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| Iraq | |
| Fleeing violence, Iraq's Arabs flock to Kurdistan | |
| 2006-09-01 | |
| Fed up with car bombs and death threats, Lazem Hamid, an Iraqi doctor from one of Baghdad's most violent neighbourhoods, decided one day to pack his bags and take his family north to Kurdistan. "I had to leave it all and come here. There was no chance for us in Baghdad. The day we left, our neighbours came out to congratulate us. Life is good here. I have made Kurdish friends," said the 50-year-old microbiology specialist. In June, Hamid set up a private clinic in Sulaimaniya, in partnership with a cardiologist and an orthopaedics specialist — both of whom are also from Baghdad, 330km to the south. Thousands of Arabs like Hamid have arrived among the ethnic Kurds of the soaring northern mountains, fleeing the violence gripping much of Iraq since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in February pushed the country to the brink of civil war. The trend is a stunning reversal for Iraq's Kurdistan, home mainly to non-Arab Kurds. During the 1980s, tens of thousands of Kurds were killed in the region during Saddam Hussein's military campaign, which emptied entire villages. It is not only doctors and academics who have fled north, leaving once-prestigious hospitals and universities in Baghdad without qualified specialists and scholars. Arab labourers from the Shiite south and the Sunni heartland have also sought refuge from the violence. Now, hundreds sleep on cardboard boxes in Suleimaniyah's public parks, scratching out a living in the booming construction sector or working as porters for Kurdish merchants. There are no official figures for the number of Arabs who have resettled in Kurdistan, but anecdotal evidence suggests it has become a magnet for those who can't afford to go abroad.
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| Posted by:Fred |
#3 But some Arabs complain of feeling unwelcome in the far north and Arab-Kurd struggles for control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk remain a potential flash point for conflict. The Kurds were killed and driven out of Kirkuk en-mass and then Saddam's/henchmen gave the Kurd's houses and property out as patronage to his loyal/tribal Sunni families. opinion: if the 'state' of Iraq is eventually partitioned, of course I'd like to see the Kurds lock up the oil reserves and have dominion over Kirkuk. I may be mistaken [don't think so] but I fear that our very own State Department may still pull off an act of massive treachery against the Kurds and sell out their interests to the Turks, or some other Half-brite ME strategery etc. While violence has left much of Iraq's economy in tatters, cities in Kurdistan are prosperous with building cranes popping up and foreign firms looking for bases. Rents have soared, the region offers tax breaks to firms, profits can be transferred out of Kurdistan and foreign companies can own land. yep that be the litmus test, the Kurds are serious. ~~~~ Question: as for more Arab Sunnis or Arab Shi'ites living in Kurdistan? Answer: What is the default character of Arab Sunnis or Arab Shi'ites living in your neighborhood? |
| Posted by: RD 2006-09-01 07:52 |
| #2 I'm afraid you're right, FT. Prejudice and myopia are baggage seldom left behind. |
| Posted by: flyover 2006-09-01 06:44 |
| #1 Now let's watch the sectarian violence start to really escalate in Kurdistan. |
| Posted by: Flitle Thogum8651 2006-09-01 06:34 |