Finally it’s safe to travel to Kurdistan and I am one of 200 people to visit this wonderful place in Iraq. Don’t get me wrong as outside Kurdistan is still very dangerous especially Baghdad and Kirkuk. In fact while I was out there 50 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack.
Firstly some facts I learned while out here. As Kurdistan is 17% of the population of Iraq, they are entitled to 17% of the oil revenues which they receive from Baghdad. This is spent on reconstructing everything you see in Kurdistan, schools, hospitals, roads and even building new malls and fun fares. Yes, they love fun fares and they are popping up all over the place. With this oil money, medical treatments and schooling is paid for by the Kurdish government. It is safe to say that at this rate of construction I have a feeling we are seeing the emergence of a mini Dubai in a few years’ time. I guess this was the best time to visit. Kurdistan in surrounded by turkey, Syria and Iran. Not the friendliest of neighbours and the Kurdish people do hope that Kurdistan will gain its independence one day.
Kurdish people don’t believe in banks. When they get paid, it is in cash. You can see the huge crowds outside their workplace as they wait to be paid. Looks almost like a mini riot, they don’t believe in queues either. The odd bank that I see around the towns are frankly obsolete as all their money is at home and as the crime rate here is almost non-existent home is the safest place to hide your cash.
I started out in Erbil, the Kurdish capital with its international airport with a difference. The waiting area before check in and arrivals is a 3 minute drive away. You have to take a shuttle bus to and from here and I’m not sure if this is part of security.
Erbil is a small city with many cranes filling up the skyline. They are building bigger and taller structures for the foreseeable future. We visited a mosque which is where some kid stole my slippers. I asked my guide if he had hid them as he is so childish I wouldn’t put it past him but he was determined he didn’t. He then said maybe somebody moved it and let’s go to the other part and look for them. As we walked toward another part of the mosque I spotted my slippers on some kid. I called to him and pointed at his feet and motioned with my finger for him to come to me. I told my guide that he was wearing my slipper, he spoke to the boy in Kurdish and then the boy kept uttering the words “I’m sorry” several times. He gave me my slippers and he went back to where he was looking very embarrasses. Thank god I had my favourite slippers back as with this heat I wouldn’t bear to wear closed shoes.
It is very hot here almost 41 degrees most days and being covered up doesn’t help. I didn’t have to cover my hair which was a relief.
As we headed up north to the Turkish border we left the city life and scenes behind. We came across more farms and smaller villages. In the town of Zakho we saw the Delal bridge which given its history is in very good condition indeed. As we get closer to the Syrian border we come across a town with many Syrian refugees. They seem to be the children who are begging and selling sweets and tissues on the streets. The Kurdish people don’t seem to like them but as with all the countries I have visited and lived in, no one likes refugees. It’s funny as there are obviously Kurdish refugees around the world and you would think they would be more sympathetic but there you go.
While up north we visited a town that were predominantly of the Yazidi religion. I have never heard of this religion before but was amused to hear that you could not eat olives and lettuce or wear anything blue. Every religion has its idiosyncrasies.
I mentioned earlier about the lack of infrastructure mainly for tourist but they do have the odd 5 or 4* star hotel predominantly for the foreign military nationals and dignitaries. Apparently people from the so called “green zone” travel in bullet proof vehicles with blacked out windows on the inside and outside when they go around visiting towns for whatever reasons. They travel with an armed guard at all times and are only allowed to stop and stay in pre designated areas. We met one of them who wished he could travel around Kurdistan like we did. I don’t see the need for such security in a place like Kurdistan. Further south is where you will need it.
We eventually travelled south to Sulimaniyah and Halabja, missing Kirkuk on the way. There is still troubles in that area as it’s the halfway mark of the Kurdish border, Kirkuk could be the Iraqi part or the Kurdish part, hence the remaining problems in that area.
Sulimaniyah was my favourite city. When you go to the top of the city you get to see it at its best. As the sun sets there is a beautiful light that falls over the whole city. When the lights come on it actually looks like a jewel. They even have a lit up cable car. We met many locals here who were so willing to talk to us and find out why we were there. Many of them had lived in the UK and have come back home which is such a success story.
We checked out the Red Security building which was a former police headquarters which was used by Saddam's men to imprison and torture anybody who spoke against his regime. The treatment of the prisoners is well depicted in the model dummies you will find in some of the rooms.
The most harrowing part of the trip was the visit to Halabja. This is the small town about 100km from Baghdad which was bombed using the chemical weapons. Many thousands of men, women and children died. Chemical Ali as the general was called made these weapons and on the orders of Saddam Hussein to annihilate this town of Kurdish people. We visited the museum which had waxwork of people in their state as they were found. The museum also housed the rope which was used to hang Chemical Ali and the pen used to sign the death warrant of Saddam Hussein.
Halabja town itself looks very run down and not much money has been spent on its reconstruction. I’m not sure if this will change in the future but it desperately needs it to give the townsfolk a boost.
When the Halabja story came to light, people blamed Iran for the bombings. At the time Iran was the evil country but they opened their borders to journalists so that the truth could come out. If it wasn’t for Iran opening their borders to the brave journalists I don’t think the plight of Halabja would ever have been known to the world.
All in all, this trip was an eye opener to the plight and suffering of the Kurdish people. Until you go and see it first-hand I don’t think you can truly understand what they went through. You would think that the human race would learn from these past experiences and hope for something like Halabja or similar to never happen again. But just look up north across the border into Syria and you see we haven’t learned anything at all and we never will.
