SAHMARAN: The Kurdish question

Van earthquake!

2011-11-02T22:46:00.000+02:00

I have not had access to internet in many days so I write very late about the earthquake in Van. Dear friends in Van, our thoughts are with you. Let's hope that you get all the necessary help and assistance to continue your lives after this tragedy.

Also, it is important that the international community and the friends of Kurds follow the situation so that the Turkish state is not using this accident like an opportunity to increase the oppression towards the Kurdish liberation movement.

Genocide research needs a good plan

2011-10-19T15:49:00.000+03:00

The Anfal Campaign happened twenty three years ago. No time should be wasted in documenting it: now people still remember details of Anfal but they forget more and more as the time is passing.

Collection of the memories must be done in a systematic way. My experience is that members of the Anfal families have a big need to talk about their experiences. And of course it is important that someone listens them. But research interviews must be done according a systematic plan and the target of the research must be clear.

With all the respect to Kurdish activists who document Anfal: my experience of their work is that often the main focus is to express how horrible thing Anfal was. We all agree about this. Academic research has other targets, it goes deeper. Art expresses feelings and emotions, scientific research facts. There is need for both of them. If the KRG wants Anfal to be accepted internationally as a genocide, the artistic methods are not enough despite they help the Kurds to go further in the healing process. There is need to present hard facts by academic research which is done according to international standards.

In 1918 there was a few months long civil war in my native country Finland after it had got her independence. The civil war still affects the country. New research, books, and movies are being made all the time.

The Kurdish genocide is much bigger issue than the Finnish civil war. The Kurds will document, survey and express their feelings about it for generations by methods of art, research, and civil society activities. Many different methods are necessary. Some of them are spontanous. But academic research, to be internationally respected, should not be spontanous or local. There must be a good plan to decide the priorities of the research.

And when the plan is ready, there must be enough of economical resources to make it true.

This text was published is Asos newspaper in Sulaymaniyah in Sebtember 2011.

Fadime Sahindahl's grave

2011-07-26T18:54:00.001+03:00

Fadime Sahindal's (1975-2002) murder got lots of attention in January 2002.

She was shot dead by her father in so called "honour killing". As I spend this summer in Uppsala I searched her grave.

It is in the old graveyard near the Cathedral.

The grave is easy to find because there are maps in the grave yard showing where are the graves of famous persons.

In the small grave stone is picture of a pigeon and two hands. Symbol for peace. There is also a small stone heart in her grave.

Photos: Kristiina Koivunen

Can Kurdish leaders use the next historical opportunity?

2011-05-18T15:44:00.001+03:00

Recent news from the Middle East reflects a widespread need for changes. The Kurds are famous for being culturally divided and unable to cooperate with each other. Now the new mass media increases their awareness of democracy and the life of other Kurds. This is a historical opportunity.

To understand the complicated situation of the Kurds, it is necessary to look at the history. After almost two thousand years of Persian rule, most of the Kurds became part of the Ottoman Empire as a result of the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. This was the first division of Kurdistan. After that, Ottoman Sultan Selim officially recognised sixteen Kurdish emirates. For centuries, these autonomous emirates were culturally, linguistically and religiously rich.

This text was published in Asos newspaper the 18th May 2011. It is in Kurdish here:
http://www.xendan.org/drejaWtar.aspx?NusarID=167&Jmara=3040

During the Ottoman times the Kurds lacked national identity. They did not identify themselves as Kurds but as members of their family, tribe and religious group. They were in a proto-national stage. Dr. Eric Hobsbawm uses this term to describe an ethnic group’s development towards nationalism. Although the group feels that they belong together because of their mutual ethnicity, they lack a common polity. It is possible to mobilise the existing national symbols for the creation of a modern state.

In the course of the fall and the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, most of its subject peoples were able to set up their own states, but not the Kurds. With the Treaty of Sevrés, which was signed on August 20, 1920, the Kurds were promised a homeland. But the Allies, led by Great Britain and France, knew that the implementation of the Treaty would require difficult military enforcement. They were not prepared to make this commitment. The Treaty of Sevrés was a historical opportunity but the Kurdish leaders were unable to benefit of it.

The Treaty of Lausanne, signed on July 24, 1923, was the international accord, with which the Republic of Turkey was established. The word ‘Kurd’ was not even mentioned in it. Kurds were not regarded as a minority group. References to minorities were limited to non-Muslims. This was the second division of Kurdistan.

Also Iraq was established after World War I. Under a mandate from the League of Nations, the administration of Iraq was entrusted to Britain, but it adopted a policy of devolving responsibilities to an Iraqi government in 1921.

From 1918 to 1925, the Kurds lost an opportunity for statehood. They found themselves to be an unrecognised minority in Turkey and in Iraq. The Kurdish question became a frozen conflict. All the problems were left without solution, waiting for the right moment for the conflict to appear again. Now, this seems to happen. On the one hand, the Kurds move towards nationalism from proto-national level. Due to electronic mass media, satellite TV and the Internet – and especially social media like Facebook – they get information about each other and about global developments, which was totally out of their reach at the beginning of the last century. The Kurdish culture in Iraq is the most traditional and the most tribal. The Iranian Kurds are the best educated Kurds. The Kurds who live in Turkey are the most modern and the most aware in political terms, but many of them are partly assimilated into the Turkish culture. For example, many have lost their Kurdish mother tongue.

The young generation of Kurds continues the nation-building process from the point at which their grandfathers froze the issue after the days of Lausanne. On the other hand, new historic opportunities are emerging because all parts of Kurdistan are controlled by countries that are moving towards radical changes.

Since the end of the 19th century, the problem of the Kurds has been their inability to cooperate with each other. Kurdish politics is local politics. The Kurds have been rebelling against their oppressors for decades, but their uprisings have been local.

In 1991 three Kurdish provinces in South Kurdistan got autonomy after the First Gulf War in the uprising Raperin. But three Kurdish provinces - Mosul, Kirkuk and Diyala - were left outside the autonomous region. This was again a historical opportunity what the Kurdish leaders could not use. Twenty years have passed without much improvement despite United Nations decided referendum which is known as Article 140 according its status in the Iraqi constitution. If the referendum is not arranged this will be the third division of Kurdistan.

In the 1920s, Kurdish leaders could not make use of the historic opportunities, which were available during the collapse process of the Ottoman Empire. It seems that the next opportunity for the Kurds might come up soon. Dramatic changes may take place in the Middle East in the near future, taking into account the situations in Turkey, in Iraq, in Iran and in Syria. Especially the future of Iraq after the removal of the American troops is unclear.

Parag Khanna, former election advisor of Barack Obama and current director of the Global Governance Initiative, predicted 2008 that Kurds would get independent state in 2016 and 20 000 American troops would be stationed in Kurdistan by that time. He describes this vision in his book "The Second World : Empires and Influence in the New Global Order". Khanna argues that Kurdish oil and gas especially could play a desicive role in supporting the independence. Europe wants to decrease its dependency on Russian gas. Kurdish gas reserves of three to six trillion cubic meters is the source to replace the Russian gas. There is plan to build the Nabucco pipeline from Turkey to Austria to transport the Kurdish gas to Europe.

All big Kurdish parties in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey concentrate on the situation of their own geographical area. They do not have a common national agenda. However, many young Kurds - the Facebook-generation - speak about a ‘Great Kurdistan’, meaning the unification of all four parts of Kurdistan. Yet there is no movement pushing for it, except for homepages on the Internet and on Facebook.

Kurdish leaders carry a big responsibility. Can they make cooperation? Can they use the historic opportunity, which seem to be available only once in a century? Only time will tell. I am sorry to say that at the moment the situation does not look good at least here in Sulaymania: Kurds struggle with each others the same way as they have done centuries instead of learning the modern skills of negotiation. This would benefit all Kurds in defending themselves against the neighbouring states. The plan to build the Nabucco pipeline or any other outside effort does not solve the Kurdish question if the Kurds can not cooperate with each others. Instead I have heard rumors that now they obtain more guns.

One thing is clear: problems, uprisings and struggles continue until a solution is found to the Kurdish question. In North Ireland, the struggle between the Irish and the British has already continued for seven hundred years. Let us hope that the Kurdish question will not remain unsolved for so long. It is a permanent source of instability in the whole Middle East until a political solution is found.

Kurdistan needs research policy

2011-04-04T12:47:00.001+03:00

Kurdistan is going through a transition period. It is post-dictatorship and post-genocide society. It has experienced rapid and violent change from rural way of living to urban settlements. In the 1980s people did not move voluntarily to towns. They were deported by Saddam’s soldiers. Since that many problems have followed each others.

KRG has difficult work to rebuild Kurdistan from ruins caused by Saddam’s dictatorship, several wars, international embargo and increasing tension with the Baghdad government. Problems are not yet over, one of biggest problems is the situation in the disputed areas.

When searching for a solution the first thing is to understand the problem in details.

In other countries universities are centers for research and education. Teachers follow the latest development in their field and distribute the information to their students. When students graduate they bring fresh information to their working places.

During the Ba’athist times universities in Iraq were opposite to this model. They educated staff for the government’s needs and followed Saddam’s rules. The little research what existed here was strictly under Saddam’s control.

Despite almost twenty years of autonomy KRG has not been able to create new research policy to replace the old model. All agree about the problems of the universities. There are reasons for them. International embargo isolated Iraqi universities and prevented the staff from getting fresh ideas. Another problem is huge brain drain. Many intellectuals escaped from Iraq during three decades and now their skills benefit Europe instead of their own country.
It is difficult to establish research policy from point zero but it is the only way to find long term solutions to the present problems. I give two examples: the situation of the youth and disagreements about the disputed areas.

In other countries there is youth research. Politicians make their decisions about education based on information.
Kurdish teenagers grow up in difficult conditions: their parents had experienced destruction of the villages. Their childhood was unsecure because of the civil war between the Kurdish parties. Present problems and lack of motivation for studies are reflections of this history.

KRG demands implementation of Article 140. It claims the Kurdish history of Kirkuk and other disputed areas. Yet there is no research about it done according international academic standards.

There is need for research about these two subjects and many other things. It is not question of employing some skillful researchers or establishing some projects. There is need for Kurdish research policy with a wide political agreement about its long perspective goals and priorities. It must have enough of funding. The work should start by establishing a committee where participants are both politicians and researchers.

This text has been published in Aso newspaper in Sulaymania the 8th February 2011.

Newroz piroz be!

2011-03-21T17:57:00.000+02:00

HAPPY NEWROZ TO EVERY ONE !

I HAVE TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WITH MY OLD LAP TOP SO I CAN NOT PUT ANY PHOTO HERE.

The last flight of captain Hampton

2011-03-15T21:09:00.002+02:00

American girl Kimberly Hampton from South Caroline was the only child in her family and talented tennis player. Success in tennis opened for her doors to college. After that she choose military to be able to do her dream work, to be a helicopter pilot.

After her training Hampton worked two years in South Korea, and then a short time in Afghanistan. She travelled to Iraq in September 2003. After less than four months, the second January 2004, the helicopter which Hampton was driving, was shot down in Fallujah in Central Iraq.

Kimberly Hampton made history. She was the first American woman who has died in war as a military pilot. She was 27 years old when she died. Her military rank was captain.

The families of the fallen soldiers are active in Facebook and elsewhere in internet.

The Friends of Captain Hampton collect memories of her in Facebook and her mother Ann Lewis Hampton also has there a page. There is also a memorial foundation for her.

Ann Lewis Hampton and a group of other Golden Star Mothers (American women whose child has died in war) travelled to Iraq in autumn 2010. Their dream was to visit the place where their son or daughter had died, but it did not come true. They spent whole their one week long journey in Kurdistan where no American soldier has died during the Iraqi war.

Ann Lewis Hampton got a new friend during her journey: Dilpak Tahir. They are bound to each others by a personal loss due to war.

Dilpak Tahir

Dilpak's husbabd Karim Osman was peshmerga who disappeared in September 1996 during the civil war between PUK and KDP. Dilpak does not know when and where her husband died and where his body is.

To express her thanks that Ann Lewis Hampton travelled to Iraq and to respect her daughter's memory Dilpak established a memorial place for Kimberly in Dokan near Sulaymania. In Christmas Eve 2010 Dilpak carried there a Christmas tree with her friends.

The story of Kimberly Hampton is only one of the many. More than five thousand American soldiers have died in Iraq since 2003.

Photos: Kristiina Koivunen

Foreign teachers view on Kurdish universities

2011-01-16T13:24:00.003+02:00

I have worked almost two years as a university teacher in Kurdistan.
Kurds ask me how are universities in other countries. When I am in my native country Finland, people ask about the Kurdish universities.

Well. everything is totally different.

In Finland it is very difficult to get a study place. Young people work hard to get inside a university. Many teenagers study several years to succee in the entrance exam. When they start their studies, they take it seriously. Everybody makes Master's degree, with Bachelor's diploma one can not get work in Finland.

In Kurdistan it is the opposite. Young people see it as their right to go the university and get everything free of charge. Finnish students pay for everything: university fees, books, dormitory. They get a stipend from the government which covers about half of living costs. For the other half they borrow money from bank or work in the evenings. Rich parents give money to their children. But the general opinion is that parents are not responsible for children when they became 18 years old.

The Finnish students behave like adults and the Kurdish ones like children.

In Kurdish universities we start every lesson by checking from name lists which students are present. Exams must be arranged so that students can not look at each others' papers. In European universities there is no need for such control.

When I criticize Kurds I always emphasize that I do not want to blame the victim. People lack a sense of responsibility but there are reasons for that.

Sometimes when I get angry with my students I say to them that they behave like children in kindergarten.

"We did not have possibility to go to kindergarten when we were small, so we need such an experience now", one of them answered once.

I think that is the point. Teenagers, and even older generations, have grown up in war conditions. They did not get the feeling of basic security what children usually get in an early stage of their development.

Now KRG tries to compensate this lack to the student generation. But universities are not a healing system. The future of Kurdistan depends on how the new generations are educated. Is the system creative and encouraging young people to develop this country?

I visited recently Estland which got 1991 indepency when Soviet Union collapsed. In nineteen years Estonian people have created a high quality education system also according to the international standards.

I asked in an university how it was in the beginning.

"When we got independency, all people were happy and eager to develop our country. Teachers stayed in the universities until late evenings and they did not have any holidays in several years", one Estonian teacher told me.

I can not remember seing such an athmosphere even once in Kurdish universities.

++++

This text has been published in Asos newspapar in Sulaymania.

Happy Eid 2010!

2010-09-08T11:21:00.004+03:00

HAPPY EID!

EID PIROZ BE!

Kirkuk photo exhibition in Finland

2010-08-17T22:46:00.005+03:00

I have visited Kirkuk almost twenty times since spring 2008.

During these journeys I have taken hundreads of photos. I choose best of them to a photo exhibition in Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

The exhibition is open two weeks from Monday, the 16th August, in STOA, a cultural centre of City of Helsinki. Later the photos will be shown in other places and in Kurdish cultural events.

The exhibition consists of seventeen large pictures.

The name of the exhibition is ”Everyday life in Kirkuk in the shadow of war” (in Finnish language the name is much shorter).

Many people have asked what I want to say with my photos.

The news about Kirkuk in international mass media tell about bomb explosions, war and other problems.

I have seen another Kirkuk. Despite fear and tension the brave Kirkuk people try to make best of their every day life and look forward for a better future.

Many people have helped me in Kirkuk to collect information about the town. With this exhibition I want to express my gratitude for them.

Many people in Kirkuk have repeated the same thing: the problems of Kirkuk are organized from outside Kirkuk, from the neighbouring countries. Kirkuk has been centuries a multicultural city. Various ethnic groups have lived there in peace and harmony with each others.

So should be also the future of Kirkuk! With my pictures I want to show Finnish people a glimpse of optimism about Kirkuk.

On Monday the 16th August fifty people participated the opening party of the exhibition. There were Kurdish people residing in Finland and their Finnish friends.

The Kurdish community in Finland has good relationship with Finnish people. They make together both cultural and political activities.

Genocide process continues in disputed areas

2010-07-25T13:33:00.001+03:00

When Kurds speak about the Kurdish genocide, they usually mean the Anfal. But the Anfal is just the peak of it. Genocide is a long process which develops step by step from ”milder” forms to massacres and total annihilation of the target group.

One genocidal method which Saddam Hussein used was deportation. Almost all Kurdish villages were burnt and villagers were forced to move to cities and towns. In Kirkuk the Ba'athist regime deported 200 000 Kurds.

It practised also statistical falsification to make the Kurdish proportion of population to look smaller. Because of this target Kirkuk province was divided to several provinces. This is statistical genocide.

Instability continues in Kirkuk, Mosul and elsewhere in the disputed areas. It is called terrorism and security problem. But we must speak with correct terms: Sunni Islamist terrorism in disputed areas continues the Ba'athist genocide process.

The target of referendum as described in Article 140 is to correct the effects of deportation and to let people to decide whether they want to return to the pre-Ba'athist situation.

Due to delay of the referendum situation in the disputed areas remains unclear. Reconstruction of buildings and public services is delayed. It is difficult for deported people to return to their home areas.

And not just this: people still escape from the disputed areas, especially from Mosul province. Bomb explosions occur in areas where the inhabitants belong to ethnic or religious minorities. Terrorists attack Yezidis, Kakais and Assyrians. People escape to safe areas controlled by KRG or to Europe. One by one, not in such massive operations than during the Saddam days.

But the effect is the same: when Christian and Yezidi families leave, Arabization continues in areas which have been centuries multi-cultural and multi-religious. This is one step in the genocide process, not just terrorism. When Al Qaida makes bomb explosions in other countries it does not lead to deportation of some people from their homes. The damages of terrorist attacks are repaired and life returns back to normal.

International community must regocnize the true character of terrorism in the disputed areas as a genocidal process, not call it just a security problem. The Kurdish genocide in Mosul and Kirkuk started during the 1920s. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed Britain took part of it as its colony. It could not decide what to do with Mosul and Kirkuk. So nowadays Britain has a historical responsiblity to search a permanent solution to stop the genocidal process in the disputed areas.

Iraqi Kurdistan is a post-genocidal society

2010-07-09T15:58:00.006+03:00

Photo: Chamachamal the 13th April 2010.

In April Kurdistan was mourning the anniversary of the Anfal. There were ceremonies in many places, for example in Chamchamal and in Kalar. In these ceremonies and in mass media the symbol of the Anfal was pictures of Anfal widows, women in black clothes with a permanent sorrow on their face.

