Uncategorized
In conclusion
Before Michael Totten set out on his late February-early March trip to Iraqi Kurdistan, he made reference to a PR campaign called The Other Iraq, which touts the Kurdish region as safe and prosperous. “Here’s what I want to know,” Totten wrote. “[D]oes Iraqi Kurdistan live up to the hype? Is it actually a nice place? Or is Iraqi Kurdistan
Farewell, Kurdistan
[This is the penultimate post in my Iraqi Kurdistan series. Visit my April 2006 archives for the complete list of entries. Thanks very much for your interest!]On Friday, March 24 it was time to leave Suleimaniya, in Iraqi Kurdistan, and head back to the Turkish border. In normal circumstances it’s a four-hour drive, but it takes six to bypass the
Kurdistan field notes
One of the most surprising sights in all of Iraqi Kurdistan was Spice Platinum, a hardcore porn channel available on satellite in our hotel in Suleimaniya (Diyarbakir too). Dozens of channels were scrambled and unavailable, but not Spice Platinum. In a bustling food joint right next to the hotel, I did a double-take at a conservative woman in a headscarf.
Halabja (Part II)
[Go here to read Part I.]Just outside the destroyed Halabja monument, we came across this PUK propaganda poster on the ground. We’d see it a lot in the next day or two. Above a picture of the monument in flames, the poster proclaims: “Yes, Halabja needs more services, but the people who burned the monument are not from Halabja and
Halabja (Part I)
I woke in Istanbul on March 17 with a New York Times printout on my pillow, a gift from my host, colleague and travel companion Yigal Schleifer. The article (available here, with a different and willfully misleading headline) reported that an anti-corruption demonstration in Halabja had escalated into a riot, and that a mob had burned and gutted the city’s
Newroz
Even the spelling of this spring festival is touchy. The Kurds spell it with a “w,” the Turks with a “v.” One writer pointed out that there’s no “v” sound in Kurdish, and that every time Western news services write “Nevroz,” it’s an implicit victory for the Turkish authorities. The Kurds are not the only ethnic group in the Mideast/Central
No sleep ’til Suli
[Welcome to continuing coverage of my recent trip to Istanbul, southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Link below for previous posts.]Kurdish nationalists refer to northern Iraq as South Kurdistan, merely one part of a country-in-waiting that overlaps present-day Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. In a previous post I wrote that one could practically hit the Syrian border with a stone thrown
Oil, oil everywhere, but…
One of the first things you see as you drive through northern Iraq is the vibrant black market in gasoline. There’s pink fuel (left) and clear fuel; the pink is supposed to be better. It’s my understanding that most of it is smuggled from Iran. There are “legit” gas stations as well, but few actually have gas, and the ones