Once I first arrived in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, I wasn’t positive what I’d discover or whether or not folks can be prepared to be photographed or to speak to a journalist. However as I strolled by means of the town, I found that folks had been extremely open.
Sitting on the second story of a café, I appeared out over the gorgeous metropolis the Kurds have constructed and maintained regardless of a long time of warfare. The distinction was stark: whereas Islamist teams comparable to al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIS had brought only death, repression, poverty, and struggling wherever they established management, right here in Kurdistan, spiritual freedom and racial tolerance had created security and prosperity.
The Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan are properly conscious that their lives are much better than these of Kurds in neighboring Syria. Iraqi Kurdistan, formally the Kurdistan Area of Iraq, has its personal democratically elected authorities (the Kurdistan Regional Authorities, or KRG), its personal parliament and president, its personal armed forces often known as the Peshmerga, and even points its personal visa stamps for vacationers arriving at Erbil and Sulaymaniyah airports. This autonomy is formally acknowledged underneath Iraq’s 2005 structure, giving the area authorized protections and a level of stability unmatched elsewhere within the Center East.
In contrast, Syrian Kurds administer an autonomous area often known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES, or Rojava), however it’s not acknowledged by the Syrian structure or the worldwide group. Their navy, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), stays unofficial, leaving the area susceptible. Extremist teams aligned with the HTS authorities underneath Al-Jolani, made up of remnants of al-Qaeda, different militants, in addition to Turkish-backed factions, proceed to commit atrocities, impose a strict interpretation of Islam, and goal spiritual and ethnic minorities. Consequently, life in Syria is unstable and financial growth has largely floor to a halt.
“And this phrase ‘Islamist,’ like for Al-Jolani or these guys… this isn’t good for faith,” defined Dlo, a 38-year-old Kurdish Muslim who serves as nation director of Free Burma Rangers (FBR), DBA Free the Oppressed in Iraq and Kurdistan. Extremism, he stated, damages Islam’s picture by turning Westerners towards all Muslims, and it’s not consistent with the true teachings of Islam.
In Kurdistan, in contrast, moderation permits completely different religions to coexist. “We’ve Muslims and Christians as the 2 greatest religions, and we live collectively. After ISIS got here, issues had been dangerous for all minorities, however since its defeat, relations have improved. We’ve many good relationships collectively.”
This openness, he famous, is exclusive to Kurdistan. In the remainder of Iraq, spiritual tolerance is way much less widespread, whereas in Syria extremists are killing folks or attempting to pressure them to transform. “We don’t agree with them as a result of they’re pushing folks,” Dlo stated. “They are saying, ‘It’s important to be Muslim, in any other case I’m going to kill you. I’m Muslim, however I’ve by no means agreed with forcing somebody to transform.”
In Dlo’s view, it’s the separation of faith and authorities that has given Erbil its excessive way of life. Mixed with the town’s openness to Christians, Yazidis, and different minorities, he believes this tolerance is the driving pressure behind Erbil’s speedy development.
On my first full day within the nation, I made a decision to take a 10-kilometer hike round Erbil alone. I wasn’t positive how folks would really feel about me taking pictures or attempting to interview them, however I used to be pleasantly shocked. Once I confirmed folks my digicam, most needed to be photographed and would even invite their mates into the shot.
I wanted some photos of financial growth, and after I tried photographing the brand new high-rises underneath development, employees stopped to pose for me and gave me thumbs-up afterward.
One man requested me to come back inside his store and {photograph} him together with his merchandise. I requested some navy males if I might take their picture, and so they insisted that I be within the image with them. Then their officer joined in, and shortly all of them needed to pose collectively.
I additionally discovered I couldn’t stroll 100 meters with out somebody inviting me for tea and sweets. Many couldn’t converse English, however once they realized I used to be American (I at all times put on a Captain America T-shirt within the subject), they merely stated, “Thanks,” and a few added, “God bless you.” Those that might converse English had been fast to inform me, “We’ve Christians, Muslims, Yazidis, Kurds, and Arabs dwelling right here safely.”
A number of folks shared their experiences as refugees overseas. One man named Muhammad had spent 17 years within the UK, one other had spent 13 in Germany, but each had returned, as a result of they believed in Kurdistan, in Erbil, and in its mission to construct a livable society based mostly on freedom and peace.
A person named Mahmoud, sitting in entrance of his store, invited me for a snack. Like many Kurds, he was keen to talk about the nation they’ve constructed and why Erbil is such a uniquely secure and affluent metropolis. “Individuals are so pleasant,” he stated. “Individuals are good, form, with good hearts, at all times providing one thing. And the essential factor is it’s very secure. Wherever you go, it’s secure.”
I discovered that Kurds liked to speak politics, particularly about why they trusted the Kurdistan authorities and the way it differed from the Iraqi authorities in Baghdad. “There are a couple of the explanation why,” Mahmoud continued.
“To begin with, the Kurdistan authorities and its individuals are carefully linked to the area people. And it’s not solely Kurdish folks right here. There’s Ankawa, a Christian neighborhood, and we’ve been interconnected for years. We’re Muslim and they’re Christian, and we additionally produce other religions like Yazidis dwelling amongst us. In fact, we’re Muslim, however there are various Arabs round too, and all these folks dwell collectively.”
The point out of Ankawa is important. This Christian neighborhood in Erbil represents the type of peaceable coexistence that has turn out to be more and more uncommon within the Center East. Whereas Christians face persecution and hazard in a lot of Iraq, in Kurdistan they dwell overtly and safely, sustaining their church buildings and traditions with out concern.
Mahmoud additionally pointed to the speedy modifications shaping the town. “Erbil is rising very quick. It’s not like earlier than. It’s larger than ever and growing now, actually growing.”
Kurdistan’s dedication to spiritual freedom extends past its borders. At present, the Kurdish autonomous zone in Syria supplies refuge for Christians, Alawites, and different minorities fleeing mass atrocities dedicated by extremist teams comparable to al-Jolani’s HTS authorities that now controls a lot of Syria. Throughout the war with ISIS, Kurdish areas turned secure havens for these fleeing genocide. Yazidis, Christians, and different persecuted groups discovered safety in Kurdish-controlled areas when ISIS was massacring spiritual minorities and destroying historical communities all through Iraq and Syria.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, led primarily by Kurds, incorporate Arabs, Assyrians, Syriacs, Armenians, Turkmen, and Chechens into their multi-ethnic alliance. This pluralism stands in stark distinction to the sectarian violence practiced by extremist teams.
The distinction between Kurdistan and areas managed by Islamist extremists couldn’t be clearer. The place ISIS, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban have imposed inflexible theocratic rule, they’ve created zones of dying and poverty. The place the Kurds have embraced spiritual freedom and ethnic tolerance, they’ve constructed security and prosperity.
Strolling by means of Erbil’s streets, understanding they haven’t seen preventing in practically ten years, observing the speedy growth, it’s clear that this mannequin works. The Kurds in Syria wish to have the identical sort of official autonomous authorities because the Kurds in Iraq. Different ethnic minorities in Syria who’ve just lately confronted slaughter, together with the Alawites and Druze, additionally aspire to autonomy.
Even within the Burma warfare, the place I work a lot of the yr, the ethnic armed teams are conscious of Iraqi Kurdistan and look at it as a mannequin for the autonomy they hope to realize. That is an space the place U.S. or worldwide intervention might assist, with out placing American troops on the bottom or committing U.S. taxpayer cash. The U.S. and worldwide group might stress the Syrian and Burmese governments to determine autonomous zones for ethnic minorities, serving to to convey an finish to the bloodshed.