Their destiny is horrible. But when news about the Anfal are always visualised by pictures of Anfal families, it gives audience a false idea that the Anfal affected only those families who lost their members. A genocide affects the whole society for a very long time, for many generations. The pain of mother whose child disappeared is easy to see. But the wider effects of the Anfal are hidden. They have an impact on all Kurds. Kurdistan is a post-genocidal society.

182 000 Kurds were murdered in the Anfal campaign. Their destiny is a crime which must be surveyed in criminal investigations. Effects of the Anfal on the Kurdish society is another issue. Mass media shows the Anfal usually as the dissappearance of a huge amount of people but it is also other atrocities. Many villages were burnt in spring 1988. Villagers who survived the Anfal, were forced to leave their homes. They were deported to towns.

They are also victims of the Anfal. Their situation must be understood. I do not mean "that the KRG must help them" as people here in Kurdistan say about every problem. When Kurdish villages were destroyed, a huge amount of Kurdish culture and knowledge disappeared.

Until the end of 1980s Kurds were active producers. Kurdish villages were self-sufficient, they could produce everything by methods which had been passed from generation to generation for decades, maybe for centuries. Knowledge which was suitable especially to Kurdistan's conditions.

Autoritarian regimes want to make people passive and dependent of the state. Also the Baath regime behaved this way. When Saddam deported Kurds to central villages his target was to prevent Kurds producing their food themselves and make them dependent of the government.

The Ba'ath regime is gone, but Kurds have not become self-sufficient. They are dependent of another government, the KRG. Active producer society has turned into a passive consumer society and food is imported from abroad.

How to change the situation?

People demand help from KRG to every problem. But this way of thinking is not the solution, it is part of the problem. People must solve the problems by themselves, not wait that some one provides ready solutions.

I know this is huge task. And it is not the fault of Kurds that Baath regime destroyed their production systems and society.

There is need for wide perspective research about the effects of the Anfal, not only documentation of the atrocities. It is the only way to understand all effects of the Anfal. It is the first step in searching solutions to problems of a post-genocidal society.

Photos from Wezê

2010-06-22T12:42:00.015+03:00

In my previous post I wrote how Iranian shelling destroys the Rawand culture in Kurdistan of Iraq. I put here some photos from Wezê village.

Villagers in Weze say that Iranians shells only agricultural areas. They don't dig here vegetables but pieces of Iranian rockets in their tomato field.

13 years old Basoz Jabhar Agha (who was murdered by the Iranian army the 30th May 2010) in the middle in the first line, in brown dress.

Basoz Jabhar Agha's sister shows a family album.

Aisha Abdullah continues to plant tomatoes two weeks after the death of her grand daughter Basoz Jabhar Agha.

Iranian shelling destroys the Rawand culture

2010-06-20T13:28:00.003+03:00

Since 1991 Iran has been shelling Iraqi Kurdistan almost every spring. Shelling starts when farmers and Rawand people arrive to the mountains for agricultural work. The Rawand people are half nomads who spend winters in the plain lands and summers in the mountains.

On Sunday the 12th June 2010 I travelled to Wezê village near Choman to get information about the shelling of this year.

In this village thirteen years old Basoz Jahbar Agha was killed by Iranian rocket the 30th May. I met her grand mother Aisha Abdullah.

“At that day a group of teenager girls planted tomatoes on a mountain field. She had made a fire to prepare tea at 9.30 AM”, told Aisha Abdullah.

I met in Choman Kaymakan Abdul Wahid Gowani. He told that he meets often representatives of the Iranian state. Iranians say always that they shell PJAK guerrillas and enemies of Iran.

"How ever, they have killed only Kurdish civilians”, said Abdul Wahid Gowani.

“When we meet Iranians we say to them that this is high technology war fare. They have equipment to see everything on our side, so they are surely aware that PJAK is not here”, he said.

“Iranians shell only agriculture areas, not forests”, said the villagers. Their target is unarmed civilians, PJAK fighters do not wait Iranian army in day light in tomato fields.

“Here are no armed men. We have not seen in years armed guerrillas”, said the villagers.

”The target of Iran is not PJAK but destabilization of Kurdish region”, explained Abdul Wahid Gowani.

“Iran wants Kurds to be refuges in big cities. Shelling makes people afraid to come here, so they stop practising agriculture here,” said Abdul Wahid Gowani. He gave statics of the shelling during spring 2010: one girl died, one woman was injured, 25 sheep died and 237 families left their homes or did not return to mountains from the plain lands as they have done earlier.

The villagers in Wezê told that many men are afraid to come there, it is mainly women and children who remain in these mountain villages.

“The amount of shepherds decreases every year”, told Abdul Wahid Gowani. About one hundred Rawand families leave the job every year because they are afraid to go to the mountains despite they like them very much.

“ Iran wants to destroy by shelling the culture of the Rawand people”, claimed Abdul Wahid Gowani and continued: “The Rawand culture is not only Kurdish heritage, it is international heritage. Their culture and way of living is ancient, only few people are able to live like this.”

Kurdistan has been for decades target for various types of genocides. Saddam destroyed in Iraqi Kurdistan almost all villages. Iran is now destroying those villages which survived the Ba'ath government period. The destruction of traditional Kurdish way of living by Iranian bombings is one method of cultural and economical genocide. The target is to destroy the Rawand culture which is original Kurdish way of living. And Iran wants to empty villages near its boarder and to create so called security zone as decided in Algiers Accord 1975.

Because of the Iranian shellings the ancient Rawand culture is in danger to disappear completely. We may not let this happen. For the survival of their culture there is need to make research about the effects of the shellings. Also the Rawand way of living must be surveyed. Rawand people need support which benefits their survival as a group. I think the best way is to let them to practise their original livelihood and provide market for their products.

But the first thing is that Iran must stop immediately the shelling the Rawand people and other civilians.

Sulaymanian newspaper Aso published this text the 20th June 2010.

Information in Kurdish here:
http://www.dengeazad.com/NewsDetailN.aspx?id=4920&LinkID=137

This is Kurdistan: Qaradagh

2010-06-05T12:11:00.007+03:00

I have been again silent for too long time, sorry for that. I have been very busy with the final exams of my students, but they will be over next week.

Here are some views from Qaradagh. It is a mountain area about half an hour journey from Sulaymnia, in the south of the town. The Turkish name (”Dark Mountains”) is a memory of the Ottoman times.

This is the area where PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) started at the end of 1970s armed struggle against Saddam Hussein after Mullah Mustafa Barzani had given up his struggle 1975 because of Algiers Accord.

Nowadays Qaradagh is a popular picknick resort.

Human Rights of Dead People

2010-04-25T15:35:00.004+03:00

This text was published in Aso newspaper (in Sulaymania) the 12th April 2010.

”Human rights” is internationally one of the central terms when speaking about justice and development. They are considered to be a basic right for all people. Also for all living people. According to international law human rights end at the moment of death.

Finnish forensic odontologist Helena Ranta disagrees with this. According to her dead people have three basic rights: a grave, their name in it and funeral ceremonies according to their religion. This is reflected also in the Additional Protocol 1 of Geneva Convention from 1977. It is the most important international convention about warfare conditions.

According to Dr Helena Ranta the forensic expert community agrees that also dead have human rights.

Dr Helena Ranta says that it is the right of the families to know the cause of death of their beloved ones. Without this information it is very difficult for them to continue their own lives. The families have also right to bury their deceased.

Dr Helena Ranta is the head of the Finnish Forensic Expert Team. She has been surveying mass graves around the world over fifteen years.

She writes in an essay about the importance of the grave:
”At the grave the relatives can remember and pay tribute to them who have gone before them.”

In Kurdistan April is the month of remembering and mourning the victims of the Anfal. Last year there was funeral of Anfal victims in Kalar, this year similar ceremony was in Chamchamal.

When following such ceremonies in the grave yard or from mass media, one should keep in mind these three basic rights of dead people: funeral ceremonies, grave and name in it.

182 000 people disappeared in the Anfal. Only few thousand bodies have been found. The found victims have been buried to their home areas. But how many of them got all the three rights of dead people? Most of the buried victims have got the two first rights: Islamic funeral ceremony and a grave. But not their name in it. There are grave yards of the victims of the Anfal and the Barzan genocide but no one knows who are lying in the graves. In the graveyeard of the disappeared Barzanis near Bile no grave has a name. 8300 Barzanis disappeared 1983, only 503 bodies have been found.

Barzan genocide happened twenty seven years ago and the Anfal twenty two years ago. Most of us believe that no one of the disapperared persons is returning alive. But the mothers and fathers, wives and husbands – some of them, not all - refuse to believe the death of their beloved ones until they see the body. They wait for their return and spend their own life by dreaming. There are miracle stories like Ali who returned to Halabja twenty two years after his disappearance. Such returns are unique but they fuel the dreams of the families who have lost their members.

The Anfal happened more than twenty decades ago. Many of the elderly survived family members have suffered so much that their pain has had permanent effect on them. Maybe it is too late for them to return to normal life like Dr Helena Ranta says. But they get peace in their mind if they know what happened to their beloved ones and they have a grave where they can vein. The human rights of dead people and the
rights of their families belong together.

Anfal funeral in Chamchamal

2010-04-13T18:35:00.005+03:00

106 Anfal victims were buried in their home region Chamchamal in South Kurdistan on Tuesday the 13th April 2010. Prime minister Dr Barham Salih and former prime minister Nechirvan Barzani attended the funeral.

Ba'ath party and Saddam Hussein committed Anfal, the Kurdish genocide in spring 1988. The amount of victims is 182 000. There is more information about it in Sahmaran blog under titles "Anfal"; "Genocide" and "Human Rights of dead people".

Photos: Kristiina Koivunen

This is Kurdistan: Picnic in Qaradagh

2010-04-10T11:37:00.007+03:00

Spring is the season for picnics in Kurdistan. Especially in South Kurdistan people really love them. On Fridays cities and towns are empty when people go to the mountains.

I was on picnic in Qaradagh (south from Sulaymania) at the beginning of April. We grilled fish.

The Kurdish genocide is more than the Anfal

2010-04-05T17:36:00.004+03:00

This text was published in Aso newspaper the 4th April 2010. Aso is the biggest newspaper in Kurdistan, it is published in Sulaymania.

The anniversary of the Anfal is soon. When Kurds speak about the Kurdish genocide they usually mean the Anfal. But it is only the peak of the genocide process, which is much bigger than the Anfal.

Ottoman Kurdistan was divided between Iraq, Turkey and Syria after the First World War. The process which led to the Anfal started in Lausanne in 1923. Arabs and Turks started to assimilate Kurds by all means. But Kurds resisted in many small revolutions. Usually historians speak about them as local uprisings without seeing the context. The uprisings were not separate incidents.

Arabization of Kurds started with milder forms like making education in Arabic language. But Kurds refused to give up their identity and they have defended it since those days. So oppression methods became harder.

Television programs and newspaper articles about the Anfal show horrible pictures of dead bodies and skeletons. This gives audience an image that genocide is same than killing. It is that but it is also other things.

There are many forms of genocide and various methods to make it. The aim of the perpetrators is to force the target group to change its identity. Cultural and linguistic genocides are methods for this. If Kurds forget their language, after some generations they will be Arabs. There is no need to kill them.

Well, Kurds have refused to forget their culture and identity. So the oppressors took harder methods. Local uprisings were ended brutally. The aim of brutalities was not to kill all of them but teach a lesson: you must accept to become Arabs! In the 1970s and 1980s Kurds still refused to do it. Men were fighting as peshmergas and women folk assisted them. All methods to change Kurds into Arabs had turned out to be in vain. So Ba'ath party decided to move to the final stage of the genocide process, the total annihilation of Kurds. The Anfal started.

The Iraqi Parliament has accepted the Anfal as genocide. It is a good start for the international recognition of the Anfal. It is important that especially the Arab World would understand that genocide happened in Iraq in 1988.

The Kurds themselves should understand whole the horrible process which their land has gone through during 87 years. It is necessary for the sake of understanding and solving the present problems.

The victims of massacres before the Anfal and victims of deportations and purposefully caused starvation are also victims of genocide. The amount of the victims of the Kurdish genocide is much more than 182 000 people. No one knows how many. Many Kurdish generations were suffering last century.

For the victims, of course, it does not matter what is the cause of their death. But for the survivors it is important to understand what really happened. They live in a post-genocide society. And the future generations need to know what atrocities happened to their ancestors.

My interview about the Kurdish genocide

2010-03-29T16:23:00.004+03:00

My interview was published in Kurdish language the 10th March 2010 in Hewler newspaper, a daily newspaper which is distributed free of charge. The interview was done by Wirya Rehmany.

Here are Wirya's questions and my answers:

What is your idea about genocide of Kurdish nation in all parts of Kurdistan (especially Kurdistan of Turkey and Iraq)?

The genocide process started when Kurdistan was divided in the Treaty of Lausanne. Kurds become an unregocnised minority in Turkey. In Iraq they did not get cultural or linguistic rights, despite they were recognized as a minority.

Iraq and Turkey started immediately to assimilate Kurds by force. But Kurds did not accept to become Turks and Arabs, they arranged uprisings. Turkey and Iraq replied by force, not by negotiations and compromises. The oppression had from the 1920s genocidal character but it started with milder forms than massacres, for example by cultural and linguistic assimilation. The peak of the genocide process was the Anfal in 1988.

Which kinds of genocide happen in Kurdistan (physical, cultural genocide and etc?

State violence in both Iraq and Turkey towards the Kurds increased from forced assimilation to harder violence, to deportations and massacres.

Polist jurist Raphael Lemkin, on whose theory the United Nation Convention against Genocide is based, has described eight genocidal methods. He analyzed Holocaust, the genocide of the Jews during the Second World War. The methods are: political, social, cultural, economic, biological, physical, religious and moral genocide.

I think Saddam Hussein used all these methods against the Kurds except the last one. He could not break their moral. Lemkin means by moral genocide for example increase in alcohol consumpition. As far as I know alcohol or drugs are not a problem among the Iraqi Kurds. But in Iran the use of drugs, especially opium among Kurdish youth is so big problem that maybe it fits Lemkin's describtion of a moral genocide.

I add two genocidal methods: ecological and statistical genocides. Saddam Hussein used both of them in Kurdistan, and they cause still serious problems.

Ecological genocide means destruction of the environment permanently so that it effects life of the target group for many generations. Maybe in some areas it will turn permanently impossible to live in.

Iraqi army bombed Halabja by chemical weapons, and the poisons are still in the environment. The ground water in Halabja is polluted, no one knows how badly. Halabja people have much more cancer and other diseases than Iraqi people in general.

Another example is Germia. The side effect of deportation of hundreads of thousands of people to so called model villages is pollution of the environment. The areas which were first refugee camps have become permanent residence areas. For example Kalar is on the edge of desert. The arrival 200 000 people causes permanent damages to the vulnerable environment. The ground water will run out after some decades and the area becomes desert. Next generation must search a better place to live.

Statistical genocide means falcification of statistics and research. Saddam practised it especially in Kirkuk province.

How do you see the Halabja and Anfal case in high tribunal of Iraq? If Halabja chemical bombardment is genocide and why the court didn't recognize it as genocide?

I am not familiar to these trials. I see that the Kurdish genocide is a process which has lasted many decades. Halabja chemical bombardment lasted a few days and the Anfal three months. Iraq and the international community should regocnize the whole genocide process in Kurdistan. Halabja bombardment and Anfal are the most horrible parts of it. But there has been massacres in Halabja, in Karadaghi, in Barzan and in many other places since the 1960s. The people who have been murdered in them are also victims of genocide, not victims of "ordinary massacres".

What is the importance of recognition of Kurdish genocide in international arena?

I see that it is a necessary step in finding solution to the Kurdish question. Other genocides, like the one in Rwanda and Kamputcea, have been surveyd by local and international researchers. Only by making in-depht research the complexity of the genocide process can be understood. There is still danger of new genocides, especially in the disputed areas. To prevent them it is necessary to understand how the process developed little by little in other Kurdish areas.

What should Kurdistan regional government doing about Kurdish genocide (especially in international community).

KRG should establish a genocide research institute. Many reports have been made about Anfal and other genocidal acts. But there is need also for in-depth analysis about the Kurdish genocide. It should be done according international academic standards. KRG should study how the Armenians succeeded getting their genocide of 1915 regocnized by the international community. Their lobby in Washington, Paris and London is based on decades long support for the research about the Armenian genocide.

Newroz 2010 in Sulaymania

2010-03-23T16:16:00.007+02:00

Newroz is over. Unfortenately my pictures are late (but better late than never?)

Here in Sulaymania the main event during Newroz was big meeting in Sulaymania down town on 20th March evening where the main street had been turned to a walking street.

It was so different like the newroz days which I have spent in Turkey! It was more like the new year eve in Helsinki. Actually this is a good comparison. Newroz is Kurdish new year. It is not a political celebration any more as this country is liberated from Saddam's rule. New year is neither in Finland a political day, people celebrate the coming year, not demand their rights.

I hope also in Turkey Kurds can soon celebrate Newroz in this normal way!

This is Kurdistan: Khanaqeen in pictures - 1

2010-02-13T11:07:00.012+02:00

Here are some pictures from Khanaqeen, which I could not add to my previous posting because of some technical problems. I took these pictures in Khanaqeen during a quik visit in autumn 2009. I will put later to Samaran some of my pictures from Khanaqeen taken one year earlier.

This is Kurdistan: Khanaqeen - 1

2010-02-08T14:15:00.007+02:00

I have noticed that Kurds from different parts of Kurdistan do not know much about other parts of Kurdistan. It is no wonder, Kurdistan is huge country, as large as France, and it is lacking national communication and education system to distribute information about the home country.

As I have been privileged to visit many parts in South Kurdistan I will share my experience by putting some pictures and information about various places. For further information, please look for other sources in internet. Wikipedia is good source to start.

Khanaqeen is one of the disputed areas in Iraqi Kurdistan. It is inhabited mainly by Kurds, but it is still ruled by Baghdad government, also by the Arabs.

In disputed areas there should be referendum: the inhabitants should vote whether they want to be part of Kurdistan autonomous area or the part of Iraqi federation which is ruled by the central government in Baghdad. This referendum is accepted by United Nations and it is Article 140 in the Iraqi constitution.

The referendum has been postponed several times due to the poor security situation. Terrorists continue the forced Arabization of Kurds from where Ba’ath party finished their activities.

Kurdistan is famous for its mountains but in the most southern parts of Kurdistan there are deserts and palms trees!

Khanaqeen is located by Sirwe river 20 kilometres south from the area controlled by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). It is a boarder town to Iran. In addition of its date palms it is famous for various intelligence agencies acting there.

