take you to key historical sites, explain local customs, dine with you in traditional restaurants and allow you to experience this amazing culture. Citizens of many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Canada, the UK and the USA are granted a free visa on arrival.

As we learn of a possible attack with chemical weapons on a suburb of Aleppo in Syria and the deaths of 16 people, Sherko Kirmanj explains Saddam Hussein’s horrific chemical bombing of Halabja in northern Iraq, which occurred 25 years ago this month.

“I remember most of it like it was yesterday, and when I do, it all comes back. The roars, the blasts, the dark grey smoke and the helpless cries of the dying.”

In 1988, Alend Jaff was just 18 years old, a resident of Halabja in Kurdistan, northern Iraq, when Saddam Hussein’s forces attacked the town with chemical weapons.

It had been a long and hard winter but spring was coming and the Jaff family, like all others, had been looking forward to celebrating Newroz, the Kurdish national day and the start of Kurdish New Year.

The family had already shopped for their new clothes and children were counting the days until they would receive their presents and could gorge themselves on the festival’s traditional sweets.

“Many had already had their last Newroz, they just didn’t know it,” Alend says.

It was mid-afternoon on a rare sunny winter day. Alend was at home, idle and relaxed as he listened to Kurdish music, when he was startled by the roar of military jets flying overhead.

“Although this was not an unusual event for a country that had been fighting a long war outside, and a rebellion inside, I immediately left the house to find out more,” he says.

Iraq fought a long war with Iran between 1980 and 1988, and the Iraqi Kurds – a national group different linguistically and culturally from the Iraqi Arabs – was also fighting a separatist war with the Iraqi government that had been met with a policy to eradicate them, known as ‘Arabisation’.

Alend remembers that he had not gone far from the home he shared with his family when he was stopped by the sounds of large explosions and instinctively ran back towards the house.

***

Halabja was not a large town at the time. It lay about 350km north east of Baghdad at the base of a mountain range that stretched east to Iran.

The attack on Halabja was the latest in a campaign of chemical warfare against the Kurds which had begun almost a year earlier with attacks on two other Kurdish villages in the north.

The chemical bombing of those villages, Balisan and Sheikh Wasan, killed 320 people, including 61 children. The Iraqi army used a concoction of poisonous gasses on a people who almost definitely didn’t even imagine the existence of such weapons.

The bombs were part of the Anfal Campaign designed to eradicate the Kurds from Iraq in line with Arabisation.

Halabja is the best known of the towns hit with chemical weapons because of the large number who died on one day. But it was far from the only village to suffer.

The Anfal operation razed 703 Kurdish villages between April 1987 and August 1988 and is widely agreed to have killed more than 180,000 Kurds.

***

As Alend sprinted home that day he heard people shouting: “It is chemical! Run! Get away!”

The strong smell of the bombs – which has been described by those who survived them as smelling of apples or garlic – was a dead giveaway.

“By the time I arrived in our house, everyone had disappeared,” Alend says, his voice quieting at the memory.

“It was as if the whole neighborhood had disappeared into the thin air. I knew that I should run toward the mountain but my legs had frozen with fear.”

Alend remembers trying to will himself to get moving and head for higher ground, but the dark grey smoke from the bomb seemed to follow him, ever closer.

That sunny winter day had become the darkest day in the history of the little town of Halabja.

When it was over, about 5,000 people were dead. Their bodies lay where they fell in the streets, some looked as if they had laughed themselves to death, others were contorted in bizarre and shocking shapes, twisted in pain. Parents lay over their children in a last desperate attempt to save them from breathing in the gas.

All Alend remembers, from the moment he decided to run to the nearest mountain, is the fallen women, men, young girls and boys using their dying breath to plead for help that never arrived.

He can still see the blackened lips and eyes of dead toddlers not yet having learnt to call for help. He remembers the young fathers and mothers sacrificing their last breath to shield their young from the killer they could only smell and feel through their pain.

Alend did reach higher ground that day. But thousands of others, many who he knew well or had played with as a child, or sat next to in school, didn’t make it.

Alend, who now lives in the sunshine of Queensland, continues to suffer. He says humanity lost out to the will of dictatorship and a mass murderer.

Those who could have prevented such a tragedy apparently had more important things to discuss that day, and on the many more that came after. The international community – and global superpowers of the time – were quiet over the horrors of Anfal.

Why? Perhaps it was because at the time Iraq was at war with Iran – a country well-known as an enemy of the West – and Western superpowers preferred to ignore human rights abuses by Baghdad in return for preserving a useful relationship.

In light of this, we must ask whether the international community has spoken loudly enough against the Syrian regime’s human rights abuses mass killings, speculation of possession of chemical weapons, and now the strong possibility that those weapons have been used against the population.

Just like happened in Iraq, has a weak response to Syria’s human rights abuses ended up in the use of chemical weapons later?

It is time for the UN and global powers to take strong action against those involved in mass killing. Just like in Halabja, one day it will be too late.

Sherko Kirmanj has a PhD in international studies and is the author of Politicisation of Islam: the Phenomenon of Islamism. View his full profile here.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4589042.html

An Australian/Kurdish joint venture since 2009, Kurdistan Adventures combines local knowledge with Western tour operating management. We pride ourselves on immersing our small groups of travelers in Iraqi Kurdistan culture with safety, security and professionalism. Our 8 day escorted tour includes the 3 major cities of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulymaniyah. A dedicated local guide will take you to key historical sites, explain local customs, dine with you in traditional restaurants and allow you to experience this amazing culture. Citizens of many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the EU, Canada, the UK and the USA are granted a free visa on arrival.