Murat cooks saag

Murat really likes to cook and especially for a big group. At one of the several picnics this week in Sivas (this picnic is at Soguk Chemik or Cold Spring) he cooked a traditonal beef dish called saag. The secret ingredient is cubed fat from the tail of a sheep.

The dish itself is simple. Butter, oil and the sheep fat are fried together and to this is added onions and finely chopped capsicum.  After cooking for 20 minutes the sheep fat (now golden brown) is discarded and finely cubed beef is added. This simmers until tender when chopped tomatoes are added. The dish includes no other herbs or spices, though salt can be sprinkled on when served. All the flavour comes from the butter and sheep fat and it is surprisingly tasty.

What's happening in Kurdistan

Kurdistan remains calm and life is for most part is normal. The government is shipping oil with barely a squeak out of Baghdad as it desperately needs the cash. However, as most Kurdish petrol came from the Bajii refinery further south in Arab Iraq, there is petrol rationing with a growing black market selling petrol up to $2.50 a litre, though the price at the pump is still .50c (if you can get it).

Kurdistan remains connected to Baghdad but only just, via a difficult and dangerous road, though this doesn't deter refugees from making the journey north. It is estimated that over the last two weeks, almost 500,000 people have arrived in Kurdistan and they are still coming. In particular almost the entire Christian community and large numbers of Shia muslims have fled ISIS held territory. 

Along the border, there are constant small clashes with ISIS forces and two days ago a suicide bomber killed three people in Kirkuk, the first such attack in Kurdish territory since the beginning of the conflict. What this signifies is that ISIS is not going to leave Kurdistan alone, but the 40,000 Kurdish troops protecting the border are certainly not running any where. The problem lies in the future when ISIS are more established and better armed.

With Maliki refusing to resign or even create a government of national unity, the Kurds are most likely to stay out of the fight - why shed Kurdish blood for a government that has no intention of working together to try and save the country. The overwhelming public opinion is still to stay out of the fight and let the Arabs kill each other.

All the talk in Kurdistan is about independence, but the Barzanis are shrewd political operators and will pick their time. (Massoud Barzani is the Kurdish President and his son Nicheven is the Prime Ministers). they have now pulled all the Kurdish majority territory under their control and will pick their moment.

The leaning minaret of Sivas

 The oldest building in the city, the Ulu Camii (Grand mosque) dates to 1192 when the city was ruled by the Danishmend dynasty. With its low pitched roof and simple layout, this mosque is a stark contrast to the large domed Ottoman mosques that were largely inspired by Christian churches.

The minaret has a considerable lean but apparently is in no danger of collapse.

Sivas, Turkey

 

 Sivas lies in eastern of Anatolia and is the heartland Turkey - staunchly nationalistic, conservative and incredibly hospitable. This region was one of the first settled by Turks after the defeat of the Byzantines at the battle of Mazikert in 1071 and has a number of historic buildings predating the Ottomans.

At 1200 metres it is surprisingly cool after Iraq with a climate similar to Central Otago - warm days, but surprisingly cool nights.The area attracts very few foreign tourists, so the people are genuinely friendly and everyone wants to practice their English.

So what am I doing here in Sivas instead of much more famous destinations? I was invited here by a friend Mirzeki, who I met through my friends in Bursa and after several years of urging me to come, I finally made the trip.

Mirzeki is a teacher and I was met at the airport by two carloads of teachers from his school and then whisked off to the school where I was welcomed by the headmasters and all the other teachers. In addition to being entertained with traditional music (which included a song about Gallipoli), I of course had to drink tea. And the tea drinking has not stopped. One of the things I really love about Turkey are the tea gardens - they are a fantastic institution that underpins the Turks innate sociability.

Ney

After school we headed off to one of the ancient medrese, now turned into a tea garden, for yet more tea drinking and when the evening turned cool, the staff thoughtfully provided blanket wraps. 

From left to right: Ali, Bilal, Imre, Madjit, Murat, Mirzeki

Beirut

 I can't say Lebanon is my favourite ME country but it is beautiful. There is no such thing as win/win with the Lebanese - it is I win, you lose, and everyone gets to know about it.
 Despite the desperate economy, one million Syrian refugees and the constant inability of the Lebanese to form a government, there is an amazing amount of construction in both East and West Beirut. This is the roof top pool of an hotel in West Beirut with just the most spectacular views and stylish design. Pity they can't apply this to the rest of society.

Salt

Lying just to the west of Amman is the small city of Salt. Most of the buildings in the central city date back to around 1900 and are all built from the same yellowish stone which gives Salt a warm uniform feel. Completely by past by tourists, it has genuine local charm rarely seem in modern Jordan.

Amman Jordan

Jordan is an odd country. The population of just 7 million is almost entirely concentrated in the northern western corner of the country bordering Syria and Israel while the rest is empty desert. Of that seven million, one million are Syrian refugees and 60% are of Palestinian origin. Furthermore Amman,with a population of four million accounts for two thirds of that population and is a densely packed city slashed by deep ravines that make getting around incredibly difficult.

Nearly everyone here speaks very good English, the government is reasonable stable (certainly by ME standards), it is relaxed and liberal with a good tourist infrastructure and most importantly it has good food. Many people consider it too western and view Jordan as 'middle eastern lite'

There is not a lot to do and see, but it does have a fantastic Roman theatre complex. There are two theatres, both of which are still in use today. The larger is the typical amphitheatre style, while the smaller Odeon seats only a few hundred people.