Khanaqeen is not the most southern town in Kurdistan. More south are for example Jalawla, Mandli and Badra (which is more southern than Baghdad).

I have visited Khanaqeen twice. I will put later pictures from Khanaqeen to Sahmaran. Unofortenately I can not do it today, there are some technical problems (which are common in the Iraqi internet).

Road from Kalar to Sulaymania

2010-01-31T15:43:00.006+02:00

Here are pictures from the road from Kalar to Sulaymania. I took the pictures from the bus window the 21st January 2010.

Beautiful, isn’t it? It has been raining for some days, and when the sun shines, the mountains are green as the grass grows immediately. Like in March.

Yes, it is beautiful. But in January it should not look like in March. Some days after taking these pictures it became very cold.

The mountains are grand, I get never tired on looking at this landscape!
Derbandikhan
Derbandikhan
Rain started in New Halabja.
Sulaymania

Hrant Dink and 19th January 2007

2010-01-22T13:10:00.001+02:00

I do not have access to internet every day. My silence on the anniversary of Hrant Dink’s murder does not mean that I would have forgotten him. Today is the first time during several days that I can post anything.

Silence about the Armenian genocide is a sign that Turkey is post-genocidal society. The wounds of the genocide can be healed only by discussing it openly.

Turkey should study how Germany handled the Holocaust. Germans are not paralysed by their past.

A genocide affects also the perpetrators and prevents the normal development of their society.

Turks should keep in mind that the Armenian genocide was not committed by the Republic of Turkey. It did not exist 1915. Armenian genocide happened in the Ottoman empire.

Television programme about Kurdish genocide

2010-01-17T14:36:00.004+02:00

Kurdistan TV will send a programme about Anfal and Kurdish genocide this week. I am one of the persons interviewed in the program.

Program times:

Part 1:

Tuesday the 19th January 2010 at 7.15 PM
and second programming Wednesday the 20th January 2010 at 10 AM

Part 2:

Wednesday the 20th January 2010 at 7.15 PM
and second programming Thursday the 21st January 2010 at 10 AM

How elections will go in Khanaqeen?

2010-01-16T08:43:00.007+02:00

Flag of Kurdistan in Khanaqeen. I took the photo from a moving car.

I visited Khanaqeen in November 2009 and met governor Mohamed Mala Hasan and the director of PUK office Salah Gokak.

They said that the security situation in Khanaqeen and Diyala province is now much better than one year ago (however, there was in Khanaqeen a bomb explosion in the beginning of January 2010, two people died and 25 people injured.)

The location of Khanaqeen is strategically important: it is the boarder between Erbil (Kurdistan Regional Government, KRG), Baghdad (the Arab Iraq) and Tehran.

The boarder of Iran is about ten kilometres east from Khanaqeen. If the situation in Iraq in general becomes more unstable, there is danger that Iran uses the situation and supports terrorist activities in Diyala to create chaos in whole Iraq.

The capital of Diyala province is Baquba. KRG wants to send peshmergas to Baquba but the Baghdad government does not accept it. Kurds living every where in disputed areas hope there would be peshmergas. Disputed areas are the Kurdish areas of Mosul, Kirkuk and Diyala provinces.

Iran is eager to gain power in Baquba because it is the gate to control Baghdad and whole Iraq. Baquba is located 50 kilometres northeast of Bahgdad.

Kurdish security service Asayish has some offices in Diyala in the areas which are controlled by Baghdad government. Iraqi police forces do not make any cooperation with Asayish in Diyala (opposite than in Kirkuk, where Iraqi and Kurdish security forces cooperate in fight against terrorism). When Asayish and peshmergas catch suspected terrorists they handle them immediately to Americans. Even when it is peshmergas who arrest terrorists in disputed areas, Kurdish courts can not arrange their trials.

Kurdish authorities are worried that there will be problems during the Iraqi parliament elections in March 2010.

There are 8 000 Kurdish families in Khanaqeen who have not been able to register themselves as voters. These people have returned to Khanaqeen after being deported during Saddam's time. They are neither permitted to vote in their previous home towns.

It is half an hour journey from Kalar to Khanaqeen. There are people who travel every day from Khanaqeen to work in Kalar, or from Kalar to work in Khanaqeen.

Happy New Year to Kirkuk!

2010-01-03T17:44:00.009+02:00

Happy New Year 2010 to readers of Sahmaran (if there is still somebody)! Sahmaran has been silent for a long time, sorry for that. I live in Kalar, and internet there is too slow to add any pictures to blog and even for text there seems to be all the time problems, for example lack of electricity. This post I write in Sulaymania.

Despite the recent frustrating news from Turkey, let's hope 2010 will be a better year (but there are really no signs that it would be so)!

These pictures are from my favourite town Kirkuk. I took the pictures in October 2009 from a moving car, the typical way to do photographing in Kirkuk.

Pictures: Kristiina Koivunen

Week end in Halabja

2009-10-10T10:50:00.007+03:00

I spent the week-end in Halabja. I try to here pictures from there, but as I have said sometimes earlier, the Iraqi internet system is not the same than the European one....

So I succeeded in putting here two pictures from Halabja monument. I did my best to put more. Don't ask me how much time I used trying to do it. And I am now in Suleymania, not in Halabja. There internet is very, very slow.

Back in Kurdistan and Kalar

2009-10-05T10:29:00.007+03:00

I returned to Kurdistan at the end of September. I live now in Kalar and work in the university (Sulaimani University, College of Education, Kalar).

Kalar is most southern town in Iraqi Kurdistan controlled by KRG. Kalar lies about 150 km south from Sulaymania and 40 km north to Khanaqeen. The distance to Baghdad is about 200 km.

Kalar is the center of Guermian. Historically it is part of Kirkuk province. The Ba'ath rgime put Kalar to Diyala province, as part of the Kurdish genocide process. It was an act of statistical genocide: the boarders of provinces were changed to increase the proportion of Arabs in the population. The boarder of the areas controlled by KRG and the Baghdad government lies only a few kilometres from here. On the other side is one of the disputed areas, where people desperatively wait the Referendum as described in Article 140 to be put on action.

I did not write any blogs during the summer, but now I will do my best to keep the readers of Sahmaran informed about the life in Kalar and Guermian. I try to put also pictures if I have access to a good internet connection. Here in Kalar its capacity does not seem to be enough to add pictures here.

I will continue blogging

2009-09-14T16:16:00.005+03:00

If there happens still to be some one checking what Sahmaran thinks: I have not given up blogging.

But during this summer I have had more problems with lap top than all together during ten years. Now I learn how to use new Windows programme, new photo editing programme and new Power Point programme. I published a new book in Finnish language, it took VERY MUCH TIME to complete it, and now I have spent hours with Finnish journalists interviewing me (not to say anything about being in front of the camera lens instead of being behind it....)

I am still in Finland on so called holidays. I will return to Kurdistan after Eid al-Fitr.

Reparation in Kirkuk Citadel

2009-06-22T12:35:00.012+03:00

Kirkuk is again in top news. There was the 20th June 2009 a massive suicide bomb attack - once again. With my condolences to the families of the victims and my respect to the Kirkuk police, which battles against terrorism, I tell some good news from Kirkuk.
Like so many other Kurdish cities and towns, also Kirkuk has an ancient citadel. I visited it for the first time in May 2008; pictures from that journey are in Sahmaran the 23rd June 2008.
One year later in May 2009, I visited it again. There is at least one good news from Kirkuk: the reparation of the Citadel has started in a small scale.

The destruction done by Saddam Hussein is so huge, that it might be impossible to repair completely the Citadel before there is peace in Kurdistan, but this is good start. This is how the Old Town of Kirkuk still looks, after the visit of Saddam’s caterpillars.

Until the destruction of this area, Kurds and Turkmen lived in the Citadel, both groups in their own streets which had been inhabited for centuries.

To repair these houses is huge work which has not yet even started.

But the reparation of the religious monuments is going on.

See the how the minaret looked one year ago:

Now the minaret has been painted:

The history of Kirkuk is thousands years old and it is holy town for many religions, for example for Jews and Christians. Kirkuk was the home town of Prophet Daniel and his grave is supposed to be in Kirkuk. Well, no one knows where it exactly is, but this old building is built as the grave of Prophet Daniel to honour him.

Prophet Daniel's grave 2008:

Prophet Daniel's grave 2009:

Let’s hope that Kirkuk Citadel will be soon in the UNESCO World Heritage Program!

Funeral of Anfal Victims in Rizgari the 14th April 2009

2009-06-05T12:20:00.016+03:00

I am now back in Finland after spending nine months in South Kurdistan. I have thousands of pictures and as I have finally possibility to use internet which is fast and working every day, I will put some of my pictures to Sahmaran during the coming weeks.

I start with pictures from funeral of Anfal victims in Rizgari the 14th April 2009.

Anfal, the Kurdish genocide, happened in eight waves in 1989. We mourn now the twentieth anniversary of Anfal.

These bodies were found 2008 in Najaf, where has been found until now 45 mass graves where are both murdered Kurds and Shia Arabs.

Bodies of 187 Anfalized Kurds were identified and returned to Hewlêr the 21st November 2008. They were buried to their home region the 14th April which is the anniversary of the Guermian Anfal. In Rizgari, near Kalar, is a grave yard for these Anfal victims.

When the bodies arrived November 2008 from Najaf to Erbil International Airport, president Masoud Barzani received them. But he did not appear in the funeral in Rizgari, which was a disappointment to the families of the Anfalized martyrs. Neither came president Jalal Talabani (but he sent his wife Hero) or prime minister al Maliki.

Here are pictures from the funeral:

Pictures by Kristiina Koivunen

I have not given up blogging....

2009-05-13T07:43:00.002+03:00

... but recent weeks I have been very busy and often away from Hewlêr (in Kirkuk, Halabja, Kalar and Sulaymania) without access to internet. When I have been in Hewlêr, Arianet has been usually not functioning. Iraqi internet system in general has had lots of problems this spring. I heard that they are caused by too many users on limited capasity. Any way, the situation should became soon better.

I will travel soon to Finland, and then I try to put pictures and information to Sahmaran.

Bus journey through South Kurdistan

2009-04-12T17:31:00.014+03:00

I travelled from Kalar to Hewlêr the 22nd March 2009 (also the next day after Newroz). I took these pictures from the bus window during the journey. I wanted to put them quick to Sahmaran but it has been delayed due to me being busy and the problems of Arianet (and the Iraqi internet in general).

Isn't Kurdistan beautiful??
Kalar

Darbandikhan

Darbandikhan

Near Sulaymania

Near Sulaymania

Sulaymania garage (bus station)

Near Chamchamal

Chamchamal

Chamchamal

Kirkuk

Kirkuk

Congratulations for DTP!

2009-03-30T14:51:00.003+03:00

Osman Baydemir. Istanbul March 2006 Photo: Kristiina Koivunen

The election victory of DTP in local elections in Turkey the 29th March 2009 is a great step for the Kurdish movement! Congratulations!

When looking at the situation from the South: let's hope that this victory of DTP is an important step in the democratization process of Turkey and search for solution to the Kurdish question. Which needs to be solved in all the countries between which Kurdistan is divided: Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

I hope the success of DTP will inspire all Kurds to make cooperation with each others. Together Kurds are strong!

Sorry for my long silence!

2009-03-17T20:15:00.003+02:00

Terrorist raid near Tikrit the 16th March 2009.

Sahmaran has been quiet for more than one month, sorry for that. Life in Hewlêr is busy, and the coming weeks don't look any better. Also the problems with Arianet continue.

I just inform that despite being busy I am very happy with my life here. Life in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan is not always easy, but it is never boring.

I work as teacher in the Language Centre of Salahaddin University, send newspaper articles to Finland and prepare a new book. I teach English for my students and they teach me Kurdish life. The exams will be very soon after Newroz. It will be the first time for me to make an exam. So if Sahmaran is quiet also at that time, I hope the readers do understand. Anyway, I don't think of giving up blogging.

Responsibility over the suffering of Kurds

2009-02-15T10:36:00.002+02:00

Ten year of wasted opportunities to solve peacefully the Kurdish question and prevent a genocide on the edge of Europe.

Who is responsible? Who accepted the Treaty of Lausanne which denies even the existence of the Kurds? (Tip for the answer: look at the picture.)

Who knows Kurdish cooking?

2009-02-06T08:41:00.002+02:00

Van cheese otlu peynir is available in shops in Hewlêr. (Who knows the name of otlu peynir in Kurdish?)

I took this picture of otlu peynir some days ago. The same day I received an e-mail from a reader of Sahmaran who wishes to stay anonymous in internet. She is interested about Kurdish cooking and plans to write Kurdish cookbook. Here are parts of her e-mail:

I am particularly interested in Kurdish cooking and have been collecting recipes from my friends, cookbooks, the Internet and even from friendly people I have never met before.

In the interest of preserving this part of the Kurdish cultural heritage I want to collect these recipes into a cookbook.

I came across Sahmaran blog and see that we have a common interest. I was wondering if I can ask you some questions about Kurdish cuisine, especially on the more ancient recipes. Also, are there any Kurdish cookbooks in any of the Kurdish or Turkish dialects? I can't read Kurdish but I know someone who does. My interest lies not only with the recipes but where these recipes originated and the stories.

I am interested in the origins of the recipes and would like to know the differences, if any, that exist between the recipes from various villages and cities in Kurdistan. For example, Northern Kurds use more red pepper flakes in their food.

I am also very much interested in edible plants. My friends use a poisonous wild plant called Arum in their cooking. It contains calcium oxalate crystals which dissolve only after heating in an acid like lemon juice or citric acid. Have you ever eaten it? Today I went to visit my Kurdish friends, they were cooking Arum. Some people eat it but its not as popular with the younger generation. Of course I was given a huge bowlful of Kubba to eat as well.

Well, I can answer only that I enjoy eating the Kurdish food, but I do not know much about making it. I can hardly make dolma, the food which is always given to visitors here in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan.

Kurdish cooking culture is very rich. In Turkish part of Kurdistan local variations are very big because people use very much local products and they are very different in mountain areas and in plain lands.

I can answer only one of her question: there is at least one Kurdish cookbook in Turkish language, Cemcid Bender's "Kürt Mutfak Kültürü ve Kürt Yemekleri (Kurdish Kitchen Culture and Kurdish Foods). Look at the third picture in Sahmaran's post the 16th March 2007 ("Shopping in Van"). Because of technical problems I can put here a hyperlink. I do not have the cookbook here in Hewlêr, only thing I remember about it is that is very thick, maybe 300 pages, and everything is text, there are no pictures, only some small drawings.

I hope this idea of Kurdish cookbook will come true and it will translated to many languages, including to English. If some readers of Sahmaran can help this friend, please send your advices as comment to this post or e-mail to me (koivunen.kristiina@gmail.com) so I forward them to her. And please, forward this request further, it is important that this kind of things about Kurdish culture are collected in addition of discussing the political issues.

Abdullah's Restaurant is again open in Kirkuk

2009-01-21T20:42:00.004+02:00

Abdullah's Restaurant, where suicide bomb killed about fifty people during Kurban Bayram the 11th December 2008, has been repaired and reopened , as you can see from these pictures. It is located in Kirkuk by the road to Hewlêr.

Another restaurant of the same owner was bombed in Kirkuk centrum about one year earlier, the 3rd November 2007.

The owner of these restaurants is a wealthy Kurd. He says that if his restaurants are destroyed by bomb explosions, he repairs them and reopens as soon as possible.

Pictures by Kristiina Koivunen, the 21st January 2009.

Human Rights of Dead People

2009-01-17T17:11:00.002+02:00

Graveyard of Barzan Anfal victims.

Do dead people have human rights? According to Finnish Dr Helena Ranta they have three basic rights: a grave, their name in it and funeral ceremonies according their religion or belief.

Last September I visited the graveyard of the Anfalized Barzan men near Bile. It was a big victory in the search of the Anfal victims when the bodies of five hundred Barzanis were found. They were buried with Islamic funeral ceremonies in their home region.

Any way, the first thing which came to my mind in this graveyard was the statement by Helena Ranta of the rights of the dead people. Five hundred victims of Barzan Anfal have got two of the three rights: a grave and funeral ceremonies. But they do not have their name in their grave. No one knows whose bodies were found and who are still missing.

Dr Helena Ranta is forensic odontologist and Team Leader of the Finnish Forensic Expert Team. She has written several articles about the human rights of dead people. The latest of them was published last November in an essay collection in Finland. She writes there:

”The lawyer’s view, unwavering in logic but simultaneously narrow in focus, is that human rights belong only to the living. My personal view is that even the dead have human rights.
I regard being buried according to one’s religion and traditions in a grave that bears one’s own name a human right. That right is closely related to the rights of the relatives; namely, they have right to know how their loved ones died.
Only this information and the existence of a grave can help them to close the door to the past and build their life again in a damaged society”, writes Dr. Helena Ranta.

When I read these lines I remembered a view from the movie ”All my mothers” which tells about Barzan Anfal and the brave Barzan widows: The funeral convoy carrying the five hundred Anfal victims to their funeral travelled through the Barzan villages. Roads were full of mourning people, who joined the convoy. One elderly Barzan lady refused to believe that the body of her husband was among those to be buried. She refused to believe the death of her husband. She still waits him to return, for more than twenty years. Her waiting will end only if she gets documents stating the death of her husband. She is living in her memories.

Dr Ranta’s text about the importance of the grave continues:
”At the grave the relatives can remember and pay tribute to them who have gone before them. The forensic research community agrees that the dead also have human rights. This way of thinking springs from the ethical code of the discipline and is indirectly supported by Additional Protocol 1 to the Geneva Convention from 1977.”

Dr. Helena Ranta is coordinator at the department of Forensic Medicine Helsinki University for Disaster Victim Identification and International Missions.

She has been leading the forensic investigations of deceased found in mass graves since 1996 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Cameroon, Peru and Iraq.

March 2003 Mrs. Ranta was Chamber Witness in Haag International Tribunal at the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia) at the court case of Slobodan Milosevic.

Mrs Ranta was advisor of the Truth and Conciliation Commission in Peru. She has coordinated Master of Science education in forensic sciences and human rights at the Catholic University of Lima in Peru, South-America.

I interviewed Dr Ranta two years ago about the difficulties in searching disappeared persons:

”There are lots of problems in accomplishing these basic rights in the battle fields all around the world. Despite situations are different the circumstances are always the same: there is a country which is breaking down and it turning against its own citizen.”

Quotations: Dr. Helena Ranta: The Right to be buried, in Suomalainen-Karvinen: The Ahtisaari legacy: Resolve and Negotiate. Tammi 2008

About TRT-6

2009-01-07T15:31:00.000+02:00

The opening of the Kurdish language television channel TRT-6 has surprised me as much as everyone else. There are many comments about it in internet; I do not refer to them. I just explain two aspects, which I find of importance:

The opening of Kurdish language channel in a state television is a good step. However, it does not mean that there would be now freedom of expression in Turkey or that Kurdish language would be free. Now the state can use Kurdish but not the Kurds. The level of repression of Kurds has lowered from genocide level (linguistic genocide is one form of genocide) to ordinary level of an authoritarian state. This is one-step towards the normalization of situation.

I have not yet watched TRT-6 programmes. If the programmes are same poor quality than other TRT channels, the government's hopes that Kurds could be bought by Turkish soap operas in Kurdish language are in vain. If the state would have done this at the beginning of the 1980s, it might have succeeded. However, resisting three decades towards oppression has changed the Kurdish nation. They are not just Kurdish speaking Turkish citizens; they are different kind of nation than the Turks. They cannot be brainwashed by cheap entertainment programmes the same way as the Turks unfortunately can be.

Secondly, I wonder what the generals think about Erdogan’s election channel and prime minister wishing Happy New Year for his Kurdish-speaking citizens. TRT-6 is a big victory for Erdogan in the fight against the Deep State. The law that students can wear headscarves in universities (despite this law might not yet be followed in practise) is a big step in breaking the Kemalist rule that state and religion are separated; the existence of TRT-6 in practise admits that Turkey is bi-lingual country.

The next step must be that Roj-TV will be legal in Turkey and all writers and journalists, who are in Turkish prisons, must be free immediately. Then it is fair play and TRT can make competition with Roj-TV about the viewers. Now TRT-6 is for its potential audience just one more guard in their prison, one more institution to deny their identity as a nation. By using softer methods than TSK.

Genocide studies lesson provided by the Armenians

2009-01-05T17:16:00.005+02:00

Church of Tigran Honents in Ani, the ancient Armenian capital. This photo is from the boarder of Turkey (left) and Armenia (right), in between is river Arpacay, which can not be seen here.

Photo: Kristiina Koivunen.

This text was published in Xebat on Monday the 5th January 2009.

Some days ago I compared Anfal and the Rwanda genocide in Xebat. There is a need to compare also the Armenian genocide and Anfal. Kurdistan Regional Government wants Anfal to be internationally recognized. Therefore, Kurds need to study how Armenians succeeded in reaching similar target with their genocide, after many decades it occurred.

Many foreign journalists visit North Iraq, write their stories and travel away. When the tension on the Turkish boarder becomes very hot, journalists arrive to Hewlêr like birds that fly to south in autumn and to north in spring. The same way these war reporters fly away as soon as the conflict tenses down. They move to the next war zone in some other part of the world. Their writing is important for Kurds. However, it does not serve the purpose of reaching international recognition of Anfal.

Genocide is very complex issue. A reporter cannot understand it deeply enough during a short visit. Neither can genocide be described well in newspaper articles or television programmes. It is so wide and complicated issue that it can be explained well only in books. I have read in internet and newspapers several well-written articles about Anfal. They are usually interviews of Anfal victims or NGO representatives working with the Kurdish genocide. They express the fate of interviewed persons and their pain, often there is also some background information about Anfal.

Stories in mass media are important, but they have different audience than books, which can be anything from travel stories to academic dissertations. Newspaper stories are written to big audience, so they may not be too difficult to read. Usually they repeat every time same background information, as some of the audience might be not at all familiar with the issue. Politicians do not make their decisions based on information provided by mass media. Of course, they follow it intensively but they need also harder facts. Newspaper stories should be followed by such documents which provide deeper analysis about the situation.

Some war reporters stay so long time in a war zone that they get enough of information for a book instead of newspaper articles. There are several well selling books in English language about the Iraqi war. But they express Baghdad perspective not Hewlêr perspective. Examples of such books are Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s “Imperial Life in the Emerald City” and Jeremy Scahill’s “Blackwater”.

Maybe some journalists will stay long enough in Hewlêr to write books about their experiences here - especially if Hewlêr turns into a war frontier. However, most probably such books would not tell about Anfal. It happened too long time ago for the interests of the mass media houses which look for profit. Such atrocities are not selling which happened one generation ago!

The Armenian immigrants residing in United States and Europe have understood this. The recognition of the Armenian Genocide in France and discussions about it in the United States are based on massive research material about the topic. It is gathered by scientific methods so it not possible to deny it. Armenians immigrants have themselves supported research about the Armenian genocide.

In many countries it is possible for outsiders to finance research in universities by paying the salary of a professor and all the necessary costs related to scientific research about some topic. It is long process to get university’s acceptance for this, it is not enough that the donor has enough of money. Academic research is objective; it does not function so that any rich person goes to a university and orders a research according his interest. Any way, by this method Armenians have managed to get enough of evidence about their genocide to get it internationally accepted. It has taken long time.

Their success is a good lesson for KRG to study in making their long perspective plan on research about Anfal. Scientific documenting and analysis are compulsory if Kurds want to get international recognition for Anfal.

Anfal and the Rwandan genocide

2008-12-30T17:50:00.007+02:00

This text was published in Xebat the 27th December 2008.

I visited Iraqi Kurdistan spring and autumn this year and collected information about Anfal. The scale of Saddam's destruction and the horrifying nature of Anfal shocked me.

After returning to my native country Finland, I searched information about Anfal and genocides in general. It surprised me how little there is information in internet about Anfal. For example about the Rwandan genocide there is so many documents, best seller books and popular movies, for example “Hotel Rwanda” which was a candidate for three Oscar awards, the most respected movie awards in the world. It did not win any of them, but even a candidacy is a good achievement.

The Rwandan genocide occurred 1994, also five years later than Anfal. Why the international community has recognized the genocide that happened in Africa but not a similar case in Iraq? In addition, it is not doing anything even now when the Allies have liberated Iraq from Saddam’s tyranny! Why his atrocities are not being surveyed intensively?

When I have asked Kurds to explain this to me, many people have spoken about the Western support to Saddam Hussein during the 1980s. That was the time of Iraq-Iran war. NATO countries sold weapons to Saddam and he used them against his own citizens. Now these countries are ashamed for this and do not want the truth to come to day light.

Kurds and KRG want Anfal to become internationally recognized. Before the international community can announce Anfal as genocide, it must know what Anfal is.

Iraq war is the hottest topic in international mass media. There are several well selling books about it, and new ones are published all the time. They are sold as cheap paperback editions. Readers can buy them easily via internet in every part of the world, except not in Iraq. There are plenty of books also about the Sudan civil war, the Afghanistan war and the Rwandan genocide. Anfal is absolutely as important news topic as them but information about it is missing in the international forums.

Kurds should not wait passively than foreign writers and filmmakers come to Kurdistan to document Anfal. That might happen, or might not.

Kurds must arrange very many things to clear the destruction, which Saddam left. You have to handle the every day problems of the genocide survivors. It is not an easy work to document the genocide in addition to that and distribute the information to international forums. For Armenians it took several generations. The Armenian genocide occurred 1915 but only now the international community is little by little starting to recognize it.

But if the Kurds do not do this work by themselves, no one else will neither do it. It is unfair that it is the responsibility of the victim to get justice. However, so it is.

If you Kurds want Anfal to be recognized as genocide, you must make international lobby for it. There must be a long perspective plan for it. Despite it is difficult thing in a chaotic country where the urgent problems take all the attention of the decision makers. Nevertheless, it is the only way to reach the target, international recognition of Anfal.

Merry Christmas from Hewlêr!

2008-12-24T17:09:00.002+02:00

I took this picture in Hewlêr bazar today the 24th December 2008.

Kirkuk, a multicultural city

2008-12-21T22:10:00.003+02:00

Advertisement of a Turkmen festival held in Kirkuk in November 2008. Kirkuk Turkmen are not so similar to Turks than the Turkish state claims.

There was a massive suicide bomb attack in Kirkuk during Eid al-Adha, the 11th December 2008. Fifty people died.

News from Kirkuk in international mass media is always like this: big bomb explosion, small bomb explosion, attack, murder. There is no information about the every day life.

I visited Kirkuk five times during this year. In autumn 2008 I spent six days in Kirkuk province.

What did I see? People who try to keep the normal daily routines despite very heavy military presence. They wait desperately Article 140 to be put on action.

Despite its enormous oil resources, Kirkuk is a poor no one’s land: Baghdad government is controlling it but not developing its infrastructure, fearing that the city will fall to the hands of Kurds. KRG is doing some social and health programs there (for example Roz) but its share of the budget of Iraq is meant to the provinces of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulaymania, not to the Kurdish provinces outside the region.

Many people told me about the pre-Saddam Kirkuk. It was nice multicultural city with lots of tolerance and respect to other ethnic groups. Traditionally most inhabitants in Kirkuk are Kurds and Turkmen; most Arabs have arrived there recently (and are also victims of Saddam’s terror, they have been deported from the Delta area in South Iraq). Many Kurds and Turkmen speak both languages and mixed marriages are common.

People repeated that the problems and tension in Kirkuk are led from outside, Kirkuk residents want to have a peaceful life but there are too many foreign groups acting in Kirkuk.

I spoke also with many Turkmen. When they heard a foreigner speaking Turkish they started to pour their despair on me, how the world does not know what the Turkmen of Kirkuk want: peace. Turkman is different language than Turkish (which I cannot well), I did not understand much else from their speeches that they were desperate.

Since the Kurdish uprising 1991, Turkey has supported Jabhat Turkmen -party in Kirkuk to sabotage Kurdistan becoming independent with the oil resources of Kirkuk. Information and experience should have flown to the opposite direction: pre-Saddam Kirkuk was modern multicultural city where different ethnic groups have co-existed centuries in peace and harmony. The Turkish state is built on the false identity of mononationalism and Turks are afraid of multiculturalism. They should not be: the pre-Saddam Kirkuk was an example of this.

Turkish people should learn from the history of Kirkuk and use the experiences of peaceful co-existence for changing Turkey a similar place as Kirkuk was until the Baath party destroyed the atmosphere. But instead of learning something from others Turks wants to bring the repressing Turkish mentality to Kirkuk, and continue the destruction of both Kurds and Turkmen from where Saddam finished his job.

Kirkuk in pictures - 2

2008-12-18T17:13:00.004+02:00

I have put to Sahmaran also earlier pictures from Kirkuk, here is some more of them:

The symbol of Kirkuk is fire. These flames - which can be seen when entering Kirkuk from Hewlêr direction - are very famous. But this is not Baba Gurgur, the eternal fire which has been burning four thousand years without a break. Remember that fire is the symbol of Kurdish culture. Maybe it all started here many thousands years ago.... In the battle about Kirkuk it is question of much more than oil.

Kirkuk Bazar is a walking street. Usually cars are not permitted to enter here.

Siniyu self (Turcoman: sini self) is very popular game in Kirkuk during ramazan. Men do not play it at other times.

Stadium where Saddam arranged parades to show his power. Pay attention especially to the Kurdish petrol station on the left. Six per cent of world’s known oil resources are in Kirkuk - but the petrol which is sold on the streets comes from Iran.

A view near Dubiz. Water comes here via a canal from Dohuk reservoir.

Pictures: Kristiina Koivunen

An uncommon view in Duzkhurmato

2008-11-28T17:48:00.010+02:00

Taking pictures from a moving car is not easy. These views are quick snaps from car window in Duzkhurmato in October 2008.

Duzkhurmato is a small Kurdish town by the road from Kirkuk to Bagdad. It lies about 70 km south from Kirkuk.

All the traffic from Turkey to Bagdad goes via this road, there are many lorries. South from Kirkuk they drive only at daytime. There are many foreign lorries, most of them from Turkey. This one of the German low price super market Aldi was the most surprising one.

In places like Duzkhurmato tourists do not stop the car for photographing, you just take pictures from a moving car and maybe one picture out of ten is quite OK. For example this one is tolerable:
If you are lucky maybe your driver is decreasing the speech. I also learned that it is good to wash the car window. There is not much more to do for the sake of photographing in Kurdish countryside, which is under the Bagdad rule.

Television news show Iraq only as a battlefront and bombing field. However, the everyday life looks normal in many places. The high way restaurants near Duzkhurmato look quite the same than the ones in German Autobahns and the highway from London to Scotland. Unfortunately, I do not have better pictures.

Pictures: Kristiina Koivunen

Blogging in Iraq

2008-11-22T14:03:00.007+02:00

Sahmaran's readers might have wondered my long silence. The main reason is the weakness of the Iraqi internet, as well as lack of time.

I was wondering why there are so few bloggers in Iraq when blogging is very popular in Iran. (But not in Turkey - that's also a good question - the answer is not at least the lack of possibilities to use internet. But for some reason Turks seem to be much more talented internet hackers than bloggers.)

After visiting the first time one of the very few internet cafeterias in Hewlêr I understood the reason for the lack of blogging. One must be real hero to blog regularly by the slow and low capacity Iraqi net.

The problems in blogging were of many different character. Just look at this pictures! I do not speak Arabic or Kurdish Sorani dialect. Not to say anything about the difficulties in finding a functioning internet access. Even if someone had computer with in internet access one has to wait that there is electricity and the line is functioning. For example sand storms prevent internet to function in many places.

Now I am back in Finland after three hot and hectic months in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan (and three hours in Habur in Turkey).

I try to put pictures from South Kurdistan to Sahmaran blog (I have almost one thousand pictures from the journey of last spring and three thousand from the autumn journey, not all of them....) but some how there seems very little time for blogging - sorry. I really respect active bloggers, like Hevallo and Mizgin of Rasti, who write much and keep us informed about the situation in Kurdistan. But I am busy with my next book.

Good news from Kurdistan!

2008-11-02T13:32:00.004+02:00

Hewlêr Citadel from the Park Minaret direction (click the picture so it becomes bigger).

Readers of Sahmaran might have wondered the long silence.

Sorry for that. The reason is that I have made a great tourney around the autonomous Kurdistan Region in Iraq. I have travelled also in Mosul, Kirkuk and Diyala provinces. I try to put pictures here soon, if Arianet - Insallah - is in order.

Finally there are good news from Kurdistan! Not yet in connection to political situation but to the weather: The summer heat is finally over and it has been raining!

Congratulations, Martti Ahtisaari!

2008-10-12T21:12:00.000+03:00

Martti Ahtisaari, the former President of Finland, has got the Nobel Peace Price 2008. Congratulations!

Martti Ahtisaari has done good work for example in Aceh in Indonesia, and in Kosova. I wrote last March in Sahmaran about Ahtisaari and Kosova peace process.

Mr. Ahtisaari, also Kurdish people need your skills and experience in peace negotiations!

American concert in Hewlêr

2008-10-07T21:47:00.004+03:00

I have now Arianet so it is easy to use internet here in Hewlêr. But for example tomorrow I travel out from here and now I have time to put only this picture to my blog.

It is from a concert today evening by American soldiers in the auditory of Kurdistan's Ministry of Culture in Hewlêr.

I have heard Kurdistan's national hymn "Yah Rahqeeb" many times, but this was the first time I heard it played by American soldiers.

After Kurdish and Iraqi national hymns the rest of the concert consisted of American folk music.

I have still ban to enter Turkey

2008-10-06T20:51:00.003+03:00

When I was deported from Turkey December 2006, I received from Turkish police only oral information that I have a ban to enter Turkey. They did not give me any paper about it. Neither I was told the reason for the ban and how long time it is valid.

My advocate Murat Timur has tried to get this information since that from the Foreign Ministry of Turkey and from a court. Until now the only response what he has got is a paper that the application has been received. Turkey neither gave any answer to the note Finnish Consulate left to Turkish Foreign Ministry in January 2007.

Another advocate advised me to travel to Turkey to find out whether I still have a ban to enter there. So I travelled from Iraq to Habur on Friday the 4th October 2008. My plan was to go to Batman Festival which was arranged that week-end. I participated Batman Festival also three years ago. The journey from Iraqi boarder to Batman takes about three hours.

I was in Habur police station three hours (I was also permitted to visit a cafeteria and tax free shop). Policemen told me that I have a ban to enter Turkey. At last I got this information also on a paper. Policemen did not tell me reason for the ban, they said there is an office in Ankara where I can get this information. Their English was not good enough to explain what is this place. I made phone call to advocate Murat Timur so that the policemen could have explained this for him in Turkish but they refused to speak with Timur.

This little episode is one example about the present political situation in Turkey. It has not developed towards a positive direction. Turkish citizens (which the Kurds residing in Turkey are) and associations which are run according the Turkish law must have the right to receive visitors freely according their wish. This is impossible when the state gives bans to enter the country. My ban to enter Turkey violates the rights of Turkish citizens.

I have spoken here in Hewlêr which several people who have a ban to enter Turkey, both Iraqi citizens and foreigners. They all say that they have not lost anything when they are denied the possibility to travel Turkey. In a way I feel also like this. Three hours was enough to remember the atmosphere of fear which dominates life in Turkey. Of course I was disappointed that I could not participate Batman Festival and that I did not get information about the reasons for my ban to enter Turkey. But any way it was a relief to return to Iraq. I crossed walking the boarder river, escorted by a Turkish soldier until about middle of the bridge, and then received by a Kurdish peshmerga.

There was still one surprising thing. I had in my mobile phone SIM card of an Finnish telephone company (Eliisa). With it I could easily make phone calls and send SMS to Finland. But not to Iraq, the network was out of order. Despite the distance is only a few hundred meters.

Life in Iraqi Kurdistan

2008-09-24T11:04:00.004+03:00

From left: Falakaddeen Kakaie (Culture Minister, KRG), Ayla Akat Ata (MP, DTP, Turkey), Kristiina Koivunen and Bengi Yildiz (MP, DTP, Turkey). Hawler the 9th September 2008.

I am still in Iraqi Kurdistan tackling with heat, internet and several other problems.

Life in Hawler is very interesting. There would be enough of things to write a book, not just posts in a blog (well, actually that's just what I am doing).

Insallah when internet works I try to put some more pictures to Sahmaran. But only when I can use wireless network with my own laptop. I do not put my flash memory (memory stick) to any Iraqi computer. Among other problems Iraq has its own national community of computer viruses. I am tired to take my laptop to anti-virus treatment every time when I have used my flash memory in the computer of someone else. I have sent pictures to Finland from various computers - when I let my camera to be checked it had more than twenty viruses.

The above picture is taken here in Hawler the 9th September 2008.

I have lots of other interesting pictures too, but the scheduldes of Hawler internet and mine don't seem to fit together. When internet is functioning I do not have time to write to Sahmaran and vice versa.

The charm of traditional Iraqi houses

2008-09-01T15:34:00.003+03:00

I am now in Kurdistan. I am happy to stay in a Kurdish families, in addition to hotels. I learn a lot this about the every day life in Kurdistan.

My country Finland is very cold most time of the year. But that is not a problem for us because our houses are good and warm. Finnish people spend much time inside the houses.

For me the most charming thing in the traditional Iraqi houses was the way how people spend lots of time in the open air. They spend evenings in gardens, make food in back yards and sleep on house roofs as well as bake bread there. Also I have slept nights on the roof. It is something I will always remember: the beauty of the sky, the distant voices of the city, warm air and feeling of safety despite of being in the open air. My friends here in Finland are jealous when I tell about it.

Also I admir how few high houses there are Hawler - this is very positive. In most European countries only rich city dwellers have villas and their own gardens. It is so also in Turkey. Most Kurdish people there live in apartments and only dream about gardens. They spend evenings drinking tea in their small balconies. In Turkish cities not even rich people have such one-family-houses where Iraqi Kurds usually live.

Traditional way of house building has developed during many decades, maybe even centuries. Houses fit to the conditions in the best possible because the knowledge is collected during many generations.

This Iraqi Kurdish knowledge should be remembered when building new housing areas instead of importing ideas from totally different environments.

Take only the best foreign ideas!

I am surprised to see that people do not pay attention on saving energy when it is available. In Europe it is popular tendency to save energy because of ecological reasons and the rising prise of petrol. Hopefully the people who make construction plans in Kurdistan study these experiences, for example solar energy.

It surprised me that solar energy is not used in North Iraq. In Turkey it is very common, people heat water with it.

Maybe they think that there is no need to have other energy sources than petrol because there is so much of it. But why not use solar energy when there is plenty of it available? Free of charge!

I could have written about the lack of houses in Hawler. I know it is big and acute problem. There is need to build very many houses. But despite people need them in a hurry the plans should made with long perspective.

The world is preparing itself for changes in energy systems, from dependency of petrol to renewable energy sources. Houses are being built to last for many decades. They should be planned so that they are flexible to adjust new technologies what ever things the climate change and development of renewable energy technologies bring.

My interview in PUKmedia about Kurdish movements

2008-08-23T20:00:00.002+03:00

You can listen my interview which PUKmedia made today (the 23rd August 2008) in Sulaymania. It is in English and translated to Kurdish.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6007&Itemid=42

Back in Kurdistan

2008-08-23T12:09:00.002+03:00

Sahmaran has been silent for a long time, sorry for that. I have not been near internet. I arrived to the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq the 19th August. Now I am in Sulaymania following the Sulaymania Film Festival.

I will write more as soon as I have time and access to internet.

Culture Minister Falakaddin Kakeyi in Finland

2008-07-31T18:21:00.004+03:00

I (left) and Culture Minister Falakaddin Kakeyi.

Falakaddin Kakeyi, Culture Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government, is now in Finland. I met him on Wednesday the 29th July 2008 in Helsinki.

Pashay Gawra, a music team of sixteen members, is expected to come Finland from Rawanduz, South Kurdistan. They should play on Saturday the 2st August on Faces Etnofestival in Karjaa. But due to problems and delays in getting visa it is not yet sure whether they will come here.

Lack of buses in Stockholm and in Hawler

2008-07-21T11:38:00.005+03:00

An uncommon view in Hawler: a bus.

I was some time ago in Stockholm, Sweden. Local buses were on strike. Lack of buses remainded me about my stay in Hawler last spring. For me the biggest surprise there was the lack of public transport. The problems in travelling was in Stockholm an exception which makes people angry. In Hawler a situation, which is much more difficult, is a normal thing.

Metro train in Fittja, a suburb in Stockholm.

Stockholm has effective underground system. It is very quick and in most stations there are buses going to different directions. Fortunately underground drivers were not on strike. But the system was half paralyzed because there were no connecting buses. What people did? They walked. I walked in the mornings 45 minutes to from my friend's home to an underground station. Fortunately the weather was good.

In Hawler I saw almost no people to walk. This surprised me. How the poor people travel who do not have a car? And no one was driving bicycle. In European cities bicycling is very popular. There are roads which are used only by bicycles. In Helsinki I bicycle every day in the summer. Hawler would be good place to bicycle because there are no hills.

In Stockholm underground stations there are persons who control that passengers have tickets. Most of them are immigrants. They do their work but they also keep an eye on people of their own nationality, especially the women and teenagers. The Kurdish ticket controllers are a network of spies who know what time Kurdish youth travel and with whom. If a girl travels with a stranger whole the Kurdish community knows about it and her parents are the first ones to get the information. So the girls avoid this.

There are already now bad traffic jams in Hawler. And I suppose the situation will be much more difficult after some years. When people get money there will be more and more cars on the streets.

In every European city with one million people there is underground, local trains or trams. Public transport is better by them than by buses. They are faster as the traffic jams do not affect them. If the public transport system is fast and comfortable, even car owners use it. This means less cars on the streets so that every one benefits, also those who travel by their own cars because they do not waste time by waiting in traffic jams.

Now the re-construction of Hawler is going on and the decision makers decide the travelling policy of the future. There is a need for good public transport system.

But maybe the lack of public transport is a secret plan of the men to keep their women at home. I do not speak only about the work of studies of women - not even to mention feminist activities. They are depended of their fathers and husbands when they want to do just some ordinary shopping in the bazaar.

Finnish and Kurdish demilitarized zones

2008-07-09T18:32:00.003+03:00

In Turkey people have been made to believe that the country is surrounded by enemies. And because of this the army must be strong. But Turkey has never had a war against its neighbour countries during the 85 years of independence. Turkish army has been fighting only against its own people. Even in North Iraq army's target has been Kurds who are Turkish citizens.
Looking from an European perspective Turkey's neighbours are not too aggressive. But Turkey has the fifth biggest army in the world.

The situation of Kurdish Autonomous Area is opposite to that. It is really surrounded by enemies. And the situation is opposite to Turkey even so that peshmergas do not have other weapons than kalashnikovs, and some old panzers taken from the escaping Saddam soldiers in 1991.

This lack of heavy arms surprised me when I visited North Iraq in spring. In Turkey I have got used of seeing panzers and hearing the sound of military airplanes and helicopters all the time. Kurdish autonomous area has became a demilitarized zone without any one planning is purposefully.

Maybe the Kurdish leaders hope to buy F 16 -aeroplanes and Cobra helicopters and put peshmergas to pilot school as soon as possible. I am not a military expert but my suggestion is that why not keep North Iraq a demilitarized zone also in the future? And make it a real demilitarized area where security is not based even on kalashnikovs. At least it would be cheaper than buying expensive military technology. With the exemption that a good radar system is a necessity.

This came to my mind because my country, Finland, has a demilitarized zone, Aland Islands. They are located between Finland and Sweden. Aland is nearer to Sweden.
30 000 people, who live there, speak Swedish. There was a referendum in 1921 where the people could decide whether they want to be part of Sweden or Finland. They choose autonomy in Finland.

One part of the autonomy plan made by the League of Nations in was that the islands are a demilitarized zone. The area was strategically important especially at those days when St. Petersburg was the Russian capital. It lies by the Baltic Sea. Aland Islands lie in the same sea and who controls them has good possibility to control all boat traffic to St. Petersburg. The decision made whole the sea more peaceful.

Despite times are now different than during the days of the first world war, Kurds should study the autonomy of Aland islands. Maybe there are aspects which are useful for them. Also in other issues Kurds look now at decisions made at those days.

The autonomy and demilitarization of Aland has been successful because it was guaranteed by the international community. An area without arms can live in peace only if demilitarization is made with strong enough international quarantine. When Western countries now desperately want to remove their troops from Iraq maybe a demilitarized buffer zone in the north would be a acceptable solution even for them. International agreements would only legalize the situation which de facto already exists.

This text is published in Gulan, it is in Kurdish here.

Finnish report about North Iraq

2008-06-30T12:30:00.003+03:00

This text about a report of North Iraq was published in Xebat the 24th June 2008. It can be read in Kurdish here.

Finnish Immigration Service has made a report about North Iraq and put it to internet. The 42 pages long report is made by a fact finding team of three people. They collected information from various sources, like UNAMI and other international organisations. They also made a six days long journey to Iraqi Kurdistan Region last October.

Finnish Immigration Service is making decisions to asylum applications and information has been collected mainly for this purpose. As there is common information about KRG Region in the report, it can be used also by people who are interested in North Iraq for other reasons.

The report gives mainly a positive picture about life in KRG Region, especially it pays attention to the good security situation.

During the spring there has been in Europe quite lot criticism about the situation of Assyrians and other Christian minorities in Iraq. For example in the International Compact with Iraq Conference in Stockholm at the end of May some Assyrians raised their voices.

The Finnish team found the situation of Christian minorities to be normal in KRG Region. The report says:

"Due to the stable situation the three northern governorates have become a safe haven for internally displaced persons, for instance Christians, who told the fact finding team that the situation of Christians resembles something like a normal life in the KRG region. Christians have been welcomed by the local population in the three northern governorates. They have had a good relationship and are respected by their moderate Muslim neighbours, but consider radical Islamists a threat."

The team noticed last October that the Christians were worried about the PKK conflict, which touches areas near the border where Christian people are settled, and where shelling has occurred.

“Some informants pointed out, that the Turkish army has already for years had several outposts inside the KRG region, at least in Bamarne and Zakho districts of Dohuk governorate“, says the report.

The Finnish team did not visit Kirkuk last October as they found it too dangerous. They write that the security situation in Kirkuk was bad and say:

“Some informants thought that the resolving of the Kirkuk issue would take a long time. Ownership issues remain a large problem, as lost property such as houses have been sold several times over, and may have many claims of ownership by different people.”

The report draws a potential link between the increase of Islamic terrorism and the situation of Kurdish youth:

“During the fact-finding journey, no terror attacks were reported in KRG Region. Some informants mentioned that the youth in Kurdistan is at a critical stage, due to economic hardships, unemployment and the lack of meaningful activities. Due to these circumstances, some join mosques and become extremists. Youth care is needed, and informants suggested that the West help to set up activities such as youth centres.”

In the human rights situation the report does not find too many causes for criticism. Any way, the long waiting times for some detained persons before trial is not acceptable according to international standards. The report says:

"Pretrial detaining periods are long. There are some detainees who are from Mosul or Kirkuk. KRG courts claim that they have no jurisdiction to try them. These people are therefore in a legal limbo. They have been detained, but have not been charged of any crime, and there is no apparent solution to their cases."

The team found problems also with the trial process:

“Most of the detainees are not satisfied with the trial process, often they have no information on the appeals’ process, and many have had no access to a lawyer”, says the report.

It also states that according to UNAMI, prison conditions do not meet international standards.

One area of criticism is the situation of women. The report mentions that it is bad in many rural areas. The situation of honour related violence is very alarming. The amount of women’s suicides has doubled between 2002 and 2007.

“An important factor in the increase of honour related violence is the increasing use of mobile phones, as SMS-messages and the saved phone numbers of men reveal unacceptable relationships”, says the report. But it continues:

“At the same time, awareness of the situation has increased. Women today seek help against domestic violence more readily than before. However, available shelters are full, and women cannot often return from the shelters to their families. Some women have been killed after they have returned to their families.”

The report pays mainly attention to problems where improvement is necessary. But it says about mass media that there exists some degree of freedom of expression. Journals have been able to criticise the administration and to write articles on corruption, without having been charged.

It also says that the civil society in KRG Region is active.

The report gives detailed information about the health care and problems in it. When thinking about them it should be kept in mind that the problems are caused by the international sanctions which hindered development of health care system.

It is noteworthy that there exists no public psychological treatment in KRG Region. There are no government programmes for the treatment of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). This is a big problem when keeping in mind in how much Kurds have suffered for decades because of wars, Anfal and other Saddam’s atrocities. NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are too busy with helping internally displaced persons with basic necessities such as water and sanitation to concentrate on mental care issues.

The report tells about the housing problems in KRG Region. The number of internally displaced families is about 100 000 – 150 000. The future of displacement depends on the outcome of the Iraqi war. The report pays attention that Kurdish families flee violence to KRG Region from Mosul but not from Kirkuk.

The report is available in English language in internet here.

Kirkuk Citadel - 2

2008-06-23T15:36:00.010+03:00

March 2007 I wrote about Serhat castles . Also South Kurdistan has rich cultural heritage with castles which are maybe thousands years old. They are not only Kurdish history, as there has been many other civilizations during the history.

These pictures are from Kirkuk Citadel. It is a peaceful oasis in the middle of the war zone. Just look at the pictures, while walking in the Citadel you could not imagine that the war with almost daily bomb attacks is just outside the Citadel walls.

Saddam destroyed the old town of Kirkuk during the 1990s. It is inside the Citadel but I do not have pictures of the centuries old houses which are now in ruins. Let us hope that the war will not cause more damage to Kirkuk Citadel. Instead there should be archaeological surveys and preservation. Kirkuk Citadel should absolutely be in the UNESCO World Heritage Program!

I am sure that in the future Kirkuk Citadel will be a popular target for tourists.

I know very little about Kirkuk Citadel. If some one has information about it, please let me know!

Kirkuk in pictures

2008-06-13T12:14:00.008+03:00

UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq) has published an analysis how to resolve disputed internal boundaries.

I have not had time to go through it, so I do not comment it.

But here are some pictures from Kirkuk. I have been wondering why there are so few good pictures from Kirkuk available in Internet. Well, after visiting the town I understand the reason. The pictures are taken in April 2008.

At least the car windows should be clean when I go there next time!

Halabja: People who are stronger than chemical weapons

2008-06-04T16:45:00.016+03:00

I visited Halabja during my journey to North Iraq. My feelings are quite confused so I can not write much about it before reading background information. Just look at the pictures which I took.

I went there expecting to see a living misery - 1988 there were about 70 000 people in Halabja and five thousand of them died in Saddam's attack by chemical weapons. How a town can come back to normal life ever after such a thing?

But what I saw was an active town just preparing the anniversary of one of its massacres. Because 16.3.1988 is just one example in the long line of massacres.

Many people left Halabja after the gas attack so the population is now under 70 000. But those who remained say they will never leave their home town because of respect to their ancestors who have been murdered.

It was my first visit to Halabja but very soon I felt like I had been there earlier. Or in a place which is similar to Halabja. Where? In Dersim, October 2005. When seeing the statue of Zilan opposite to the statue of Kemal Ataturk in Tunceli city centre one understands that the Dersim people have not given up.

And neither have the Halabja people done. They say that they are stronger than chemical bombs.

It is also amazing how quiet the liberators of Iraq, also Americans and Britons, have been about the Halabja massacre. It is the clearest evidence of Saddam’s atrocities towards Iraqi citizens - why the liberators do not make surveys about it and use this information for verifying the right of their crusade? Because the first question in any research would be that who gave Saddam the chemical weapons.

I visited both the mass graves of the 16.3.1988 victims and the Memorial Statue of the massacre.

There are three mass graves where the bodies have been counted but not identified.

This is a symbolic grave yard. The victims of Saddam’s atrocities are not buried here, but they lie in mass graves and in anonymous graves in villages around Halabja. Each stone represents one family, not one person.

For my big surprise I heard that the monument was burnt last year, but it did not became clear by whom it was done. But it seems that also other people than the Islamists are disappointed on the way how KRG has dealt the Halabja tragedy.

As you can see from the picture the monument the reparation goes on now.
The picture is bad because it was difficult to take pictures by a digital camera in the heat and heavy sunshine.

Here is re-cycling by the Halabja way: authentic chemical weapons á la Saddam styled in an artistic way:

Vice-mayor of Halabja, Mrs. Kwestan Akram. Also Tunceli’s mayor is a woman, her name is Songül Erol Abdil. So even in this aspect these two towns are similar.

After visiting Halabja I visited Medico Legal Institute Kurdistan which is part of Hawler Medical University.

Here is some statistics of their work:

Pathologist working in the institute: 10
Autopsy per day: 2 -3
Deceased waiting for identification in their morgue: 700
Deceased waiting for identification in mass graves around Iraq:

182 000

Due to poor security situation in the Iraq area controlled by Arabs the digging of the mass graves has been postponed.

Pictures by Kristiina Koivunen, Halabja, the 10th May 2008

Vain hopes in ICI Stockholm Conference

2008-06-01T23:06:00.002+03:00

The Stockholm International Compact on Iraq (ICI) Conference is over.

My feelings are confused. Did the ICI Conference reach anything?

There were big expectations to the Conference. International Community wants to end the Iraq war.

But before any problem can be solved it must be defined what is the problem. When listening the speeches of various foreign ministers in Stockholm about the economical improvements in Iraq one could think that the biggest problem in Iraq is economy. Does any one in Iraq agree with this?

Almost no one of the speakers mentioned the Kurdish autonomous area. Iraq was described in the speeches as one area where the chaos is similar every where.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan spoke in the conference about Turkey's efforts to assist Iraq during difficult times. Some hours after Babacan's speech Turkish air forces bombed North Iraq.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki spoke about peace and stability in the entire region.

"It is necessary to use opportunity provided by this conference to help stabilize the situation in Iraq, improve the living conditions there and contribute to the reconstruction of this country in a more responsible manner", Minister Mottaki said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke also in this conference about how the weapons of mass destruction were the cause of the American military intervention.

Rice used several times words "the Iraqi people" despite there does not exist such a nation. Peter W. Galbraith has critized in his book “The End of Iraq” the American way to see Iraqi people as an unity despite there are three very different groups.

Several speakers spoke about the importance about national reconciliation in Iraq. The target can be achieved only by seeing the real facts, not speaking about one’s own dreams about one Iraqi nation. In reality such attitudes fuel the partition of Iraq despite the speakers claim they are against it.

Many speakers in the conference expressed their wish that refugees would return to Iraq. Also here reality is opposite: bombings to North Iraq by Iran and Turkey force more people to become refugees.

I believe that the international community really wants to find a solution to the Iraqi war. It is too expensive both in the economical cost and in the lost of lives of American and other foreign soldiers. The first thing to end this war is to see the real situation. If the peace is reached by some miraculous way under these false ideas there is a seed for the next conflict.

The speeches in the conference were polite and optimistic but they show how weak and helpless the international community is in front of this war.

One of the decisions of the ICI Stockholm Conference was to arrange a follow up conference next year in Bagdad. This in an ambitious decision. It is a good test for United Nations and the international community to show what they can do for this situation. Iraqi citizens will remember this decision.

ICI Conference in Stockholm 29.5.2008

2008-05-29T23:22:00.003+03:00

Representatives of nearly 100 countries took part on Thursday the 29th May in a conference in Stockholm, Sweden's capital. The UN called the conference to review a five-year package it brokered last year, called the International Compact with Iraq (ICI). The gathering followed the conference in May 2007 at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the Iraq Compact was launched.

In the Stockholm Conference participants represented governments, United Nations and European Union. There were no NGOs. Among the delegates in the Conference were UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, EU High Representative Xavier Solana, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. Thirteen Ministers of the central government represented Iraq, led by Prime Minister Noori Al-Maliki.

Al-Maliki asked the international community to relieve Iraq's debt. Officials said the move was aimed mainly at Arab countries, to which Iraq owes most of its 67 billion dollar debt. It dates from the time of Saddam Hussein's regime. The debt is owed to the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The request was aimed at supporting Iraq's efforts to restore stability and rebuild a functioning economy. Correspondents say progress in these areas remains fragile. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said before the Conference debt was not its subject.

Despite big hopes laid on the ICI Conference the arrangements of it reflected how fragile the situation is. Programme and participants of the delegations were announced only on the same day as the ICI Conference took place. Hope, optimism and need for reconciliation was expressed in many official speeches but difficult topics like the Kirkuk question or bombings of North Iraq were not mentioned.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih mentioned in his speech the need to implement the issue of the Disputed Territories and internal boundaries addressed by Article 140 ot the Constitution.

Condoleezza Rice repeated that US supports a unified Iraq. She repeated both in her press conference and in her speech in the ICI conference how the security situation in Iraq is getting better.

Rice refused to answer journalists who asked her to say the biggest mistake what US has made in Iraq. She said the historians will analyse the situation in a different way than people nowadays. She was sure that it was not a mistake to liberate Iraq because now the Iraqi people have a possibility to develop their country and Iraq can become a stabilising force in the Middle East.

Also the other speeches in the ICI Conference sounded similar to speeches held various times in other conferences. The Conference concentrated on issues related to the central government and Arab parts of Iraq. While listening the official speeches people who are unfamiliar to the situation in North Iraq could not imagine that every part of Iraq is not under chaotic conditions.

Country which is like a fairy tale

2008-05-27T21:28:00.003+03:00

I write these words a few days after returning home from Iraqi part of Kurdistan. I wanted to write a column already during my three weeks stay there. But it took a little bit of time to go through all the experiences and to understand what I had seen. It was my first journey there, everything was new.

Now after spending some days in the cool temperature I can analyze things better. This might be hard for Kurds to believe but when my plane arrived to Stockholm, Sweden, it was late afternoon and the temperature was nine degrees!

To put it shortly: I was amazed to visit a country where everything is opposite to Turkey. A country where one does not have to be afraid of police and check points on the roads. There is an European fairy tale called "Alice in Wonderland". It tells about a girl who visits a land where everything is opposite to what she is used to. This story expresses my feelings during the first days in Hawler.

I collected information for a book and newspaper articles. I got all information what I asked for and there would have been even more available - but I did not have ability to receive it. People helped me every where I went, many thanks for that. Especially I want to thank Ministers Dr. Idris H. Salih, Dr. Mohammed Ihsan, Nimrud B. Youkhana, Chnar S. Abdullah, Taha Barwary and Falah Mustafa Bakir for giving me their time and answering my questions.

One thing what surprised me was that everything happens very quickly in Kurdistan. Of course it was partly because my journey was short and meetings could not be postponed. But also there is a public will to develop the country and catch everything what was lost during the long years of international economic sanctions. Kurdistan is very dynamic place and the atmosphere of change is special.

The good level of security is a miracle which I believed only after seeing it with my own eyes. Of course I had read about it. But I did not understand it before walking days around Hawler and seeing no other police men than traffic police.

After seeing the life of Iraqi Kurds I understand better the situation of Kurds in Turkey. Also what they are missing when comparing their situation to Kurds who live under their own administration.

Of course there were also things which deserve criticism. My biggest surprise was the almost total lack of public transport in Hawler. In Finland I travel always by bus or by bicycle. So I felt almost like at home when I visited Sulaymania and travelled by bus instead of taxi. The traffic jams and transport problems in Hawler is so big issue that I will write more about it some other time.

I am looking forward to come soon back to Hawler and Sulaymania. Then I will be better prepared and my questions will be more precise.

World Village Festival in Helsinki

2008-05-25T21:35:00.001+03:00

World Village Festival was celebrated this week-end (24.-25.5.2008) in Helsinki down town in bright sunshine.

Here Hasan Dohogu and I speak about the Kurds.

Iraqi style petrol station

2008-05-23T20:54:00.004+03:00

According to Times Iraq could have the largest oil reserves in the world.

Here is Iraqi style petrol station. I took the picture near Hawler. Views like this are common everywhere in North Iraq, also in Kerkuk (which has six per cent of all known oil reserves in the world.)

Do not ask me about the quality of the street petrol!!

Hawler Textil Museum

2008-05-22T15:20:00.010+03:00

I have very many things to tell about my journey to South Kurdistan. Instead of writing long reports I will put here pictures. I start with Hawler Textil Museum which is located in the Citadel and is open every day.

Iraqi Kurds love everything what is new - and made in factories (which are of course in other countries and do not produce things according the Kurdish style).

I do not want to be unpolite towards Iraqi Kurds but they seem to lack such knowledge and respect of their own culture than people in North Kurdistan have. There Kurdish kelims and handicrafts can be seen every where - in South Kurdistan I saw traditional Kurdish carpets during three weeks only in the museum. The long years of isolation and economical hardship have taken its toll also in this sense: 25 000 old Kurdish rugs were exported to Iran during early 90s (also other second hand things are usually sold to Iran).

Now this hundreads years knowledge of carpet weaving is not passed to next generation in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan. I really hope that people there understand what they will lose if this thing does not change quikly. Kilims are the traditional art of Kurdish women.

For the tourists who travel Hawler I recommend to visit the shop of the Textil Museum. There are still some nomad women who know carpet weaving and traditional designs of their tribe. Their carpets can be bought in museum's shop. I did not buy any as my bag was very heavy. I regret it now - it would have been better to pay the over weight cost in the airplane.

Here are some pictures from the museum:

Back at home!

2008-05-19T11:25:00.002+03:00

I returned yesterday to Finland from South Kurdistan, after spending some days in Stockholm.

I start putting pictures to Sahmaran within a few days. I was too busy for that in Hawler but there are quite many things to do also at home, after one month's journey.

Hawler

2008-05-07T09:31:00.003+03:00

I am still in Hawler, journey to South Kurdistan has been a fantastic experience. There are too many things to tell from here. I have so much material and experiences that it would be better to write a book than some newspaper articles or posts in the blog.

And besides, things are so amazing here, that one can understand them fully only by coming here by oneself. To put it short, everything is opposite to Turkey.

When I get back to Finland, I put more pictures to my blog, here internet is very slowly even when there is a good computer.

Kirkuk Citadel - 1

2008-04-30T10:34:00.005+03:00

Here in Hawler has been sand sand storm for some days and the internet has not been working well. I try to write more as soon as I have time.

Here is a picture of me taken in the Citadel of Kirkuk the 28th April 2008 with some Kurdish students of the KOMAK journalism school. The school is located in the Kurdish part of Kirkuk. I tell more about it later, but it might be only when I am in Finland as I am busy here.

Spring in Hewler

2008-04-23T21:22:00.003+03:00

Readers of Sahmaran have maybe wondered that I have become lazy as I have not written much blogs during this spring.... but I have written other things.

Now I promise to use more time on blogging. I am now in Hewler (Erbil), I came here yesterday. I tried to put here pictures but it seems to be very difficult with the computer which I use now. I will do it later.

How is Hewler?

I would have so much to say after just one day, but I will do it later. To put it short: everything is different than in Turkey. Only police men whom I have seen today are traffic police. After seing the normal Kurdish life here one understands better the depth of opression of the Kurds in Turkey.

Final Call for the Kurdish Mayors

2008-04-15T12:53:00.004+03:00

One of the mayors is Ayhan Erkmen from Dagpinar/Kars.
This picture is taken in autumn 2005 in Ani . In the background there is both Turkey (on left) and Armenia and in between river Arpacay.
Ayhan Erkmen is member of the board of the Turkish PEN.
Photo: Kristiina Koivunen

This week’s freedom of expression case:

Suspects : 56 Mayors of Democratic Society Party(DTP).

Court and Date of hearing : Diyarbakir High Criminal Court Num.5, 15 April 2008, at 10:40 am.

Explanation : The case is about a letter sent by 56 mayors of DTP to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Mayors asked Rasmussen that Roj TV not to be shut down.

Joost Lagendijk, study the court decision!

2008-04-04T12:08:00.004+03:00

Joost Lagendijk, MEP and Chairman of Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee. Photo: Kristiina Koivunen

The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 3 April 2008 is a crisis for European Union.

The court decision states that the 2002 decision of the European Council to put the PKK on its terrorism list because of an “error of procedure.” The court said that when the European Council created the list and applied sanctions to the organisation and its members, it did not announce its justification in time.

In Turkey courts are the places where the legacy of political decisions are being surveyed. It is a well known fact that Turkish politicians are not able to follow even the Turkish law. What this tells about the level of decision making?

Is the same happening now in the EU? Cooperation between EU and Turkey and Turkey’s EU membership negotiations should increase Turkey’s democratic development, not the opposite. Also move EU towards Turkish type of political life. But PKK’s inclusion to EU list of terrorist organisations proves that this has happened already.

The inevitable conclusion to be drawn from the court decision on 3 April 2008 is that how many other EU’s decisions are illegal?

Newroz Piroz Be!

2008-03-21T17:55:00.001+02:00

Kosovo Guidelines for Independence

2008-03-09T14:31:00.014+02:00

Martti Ahtisaari.

FIIA's seminar was in the Parliament building in Helsinki.

Pictures by Kristiina Koivunen

Xebat published this text the 13th March 2008. It is in Kurdish here. (It is at the bottom of the page.)

Kosovo declared independence the 17th February this year. Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland, negotiated the peace process. Kosovo crisis is just one episode in the Balkan crisis which has lasted already two decades.

The Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) arranged in Helsinki the 7th March a seminar about the Kosovo situation. Mr Ahtisaari was the keynote speaker. He told his experiences about the birth process of a new state. Dr Tanja Tamminen had returned from Kosovo three days before the seminar. She told about the feelings in Kosovo: the happiness caused by the independence could still be seen there. People were smiling in the streets of Pristina.

As United Nations Special Envoy for the Kosovo status process. Mr Ahtisaari led the negotiations. He has done a paper called "Guiding principles of the Contact Group for a settlement of the status of Kosovo" (here is a link to it). This paper consists of ten principles which should be followed when the administration of independent Kosovo is created.

Ahtisaari described the Kosovo situation to be a sui general:

"I do not know any other crisis situation with a similar history. Belgrad (the government of Serbia) knew already 2006 what would be the conclusion of the negotiations", he explained. "United Nations should have given an order to the Serbian authorities that you have some years time to arrange a functioning administration in Kosovo."

The Guiding principles of the Contact group demands that in Kosovo "a negotiated solution should be an international priority. Once the process has started, it cannot be blocked and must be brought to a conclusion."

THE IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

The Guiding principles for a settlement of the status of Kosovo consists of ten important aspects which should be followed when creating the constitution and other laws in the independent state of Kosovo.

First, the settlement of the Kosovo issue should be compatible with international standards of human rights and international law.

Secondly, as Kosovo is an European country, it's system of law should conform with democratic values and European standards.

Thirdly, the settlement should ensure multi ethnicity. It should provide effective constitutional guarantees and appropriate mechanisms to ensure human rights for all citizens in Kosovo, including the right of refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes in safety.

Also, the settlement should provide mechanisms to ensure the participation of all Kosovo communities in government, both on the central and on the local level. Effective structures of local self government should be established through decentralization keeping in mind the coexistence of different communities.

The settlement should safeguard the protection of the cultural and religious heritage in Kosovo.

And the settlement of Kosovo’s status should strengthen regional security and stability. There should be no changes in the current area of Kosovo.

The seventh principle is the security of Kosovo. The new country should not pose a military or security threat to its neighbours.

And, the settlement of Kosovo’s status should promote effective mechanisms to strengthen Kosovo’s ability to enforce the rule of law, to fight organized crime and terrorism and safeguard the multiethnic character of the police and the judiciary.

It is also important that Kosovo can develop in a sustainable way both economically and politically and that it can cooperate effectively with international organizations and international financial institutions.

The last principle states that for some time Kosovo needs international civilian and military presence to ensure security and especially protection for minorities. There is also a need to monitor and support the administration.

KOSOVOAN PEOPLE CELEBRATE STILL INDEPENDENCE

The other speakers in the seminar were Professor Judy Batt and Dr Tanja Tamminen.

Like Ahtisaari also Batt claimed that Serbian authorities knew that Kosovo’s separation would happen but they did not prepare themselves to adjust for that. Batt gave a good description for the word “self determination”. It is people’s right to live under a government which represents them.

Tamminen had arrived from Kosovo three days before the seminar. She said the atmosphere there was still quite unbelievable and independence celebrations continued. In the Albanian part of the country people did not seem to worry about the reactions in the Serbian parts of Kosovo. People were just happy that the independence was finally achieved.

Anyway, the future problems are big. Kosovo is a poor country. It has the youngest population in Europe: 70 per cent of the people are under 35 years old.

“The biggest problems of Kosovo are corruption and organized crime. Now the most important things are to create a functioning administration and economical growth”, she said.

“People believe that law is the source for peace. But it is politics,” explained Judy Batt. She believes that Serbia will continue to finance some parallel administration in Kosovo but they should not finance parallel police forces.

All the speakers believed that there is need for donor money from abroad as Kosovo is a post war society. Ahtisaari said that custom duties are very important and they should be established quickly.

UN COULD NOT SOLVE KOSOVO CRISIS

Martti Ahtisaari was president of Finland 1994-2000. After that he has been the chairman in Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) which is dealing with international crisis and conflict resolution. 2005 Ahtisaari led peace negotiations between the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government.

At the beginning of September 2007 CMI arranged a seminar in Helsinki for representatives of various Iraqi groups. Ahtisaari was the chairman of this meeting but all details of it were kept secret.

Martti Ahtisaari is a respected person but there is also criticism against his decisions. Some people claim that Kosovo's independence declaration was done in too big hurry. It would have been better to let United Nations to solve the crisis. If the rights of the Serbian minority in Kosovo are not quarantined now there will be new ethnic problems in the future. Russia does not accept the independence of Kosovo. Ahtisaari answered this criticism in Helsinki:

“The war in Kosovo ended already 1999. UN and Security Council have been unable to deal with the issue.” He added that Kosovo has developed these years towards independency. This is a fact which international community must accept now.

Daily newspaper Xebat published in Hewler The Guiding principles for a settlement of the status of Kosovo, they are in Kurdish here.

Who is winner in the battles?

2008-03-04T21:15:00.002+02:00

The eight days long battles between TSK and PKK have been very important news and a surprising event. Maybe every one else Kurdish blogger has written about it except me. The reason for that is that I write now a new book and I felt I do not have time to write a proper analysis about the situation.

So I better explain my view in a few words. Now Turkey and PKK argue who is winner of the battles. I think both of them are. Not in the sense they claim: how many enemy fighters they have killed. But in peace both partners win. Now Turkey has started de facto a cease fire, without claiming it. I am sure all mothers of Turkish soldiers are happy about it, even if they do not say it openly.

There has been demands from all around the world that Turkey should give Kurds more cultural rights and economical inputs to the area. Some commentary demand this also in Turkey, despite they use very hawkish words claiming that there is now need for another strategy to take the support of Kurdish people away from PKK. That would happen by giving Kurds in Turkey more rights.

Well, isn’t that PKK has been demanding all the time? Why they would be fighting if the Kurds would have right to mass media and education in mother language?

Some other people speak about the possibility that DTP would lose the mayor elections in important cities, like Amed, next year in the local elections. That is a little bit difficult to believe, but people have the right to vote whom they like. But mayor from some other party than DTP in Amed would not make it less Kurdish city. Think the situation in Van, my favourite place: the mayor Burhan Yenigün is from AKP. But Van is pure Kurdish city. Main difference what Yenigün seems to have created there compared to DTP mayor cities is that it is difficult to find breakfast or lunch in Ramazan during the oruc. Being a devoted Muslim does not mean that one can not have Kurdish identity. I advice people who suppose this that they visit offices of Mazlum Der in Southeast Turkey!

My article in Xebat

2008-02-25T10:09:00.001+02:00

My post of yesterday, how global media sees Turkey's attack to South Kurdistan, is published today in Xebat newspaper in Hewler. The Kurdish text is here.

Also news agency Peyamner has put this text on its list.

Kurds became top story in global media

2008-02-24T09:41:00.007+02:00

Last decade Turkish troops went and came across the Iraqi boarder as they liked and Western media did not pay much attention on that. Last autumn, when Kurdistan Labour Party PKK did a very successful attack to Daglica near Hakkari, the situation in Kurdistan became the top story of the world media. How ever, it disappeared from the headlines also quickly.

Turkey’s attack to North Iraq was the most important story on Saturday the 23rd February in the front page of Finland’s biggest daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. And also other European mass media has paid lots of attention to the attack.

An interesting change to their previous reporting is that instead of writing ”PKK terrorists” media uses now often terms ”PKK fighters” or ”PKK guerrillas”. There is still no in-depth understanding about the Kurdish question but it seems that the Kurds are now finally taking the place in the international media what they deserved already long time ago.

British quality newspaper The Independent wrote about the attack with title ”The new invasion on Iraq”. It is good to keep in mind that Britons are the second largest group of the soldiers occupying Iraq and the very many British people demand the removal of their soldiers from Iraq. In London there will be the 15th March a big demonstration against the Iraqi war. Let’s see how much attention the second invasion on Iraq will get there.

Turkey’s hopes that the world would accept or at least ignore the attack to Kurdistan are in vain. European Union and many countries, for example Germany, demands the operation to be very limited both geographically and in duration.

According to Bloomberg also U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates called on Turkey to wrap up as quickly as possible its latest military incursion into northern Iraq to combat Kurdish fighters. Gates also said Turkey won't be able to solve the problem of cross-border Kurdish raids through purely military means.

Kurdistan Regional Government calls on Turkey to withdraw troops. The statement of KRG says that the people of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq must not yet again be made to suffer as a result of what is in reality an internal Turkish political issue.

I think the decisions of KRG are now most important for the development of the situation. The key person is president Masoud Barzani. He has possibility to act in a way which increases the understanding and co-operation between the Kurds or either deepens the disagreements.

Traditionally, Kurds from Iraq and Turkey have not had much contacts and communication with each others, but this attack affects both of them. Thanks to the new information technology they can follow the situation almost in real time. Satellite televisions and the internet are also forums to discuss the consequences. The coming days and weeks will show how much this war will unite Kurdish Diaspora communities from various parts of Kurdistan.

Now everyone outside Turkey is talking about dialogue and political solution. Kristina Nagy, European Commission spokeswoman, said reporters in Brussels on Friday: "We encourage Turkey to continue to fulfil dialogue with international partners on this matter."

Let’s hope Turkey and Turkish people understand this because a peaceful solution to the crisis would benefit also them.

London yesterday, Helsinki today

2008-02-20T22:43:00.007+02:00

London, the 19 th February 2008

Helsinki the 20th February 2008

Sahmaran has been quiet for some time. Unfortunately I have been so busy with other things that I have not had time to write posts here. In the future I try write here once in a week, but let’s see if I can keep this promise as I try to write also other things ....

I just came home from London, here are some pictures. I was planning to visit London in April or May to enjoy the beautiful English spring. But there is no need to make another journey, just look at the pictures! (It would be interesting to know how the climate change is affecting Kurdistan!)

Where the storm was biggest?

2008-02-04T21:41:00.000+02:00

When I write this post in Helsinki, the weather is windy and stormy. Like most days this winter.

Last autumn and this winter I have participated quite many Kurdish and other demonstrations. And when and where the storm was biggest? Just look at the pictures which I have taken.... in addition that you can see from them that the weather was bad you surely also understand how much I felt cold when I took these snaps.... The first picture is from Brussels, 2007.

London. 2007

Helsinki. 2007

Helsinki, in front of Turkish Embassy, the 19th January 2008.

So let’s hope that if Turkey attacks South Kurdistan it will happen in spring or summer when the weather is warm! That would make life a little bit easier for us, the friends of Kurds who live in cold countries.

Remembering Hrant Dink

2008-01-19T20:47:00.000+02:00

Thirty people gathered today outside the Turkish embassy in Helsinki to remember Hrant Dink and to put there candles for him.

The weather was as bad as last year. It was stormy, rainy and wind was 21 meter per second. All pictures which I took are bad. But this picture which a friend took of me is good.

LIKE publishing house remembered Hrant Dink by keeping his picture is the sale desk in their book shops in Helsinki. This picture is from their shop in Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.

One year from the murder of Hrant Dink and the case is not clear

2008-01-19T11:53:00.000+02:00

Turkish people were shocked on the 19th January last year when Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of the Armenian magazine Agos, was shot dead in Istanbul. Since the dreadful years of the early 1990s journalists have not been murdered in Turkey despite there has been other political murders.

After the murder of Hrant Dink Turkish people made it clear that they do not accept return to this period of fear. Instead they want reforms. Thousands of people marched in the streets of Istanbul in the day of Dink's funeral. Columnists in daily newspapers demanded that the case must be examined to the deepest bottom. Almost no one believed that seventeen years old Ogün Samast had acted alone.

There were speculations in Turkish mass media that the murder was arranged by a Trabson network. Trabson is a town by the Black Sea. There were doubts about the involvement of Jitem, the intelligence service of the gendarmerie. Some pictures in internet upset Turkish people. In one of them Dink's murderer Samast hold Turkish flag and posed with policemen who were smiling. In another picture Veli Kücük, a previous chairman of Jitem, was with Alparslan Arslan, who murdered the top judge in Ankara one and half years ago.

But police came to the conclusion that a group of friends murdered Dink on their own initiative.

When there is any scandal connected to the state, first the Turkish mass media demands proper survey about the case, but usually the processing then cools down without any results.

So it happened also with the murder of Hrant Dink. In January 2007 it was the main news topic for several days in Turkish mass media. But when the trial against Samast and his "friends" started in July, the main stream newspapers made about it only small stories.

"We are all Armenians" slogans were forgotten quickly. But similar white caps as shooter Samast had used became popular in the streets of Turkish towns. This is a sign of anti-Armenian feelings.

Veli Kücük, the ex-chief of jandarma, felt so insulted about the implications targeted to him that he filed a court case against the family of Hrant Dink and their advocate and demanded 5500 euro compensation from them. This trial started in September in Istanbul.

Due to his articles in Agos magazine Hrant Dink had been accused by Article 301 of the Turkish penal code. This article criminalises denigration of Turkishness. During two and half years 120 Turkish intellectuals have got a prison sentence due to this article. All prosecutions have not led to a verdict. For example prosecutor removed the trial of Nobel prize winning author Orhan Pamuk.

The trial against Hrant Dink continued still two months after his death.
Only a few days before his death Hrant Dink had contacted the governor of Istanbul and told about the death threats he had received. He did not get any help. Now the situation is different. The state has arranged bodyguards for twenty journalists and writers. Orhan Pamuk is one of them.

This is only the first step in solving the problems of freedom of expression in Turkey. The most important issue is reform or abolition of Article 301. Also the European Union demands this.
During the anniversary of Hrant Dink's murder Turkish politicians have remembered the issue. Justice minister Mehmet Ali Sahin told at the end of December about innovations coming soon. But they are very small, for example the phrase "Turkishness" is to be replaced by "the state of the Republic of Turkey". But the change of a few words does not solve this problem.

And by the way, in addition to Article 301 there are at least fourteen other laws which give tools for the authorities to limit the freedom of expression. If Article 301 will be abolished, the present restrictions may not continue by using the other laws.

British discussion: Twin approach to the Kurdish question

2008-01-03T19:56:00.000+02:00

Last year I visited England four times and during three journeys I was in the British Parliament in a Kurdish or Armenian meeting. I did not plan my journeys according to the seminars, but every time I went to London there seemed to be something important going on.

In picture: Mark Muller

Armenians have been talented for years in making lobby and now Kurds are learning the same skill.

There seems to be such understanding towards the Kurdish question in Great Britain what is missing in other European countries. Maybe it is the long war in Northern Ireland which has taught Britons to understand the many aspects of armed conflicts and especially the importance to end them. And of course the presence of British troops in Iraq increases public awareness to all issues in the region.

Lawyer Mark Muller is a hard-working man, a regular speaker in seminars.

Last June Muller said that there is a Kurdish entity in South Kurdistan.

"Turkish nationalists are right when they are afraid, they can not prohibit that a Kurdish state will be created", he believed.

Muller has practical approach towards the Kurdish question.

"In peace negotiations it is question about what helps, not about what is right or wrong", he said.
Despite the big problems Mark Muller had in June an optimistic attitude:

"We live now a very critical moment, but there is also a possibility for good seeds. Sometimes there is a solution and a new way of acting in the biggest crisis", he said in a seminar held in the British Parliament.

But Mark Muller was very serious in December in Brussels in the conference of the EU Turkey Civic Commission and spoke about the importance of critical planning until the beginning of May 2008.

He did not believe that there would be any purely political or military solution to the problem in Southeast Turkey. A twin approach is needed because there are many military and geopolitical aspects.

"The Kurdish issue in Turkey and the PKK issue are not identical despite they might be closely linked," he said. There are geopolitical aspects where PKK is not involved, like Turkey's relationship with Iraq and Iran. So these issues should be treated separately, he advised.

Mark Muller was again one of the speakers in a meeting in the British Parliament the 17th December. He explained how different AKP government is to previous Turkish governments and what opportunities this creates in the democracy development.

"The failure to move towards democracy is the biggest problem in Turkey. The Kurdish issue is only a reflection of this", he said.

"It is not question of Kurds on the one side and the Turks on the other side, or secularists against the islamists. People are targeting towards democracy. Turkey's democratization is much larger issue than only the Kurdish question", Muller explained.

Muller reminded that Britain has experience of complicated peace negotiations in North Ireland. This knowledge could be used for the benefit of Kurds.

Britain has its special responsibility to participate in the search of solution to the Kurdish question. It was one of the countries behind the Lausanne Treaty. If any country supports a declaration which claims that there is no Muslim minority when there is millions of such persons, the country must meet also the consequences.

MP Sebahat Tuncel in British Parliament

2007-12-20T21:59:00.000+02:00

MP Sebahat Tuncel was one of the speakers in a meeting which was held in in the British Parliament, House of Commons, in London on Monday the 17th December 2007. The meeting was hosted by MP Simon Hughes.

Sebahat Tuncel told that DTP is calling Turkey to stop its attacks against Kurds in North Iraq.
”Kurds are not demanding anything special, only the right to use their own language. They want to have education and mass media in Kurdish”, she told. DTP wants also more power to the local authorities.

Sebahat Tuncel was elected last summer to Turkish Parliament by 300 000 votes from Istanbul. This is the biggest amount of votes any candidate has got in parliamentary elections during the history of the republic of Turkey. Ms. Tuncel believes also Turks have voted her.

MP Simon Hughes expressed many times during his speech that now it is time to look for practical steps to achieve peace.

”There must be cultural and linguistic diversity, it is the word of the day”, said Mr. Hughes who visited Turkey October 2007.

Lawyer Mark Muller said that Turkey’s biggest problem is that it has not been able to move towards democracy. Kurdish issue is only one reflection of this.

”There has been a belief for example in the EU that economical reforms in the Southeast and some changes in the constitution would solve the problems. But now we know that this is not the case”, he said.

Professor Michael M. Günter was thinking the same way when he explained that solving Kurdish question would open road to full democratization in Turkey.

His experience from Diyarbakir was that despite PKK is labelled as a terrorist organization it is difficult to find Kurds who want to criticize it.

Journalist Jonathan Fryer pointed out that Turkey is denying its multicultural roots.

There were many interesting points in public discussion. Some one said AKP got so many votes during last elections because it opposed military and the war in North Iraq. But if there would be elections now, it would not got so many votes in the Southeast.

Some one else complained that Turkish generals visit US and EU as if they were politicians. This must change, military must stay away from politics!

Pictures: on the top: Big Ben in Westminster, London, in the Christmas lights. The meeting was hold in Committee Room 6 in the House of Commons. In the middle the chairman of the meeting, MP Simon Hughes. MP Sebahat Tuncel sits next to him. Pictures: Kristiina Koivunen

This was a good meeting, especially because of the practical attitude of Simon Hughes. Now is is time to think how the war could be avoided, we have heard hundreads of times what the problems are.

It would benefit also the Turks if there would be more autonomy for the local authorities. It is needed as well in Western Turkey as in Southeast Turkey.

Final resolutions of EUTCC conference which was held in Brussels at the beginning of December 2007 describe the main issues of peace and political solution for the Kurdish question in Turkey.

EUTCC Conference in Brussels: Turkey must put its promises into action!

2007-12-09T08:47:00.000+02:00

The European Parliament in Brussels.

Leyla Zana.

Some days ago, the 3.-4. December, there was an important conference about the future of the Kurds. It was arranged by a NGO, EU Turkey Civic Commission. The conference was held in the European Parliament in Brussels.

This conference was a forum for discussion. It reflected the atmosphere in Kurdistan and feelings of the Kurds. And how is the Kurdish atmosphere now? Courageous and optimistic. Recent news from Turkey show that common awareness is increasing about the Kurdish question. More and more Turkish people understand that this problem is endemic source for instability in Turkey and a solution must be found.

This conference was arranged for the fourth time, but for me it was the first time I attended it. The people who had been there earlier said this was the best of the four EUTCC conferences.
Turkish Kurds run now a campaign called "Edi bes e" - It is enough! These words describe well the atmosphere of the conference. One of the speakers, Dutch green MEP Joost Lagendijk, put it this way: "Now the situation is that EU criticises and Turkey promises to make changes but in practise nothing happens." This must change! This demand was repeated by speaker after each other, for example by Leyla Zana, Ahmet Türk, Akin Birdal and Nurettin Demirtas.

It depends on the political development during the next five months whether there will be war or peace. British lawyer Mark Muller talked about the need for a new way of thinking. "In peace negotiations it is question about what helps, not about what is right or wrong", he explained. Muller did not believe that there would be any purely political or military solution to the problem. A twin approach is needed because there are many military and geopolitical aspects.

Mr Muller spoke about the historical responsibility of his country Britain. He said also that Britain has lots of knowledge in peace processes due its experience of creating peace in North Ireland.

Like many other speakers, Mark Muller wanted EU to be more active in demanding change in Turkey. Some other speakers demanded EU to make time table for Turkey in the democracy process.

Next year will be the fifth anniversary of EU Turkey Civic Commission and it already plans a big new conference. There are many ideas for it, for example that there should be participants also from South Kurdistan, despite the topic will be the Turkish part of Kurdistan. There were some Iranian Kurds already in the conference of 2007. One of them was psychiatrist Kamal H. Artin, who come to Brussels from California, American west coast. He was critical on Nurettin Demirtas who demanded democratic autonomy. Artin wants the Kurdish target to be an independent state.

Kamal H. Artin had sat twenty hours in aeroplane travelling to Brussels. The next day after the conference he returned to California. "It was boring to travel so long time but it was worth of it to get the opportunity to say my opinion", he told.

Mark Muller and Joost Lagendijk.

Ahmet Türk and Nurettin Demirtas.

Rewbar Fatah and Kamal H. Artin.

Akin Birdal.

Akin Birdal, Dogu Ergil and Ahmet Türk.

Pictures: Kristiina Koivunen.

Fourth International Conference on EU, Turkey and the Kurds

2007-12-04T22:16:00.000+02:00

Ahmet Türk, I and Nurettin Demirtas.

Greetings from Brussel where the fourth International Conference on EU, Turkey and the Kurds is just over. It was held in the European Parliament.

This is my favourite picture from it, despite the light is not enough.

I write more about the conference when I get back to Finland. Now I write with a computer that has French system and it is very slowly to write.

Kurdish possibilities: the collapse of Ottoman Empire and the collapse of Iraq

2007-11-26T16:06:00.000+02:00

Kurdistan is now in the turning point of its history. During the First World War, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Kurds could not use that historical opportunity to gain their rights. Now another country, Iraq, is breaking down and the Kurdish leaders use cleverly the situation for the benefit of the Kurds.

Many decisions which were made at the beginning of last century have turned out to be wrong. Nations have arranged better solutions with bitter wars or at other heavy cost. Do you remember countries like Soviet Union and Yugoslavia? They had their roots in times of the first world war. Also the present division of Kurdistan was made at the same time.

The problem of Kurds is their inability to make cooperation with each others. Because of this their enemies have been able to control Kurds with the policy of "divide and rule". This situation will continue as long time as the Kurds can not negotiate with each others about their common targets and the Kurdish benefits.

If the partition process of Iraq continues there will independent state Kurdistan. This is frightening scenario for Turkey which has twenty million Kurdish citizens. When they compare their own situation to the conditions of free Kurds, is there anything good they can say about their own country?

World is not the same any more as it was ninety years ago. Nations should learn from mistakes made by other nations. Kurds have suffered too much as there has been many wars. And also their enemies have suffered. Everyone would benefit about a political solution to this problem. Now it is time to use diplomacy instead of weapons. England and France, who won the First World War, must carry their responsibility in solving problems which are caused by their wrong decisions at that time.

A mediator is necessary in solving difficult armed conflicts and threats of them. There are international organizations capable of arranging peace negotiations. One of them is Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It is active also outside Europe, for example in Afghanistan. Next year my country Finland will be the chairman of OSCE. Despite Finland is a small country with a population of five million people, it has lots of experience in peace negotiating activities and other diplomatic work under difficult conditions.

The second division of Kurdistan?

2007-11-15T12:19:00.000+02:00

The European Commission made its 2007 progress report public through a press release on 6th November. The first Kurdish comments are very critical. It is not a surprise that the European Commission neglects the problems of the Kurds. Its attitude has been all the time during Turkey's EU membership negotiations to close the eyes from the Kurdish question.

This attitude is just a continuation of the Lausanne Treaty where many European countries participated. In this Treaty Kurdistan was divided by four countries. Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria (or the colonies which are nowadays independent countries) took each a piece of Kurdistan. England and France accepted this. Now they want to sharpen the division of Kurdistan by putting the boarder of EU in the middle of Kurdistan.

Kurds have been controlled by the principle of "divide and rule" for centuries. If the northern part of Kurdistan would be inside EU and other parts outside it, this would be one more method of foreign rule in Kurdistan. One new strategy to hinder the cooperation between the Kurds.

But this strategy does not work any more. At the end of last century Kurds in Turkey had great hopes for EU but in vain. After understanding the disappointment they looked for cooperation to the south instead of the west. Also cooperation with Kurds and South Kurdistan instead of EU. This has already benefited Kurds in both parts of Kurdistan.

If EU would pay attention to the Kurdish question and the Kurdish upraising EU would benefit also itself. European Union needs Turkey as its member. The population in EU countries is getting older and there is need for new labour. Turkey is an answer for Europe's needs, a reservoir of labour. EU will miss this possibility if Turkey's membership negotiations fail. And this will happen if Turkey becomes more unstable country.

The Kurdish question is the biggest problem in Turkey but EU refuses to see it. If there will be no peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, it is not only a question whether Turkey will be member in EU or not. But EU will have in its neighbourhood an unstable and dangerous country.

European mass media has started to write more and better articles about the Kurds. Still there is no understanding how complicated the situation is and how dangerous it would be even for EU countries if there will be a war between Turkey and South Kurdistan or a full scale civil war in Turkey.

European people seem to believe still that if Turkey's membership negotiations do not lead to a good direction the situation will remain as it is now. Let's hope they understand the situation before it is too late. The refusal of EU to see the Kurdish question is based on a false imagine that there would be time for ever to wait that Turkey voluntarily starts solving its problems.

Turkish embassy in Helsinki today (the 13th November 2007)

2007-11-13T21:31:00.000+02:00

The red point behind the tree is Turkish flag. Turkish embassy is on the second floor of this building.

There has been reports of riots between Kurdish and Turkish demonstrators in various European cities. In Helsinki the demonstration was peaceful. There are almost no Turkish immigrants in Finland, only some Turkish men who have married a Finnish lady and assimilated to the Finnish society. The Kurdish community is active and makes good cooperation with police who are always ready to make the necessary traffic arrangements when it is time to use the freedom of expression by arranging a demonstration.

Yes we do have snow in Helsinki, today is the first day it came. The weather was also horribly windy which can not be seen from these pictures. It was fun for the kids who used their time by making snowballs in the park in front of the Turkish embassy.

Most of the Kurdish men work in pizza restaurants in Helsinki. As it was still lunch time during this demonstration they sent their wives and children to the demonstration.

Greetings from a marginal country

2007-11-06T18:41:00.000+02:00

The internationally recognised image of Turkey is one of touristic indulgences, whirling dervishes and successful secularism. Within this idealised representation the status of the Kurds is lost. This is not only the case in the international version but also extends to the representation of Kurds in Turkey. In modern Turkey, Kurdish civil society is developing rapidly. Kurds are becoming increasing politically aware and organized in order to solve their problems of recognition. Yet the Kurdish voice is silenced, sometimes brutally.

The eerie silence of the Kurdish voice extends also to Europe. Social activism is described as terrorism. The old adage of one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist fits appropriately in the case of the Kurds in Turkey.

Despite the mass symbolic gagging of the Kurdish voice news trickles through. The atrocities against Kurds in the Southeast of Turkey received limited coverage. This is in part related to the difficulties in getting news out of the country. No news agency has a permanent correspondent in Turkey in a location further east than Ankara. They are instead reliant on Turkish mass media for their news. This poses a serious threat to objectivity as the Turkish media is heavily censored by the authorities. Official censorship impacts profoundly on the representation of Kurds in the international community.

The public opinion and sympathy usually lies with the victims of armed conflicts. But in the case of the Kurds in Turkey it is the opposite with the international community siding with the Turkish state. Due partly to the lack of the Kurdish voice and flows of information from Kurdish areas but more significantly to the fact that Turkey has forced itself into a powerful lobbying position within the discourse of the War on Terror and counts among its friends America and the United Kingdom.

FINLAND, A SUPERPOWER IN DIPLOMACY

I have followed the situation of the Kurds for more than ten years. I have seen the huge problems but also the national awakening and rapid development of the liberation movement. Kurdish associations both in Kurdistan and in Europe are flexible and adopt all the time new methods when it is question about organising the Kurds. But these abilities disappear strangely when they should make contacts with European organisations.

I hope my readers understand that my critique is not intended to add to the negative representation of the Kurds, but instead it is intended to aid understanding of the problem. I have become very frustrated many times as I have felt the problems could be solved when working with other methods and other attitudes.

I am from Finland. Finland is located between East and West, it is a neighbour country of the former Soviet Union and present Russia with more than one thousand kilometres of land boarder. Since it became independent 1917 the main principle of Finnish foreign policy has been to balance with this neighbour. Finland is a small country in the amount of population (five million people) but a super power in diplomacy. Surviving with our big neighbour has taught Finnish diplomats to be very skilful. It is not a coincidence that in EU the commissioner for enlargement is from Finland. Finnish people are specialists in difficult diplomacy.

Olli Rehn is just one example. Other ones are Martti Ahtisaari, Harri Holkeri, Elisabeth Rehn, Helena Ranta and late Matti Wuori. Green MP Pekka Haavisto is one of the very few people who developed and maintained a personal relationship with the leaders of all parties in the Darfour crisis.

KURDI-KURDI -DIPLOMACY IS NOT ENOUGH

When looking at Finland from the Kurdish perspective there is one thing which makes it different to other Western European countries. The Turkish lobby is very weak in Finland. There are no Turkish immigrants except some Turkish men who have met a Finnish lady in Antalya beach and followed her to Finland.

But there are thousands of Kurdish refugees in my country, and compared to other European countries, the Kurdish plight receives sympathy from the general public. Finland and Kurdistan shared certain historical similarities. Finland was part of Russia until the First World War and during the period of 1939-1944 we had two wars against Soviet Union. We know what is to fight against an enormous enemy!

When campaigning for a political solution for the Kurdish question, what conclusions these facts bring to your mind: a country which is super power in diplomacy having sympathy for the Kurds, with no Turkish lobby?

Well, I have explained these facts during last ten years for many Kurdish activists. Their reaction has always been the same: Finland is marginal country which is not important for the Kurdish movement because the Kurdish community in Finland is small, only some thousand people.

Until now I have not met even one Kurd who would understand the special character of Finland's history. Or who would be at least interested in it, not even among the ones who have lived a long time in Finland. It is difficult to make cooperation with someone if you are interested only about yourself and do not want to know your partner.

It has surprised me that many Kurds know the battle of Raatteentie of January 1940 where 17 500 Soviet soldiers died (compared to the fallen 900 Finnish soldiers). Kurds respect how Finns won the battle by using methods which would nowadays be described as guerrilla warfare. But they do not know the meaning of this single battle in the whole war - not even to speak about the reflects of the war to the present foreign policy in Finland.

TIME TO LEARN NEW SKILS

The reasons behind the problems in Kurdish diplomacy are clear. For decades it has been forbidden for them for them to study their own culture and history. When there are finally some possibilities for that - at least in the Diaspora community - it is understandable that people spent all their time in doing it. But it would be so much easier to learn from others' mistakes instead of experiencing same mistakes by oneself and learning by this rocky road!
Also there is huge lack of activists. 30 000 PKK guerrillas have died in the war. There are thousands Kurdish politicians in Turkish prisons, and thousands others have been forced to escape to Europe where they face other problems. There is huge amount of Kurds who have mental or physical problems caused by torture, deportation, political violence on their family members etc. I do not even try to estimate their numbers. Each story of the victims - the fallen guerrillas, the disappeared, the injured, the prisoners, the refugees - is a human tragedy.
But these atrocities have also the practical consequence that there is lack of huge amount of people who could have developed the Kurdish movement if the conditions would have been different. The target of the Turkish state was to destroy the Kurdish movement when it targeted individual members of it. Also the problems of the Kurdish diplomacy is a result of this.
Despite all these problems, the only way to solve the Kurdish question is that Kurds learn to make international cooperation. We, the foreign friends of Kurds, can assist in this. But Kurdish diplomacy can be done only by the Kurds themselves.

Trials in Turkey this week

2007-11-03T12:13:00.000+02:00

I friend sent this information from Turkey, thanks! I forward it to Sahmaran's readers.

As more than 100 people have been on trial under TPC article 301 since 1 June 2005, 22 people have been on trial during July-September 2007 period. Among them the late chief editor of AGOS weekly Hrant Dink who was assasinated, and Nobel winner Orhan Pamuk, and many other journalist, writer and academic.

This week's '301' victims are journalist Hacı Boğatekin, publisher Ahmet Önal and writer Murat Çoskun. Boğatekin is charged over his article published in "Fırat Gerger" newspaper, Önal and Coşkun are charged over the book "Language of Suffering".

"Freedom of Expression" Trials of this week:

Accused : Haci Bogatekin
Court and Date of Hearing : Gerger Criminal Court of First Instance, 06 November 2007 at 10:00 am
Introduction : Journalist Boğatekin is charged with ¨openly insulting the state¨ over and anonymous article published ¨Gerger Fırat Newspaper¨. The article wrote ¨State made a mistake. Where and When?. Yesterday in the East and South East, and then in İstanbul. In Maraş and Sivas. Today in Trabzon, Mersin and the south east.

Accused : Muzaffer Erdogdu on behalf of Pencere Publishers, Ahmet Guner, Taner Akcam
Court and Date of Hearing : Ankara 6th Legal Court of First Instance, 08 November 2007 at 09:35 am
Introduction : Republic People Party (CHP) MP Şükrü Elekdağ opened a case over the book “Treatment of Armenians in Ottoman Empire, 95-96” against the publisher Muzaffer Erdogdu, the translator Ahmet Guner and the historian Taner Akçam whose article was published in the book. Elekdağ claimed 20.000 Turkish Liras of compensation.

Accused : Ahmet Onal, Murat Coskun
Court and Date of Hearing : Beyoglu 2nd. Criminal Court of First İnstance, 08 November 2007 at 10:15 am
Introduction : Writer Murat Coskun and owner of Peri publishing house Ahmet Onal stand trial for Murat Coskun´s book ¨The language of suffering: Woman¨

Europe sees the crisis but does not understand it

2007-10-28T21:00:00.000+02:00

This post I write in England. The tension on the Iraqi-Turkish boarder has been one of the main news in the European mass media. But here is not much understanding about the complexity of the Kurdish question.

The news concentrate on PKK. Before I came to London some journalists called me from the Finnish Broadcasting Company. It was easy to understand from their questions that they did not understand much about the problem. Their main interest was to know how many Kurds support PKK.

Some journalists write that if Turkey attacks North Iraq it might have also some other purposes than the destruction of PKK. They understand that Turkey would like to occupy North Iraq to prevent Kurdistan Regional Government to give independence declaration. But these news do not have any details. For example they do not tell about the Kerkuk referendum and Article 140.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in London on Tuesday the 23rd October. His program was kept secret opposite to what is the normal practice during such visits. Also the British government was afraid for demonstrations against his visit. And for good reason. The Kurdish community is preparing demonstrations against the war.

If Turkey really starts the war the demonstrations might became massive. In Europe there is strong peace movement and it has lots of experience in arranging protests against the Iraq war.

In Turkey the self censorship of mass media is reaching an alarming level. Whole the world is against Turkey's war plans but Turkish people do not know it. Instead television programmes tell them that Turks are now as strong than during the Ottoman times. Well, every one outside Turkey knows the truth.

On Sunday one week ago PKK captured eight soldiers in Hakkari. When it gave their pictures to the publicity, Turkish TV channels did not showe these pictures and only very Turkish news papers printed them.

One of the few Turkish journalists who has critised the war plans is Lale Sariibrahimoglu. She is columnist in Today's Zaman and correspondent of Jane's Defence Weekly's. It is one of the leading magazines in the world about military issues. Mrs. Sariibrahimoglu has been writing to it sixteen years. She says about Turkey's war plans that Turkey is shooting itself to the foot.

Last week Mrs. Sariibrahimoglu had a trial in Istanbul. The prosecutor claims that she has insulted the military by one of her articles. According to the Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code this is a crime.

Winter is coming but Turkey's army wants to send its sons to the Kurdish mountains. If the war really starts how the Turkish people feel when they learn the truth only by bitter experience? That the Ottoman time is over.

Whole the world speaks now about negotiations and a peaceful solution to this crisis. Turkish people should listen to these speeches. Also they would benefit if there would be political solution to the Kurdish question. Peace is not a defeat for Turkey.

Happy Bayram to journalists in Turkey!

2007-10-12T20:41:00.000+03:00

Bayramı Kutlu Olsun!

Twenty three journalists celebrate Bayram in Turkish prisons. The journalists are:

1- İbrahim Çiçek (Atılım Gazetesi), Tekirdağ No 2 F Type Prison
2- Sedat Şenoğlu (Atılım Gazetesi), Edirne No 1 F Type Prison
3- Füsun Erdoğan (Özgür Radyo), Gebze Special Type Prison, Gebze/Kocaeli
4- Hasan Coşar (Atılım Gazetesi), Sincan F Type Prison, Ankara
5- Ziya Ulusoy (Atılım Gazetesi), Tekirdağ No 1 F Type Prison
6- Bayram Namaz (Atılım Gazetesi), Edirne No 1 F Type Prison
7- Hatice Duman (Atılım Gazetesi), Gebze Special Type Prison, Gebze/Kocaeli
8- Suat Kolca (Özgür Halk ve Genç Bakış), Edirne F Type Special Prison
9- Yaşar Duman (Özgür Halk ve Genç Bakış), Edirne F Type Closed Prison
10- Selahattin Sumeli (Özgür Halk ve Genç Bakış), Edirne F Type Closed Prison
11- Mahmut Bozdağ (Özgür Halk ve Genç Bakış), Edirne F Type Closed Prison
12- Cem Şahin (Özgür Halk ve Genç Bakış), Tekirdağ No 2 F Type Prison
13- Kemal Aydeniz (Odak Dergisi), Bayrampaşa Prison
14- Erol Zavar (Odak Dergisi), Sincan F Type Prison, Ankara
15- Mustafa Gök (Ekmek ve Adalet Dergisi), Sincan F Type Prison, Ankara
16- Barış Açıkel (İşçi Köylü Gazetesi), Kandıra No 1 F Type Prison, Kocaeli
17- Behdin Tunç (DİHA), Diyarbakır D Type Prison
18- Faysal Tunç (DİHA), Diyarbakır D Type Prison
19- Sabri Adanır (Gündem Gazetesi), Diyarbakır E Type Prison
20- Mehmet Karaaslan (Gündem Gazetesi), Mersin E Type Prison
21- Ali Buluş (DİHA), Mersin E Type Prison
22- Sami Gök (Alınteri Gazetesi), Sincan F Type Prison, Ankara
23- Hüseyin Habip Taşkın (Güney Dergisi, Sosyalist Mezopotamya dergisi and Çoban Ateşi gazetesi), Manisa Prison

Counter insurgency, Kirkuk and Beytüssebap

2007-10-10T09:05:00.000+03:00

The text in Kurdish.

I follow news from Kurdistan via internet. Some web pages are made by Kurds from North Kurdistan, some others are made in South Kurdistan. From there I follow mainly the English pages of News agency Peyamner.

When the tension on the boarder between Turkey and South Kurdistan increases, all Kurdish web pages follow the situation closely. Kurds recognize important news on the other side of the boarder but they concentrate mainly on their own area. In Peymner's internet page there are almost daily news about the problems of Kirkuk. In recent days Kurds in North Kurdistan have admired who did the attack in Beytüssebap. Thirteen people were shot dead there the 29th September. Since PKK announced that it did not do this atrocity Kurds assume that it was counter insurgency made by JITEM, the intelligence service of the gendarmerie. Like the bomb attack in Semdinli November 2005.

Kurds have been ruled for centuries by "divide and rule" principle. Now this is changing as the Kurds do not let it any more to continue. There are many small examples of the change.
One example is from the internet page of Peyamner. It puts the news in various categories, for example "national", "Iraq" and "articles". It is interesting that in the category of "national" there are also news from Kirkuk and North Kurdistan. They are not under the control of KRG but they are Kurdish area. But Peyamner does not publish much information about the problems in the north. And the same way the web pages of Turkish Kurds do not tell much about Kirkuk. This is understandable. There are so much local problems in each part of Kurdistan that it takes all the attention of the people. But if Kurds would know better the situation of other Kurds they would understand how similar their problems are.

Last February Ibrahim Aydogdu, the DTP chairman in Diyarbakir, said that any attack to Kirkuk is like one to Diyarbakir. Now there is a big or small attack in Kirkuk almost every day. There are also diplomatic attacks by Turkey to post pone the referendum. Are the northern Kurds doing something?

Here are many types of war. The traditional war starts by a war declaration. Nowadays low intensity war is much more common. Turkey can not attack Kirkuk by aeroplanes and infantry forces. It would spoil its EU negotiations and tourism business. But there are other warfare methods. Counter insurgency which spoils little by little the daily life in the target areas. Black operations.

At the end of September retired Turkish colonel Erdal Sarizeybek published a book entitled "I Have Seen Betrayal", which tells of his time in Hakkari province. Colonel Sarizeybek writes of how the army created "bearded teams", dressed them in PKK uniforms and sent them ahead to secure roads.

If Turkish army can not reach its targets in Kirkuk by other methods there is danger that JITEM will bring to South Kurdistan similar black operations what it is running now in North Kurdistan.

Remembering Anna Politkovskaja

2007-10-08T11:30:00.000+03:00

Yesterday was the birthday of Vladimir Putin. Maybe you remember what birthday present he got last year....

Journalist Anna Politkovskaja was murdered in Moscow the 7th October 2006.

The Finnish PEN arranged a candle ceremony in front on the Russian Embassy in Helsinki on Sunday the 7th October 2007. These pictures are from there. (Last February we left candles in front of the Turkish Embassy for the memory of Hrant Dink.)

The Russian Embassy in Helsinki. We had to stay on the other side of the street like in February when we met outside the Turkish Embassy.

The woman holding Anna's picture is MP Heidi Hautala.

Demonstration of Umbrellas in Brussels

2007-10-02T15:16:00.000+03:00

Thousands of Kurds gathered in Brussels on Saturday the 29th September 2007. They demanded to get information about the health check up which was made to Abdullah Öcalan in the summer. Really, the doctors must have found something special in their survey as it takes so long time to write the report!

Unfortenately the weather was rainy but it didn't seem to disturb the people who marched kilometres through the down town and listened after that Kurdish music in open air. For me this was a good sight seing tour in Brussels. Just look how attractive statues there are in Brussels!

Pictures by Kristiina Koivunen.

Business is not separate from politics

2007-09-24T20:06:00.000+03:00

Turkish newspaper The New Anatolian wrote the 18th September about the difficulties what Turkish companies have in South Kurdistan as the tension between Turkey and the Kurdish Regional Government increases. According to the newspaper Turkish companies do not have difficulties with the government officials of Nechirvan Barzani but the lower echelons of the Kurdish bureaucracy put up meaningless obstacles for them.

Turkish businessmen should target their complains to their own government and demand it to find a political solution to the Kurdish question. This would benefit them much more than blaming local Kurdish administration.

The New Anatolian represents the Turkish perspective. Kurdish news agency Peyamner had Kurdish view when it quoted Eurasia Daily Monitor the 15th September. According to its analysis the situation of Turkish businessmen has become more difficult because the Turkish government refuses to engage politically with the Kurdish leadership. During the last six months around ten countries have opened a consulate in Hewler but the sole Turkish diplomat operates from a hotel room.

The problems of Turkish companies with Kurdish administration on the local level would be solved if there would be better cooperation on the higher political level. For example Turkish oil company Petoil could export oil if Turkey would sign an agreement about the use of the Kirkuk-Yumutarlik oil pipeline. But according to Eurasia Daily Monitor Turkey does not want to do it because it fears that it would be a de facto recognition of the Kurdish political entity in North Iraq.

There are tens of thousands of Turkish soldiers on the boarder ready to occupy Kirkuk. How Turkish people can expect to be treated friendly in Kurdistan when their army threatens Kurdish political leaders? I give again an example from my country Finland. More than sixty years ago there was a war between Finland and Soviet Union, which is nowadays Russia. This war still affects the public opinion in Finland. People do not have a warm attitude towards Russia. Finland buys oil and gas from Russia, and Finnish construction companies build houses in Russia. But it is not many Russian companies which operate in Finland. No one would buy their products.

Good economical cooperation is based on other good relationships. Turkish companies made a good start in South Kurdistan when the UN sanctions ended. Now they are losing their positions because of the aggressive opinions of the Turkish government and army. The base of the economical structure in the Kurdish autonomous area is designed now for the coming decades. Due to the UN sanctions there was absence of normal infrastructure, many things are being built almost from point zero. If the Turkish companies leave now South Kurdistan companies from other countries take their place. They invest for the future and make later good profits.

Kurdistan will be a rich country when Kirkuk will join the Kurdish area. If Turkish companies lose now their positions in South Kurdistan they will not be able to get them back in the future.