New Zealand cares.

When I arrived in Kurdistan I registered with the NZ Foreign Affairs who have a list of New Zealanders in dodgy places. This week I received an email strongly recommending I leave Iraq, but also saying that the Kurdish area, although safer, was exposed to terrorism and subject to 'criminal activity'. The terrorism bit I understood, but not the 'criminal activity', so I wrote back asking what did they mean by 'criminal activity' as Kurdistan was one of the safest places I have ever lived.Of course I haven't heard back.

 New Zealand has to do some soul searching when a shop keeper is stabbed to death by two 12 and 13 year olds That would NEVER EVER happen in Kurdistan.

Jeresh, Jordan

While the ruins of Petra are famous the world over, less well know is the Roman city of Jeresh.
Lying just to the north of Amman, this second century Roman city is a sprawling complex, of which 75% has been excavated. What is particularly appealing about Jeresh is that, despite being in ruins, the whole shape of the city is still intact. The gateways, streets, two theatres and numerous other moments are all there to see. You really do feel like you are walking in the footsteps of ordinary but ancient people.

Iraqis

Despite the news items the Iraqi people are not savages, in fact quite the opposite. They are polite, friendly, sophisticated people. 

The ISIS fighters are a bunch of psychopaths who have slithered from under rocks from every corner of the world. Occasionally the crazies find a home and gather in sufficient numbers to create a living hell for ordinary people.

There is something about all religions, and in particularly the word heretic, that just switches on the 'evil' button in people.

Nice tree

After all the gloomy news from Iraq, it is time for a change and I have added this photo of an spectacular flowering street tree. I don't know what it is....

Oh and just finished reading The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. Totally silly, brilliantly written and thoroughly enjoyable..

What next for Iraq and Kurdistan?

Here is my take on the situation for what it is worth.

Iraq will be a new Syria. Maliki has so alienated the Sunni population and is rapidly turning this fight into a sectarian conflict that the Sunni population will support ISIS purely on the ground that they are Sunni, even though they dislike their extremism (Iran is fueling the flames).  The Shia government are likely to hold Baghdad and the south, but will struggle to take back much of the territory lost,  despite their superior forces and equipment.This fight will go on for a long time. It is likely that the ISIS territory will also degenerate into ugly infighting.

The Kurds will hold their ground, avoid an immediate conflict and chose their time to go independent. They now control all but 5% of the areas with a Kurdish majority. ISIS are a mix of Al Quaeda and old Baathists (Saddam Hussein's party), and Kurds hate them with a passion and ISIS are not fans the Kurds either. Eventually, ISIS and the Kurds will seriously clash even though they are both Sunni.

Knowing this, the other alternative is that the Kurds, with their more experienced and more disciplined fighters, will support the Maliki government, despite their difficulties and misgivings, motivated solely by fact that war will eventually be inevitable with a ISIS government. Best to deal with the problem now rather than later when ISIS are stronger and more established.  The pay off for the Kurds will be that they retain all the Kurdish majority territory, control their own oil sales and go into 'co-federation' with Iraq rather than the existing 'autonomous' arrangement.

 An immediate problem for Kurdistan is that they now have a large and mainly refugee Arab population and it will take a huge effort to manage that carefully. The KRG have repeatedly stated that they are a multi-ethnic and religiously tolerant state, but this huge influx of Arabs is going to push that tolerance to the limit.

Whatever happens a lot of people are going to die.

Pointing the finger

It is really easy to blame the Americans for the current situation in Iraq, but it really goes back to the careless carve up of the Middle East by the French and English after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1917.

This is a quote from Gertrude Bell who had no small hand in setting the borders of today's Iraq and Syria:

"We rushed into the business with our usual disregard for a comprehensive political scheme," she wrote, upon arriving in Basra in 1916. "Muddle through! Why yes, so we do - wading through blood and tears that need never have been shed."

She also later remarked that 'drawing maps and making countries is so much fun'.

The British left Iraq for much the same reasons the Americans did 90 years later and throughout the 20th century the history of Iraq has been one endless story of conflict and war.

The American intervention tore apart a fragile state held together by Saddam Hussein's brutality and now we have this mess.

Nor are they Turks blameless, allowing jihadists fighters and supplies to enter Turkey and then cross over the border into Syria. Almost all the foreign fighters in ISIS came via Turkey unhindered. Now the situation has blown up in the Turks face with the prospect of two independent Kurdistans (Iraq and Syria)  AND a Taliban mini-me state on their southern border.

Kamaran Najm Ibrahim

Talented Kurdish photographer Kamaran Najm Ibrahim died covering the current war in Iraq. He was killed in a clash between Kurdish Pershmerge and jihadists. 14 Kurdish fighters were injured. He founded Metrography photography agency and was just 27 years old.

Arab refugees

After the fall of Mosul and Nineveh province thousands of refugees have poured into Kurdistan.

These are a few photos from the Aski Kalak border crossing into Kurdistan, just 40kms west of Hawler, the Kurdish capital.

Kurds hand out water

This man looks so grim.....

Not too much escapes the Asaish

The Kurdish dairy

Right next to the wonderful Motel Mad is a small shop, the equivalent of the New Zealand dairy. There are some fundamental differences, the key one being that these small shops are generally cheaper than a supermarket, especially for fruit and vegetables which are also much fresher.

Nor is there are solitary sulky shopkeeping lurking behind a counter. Being cheaper they are also busier and in this shop there are at least three or four staff at any one time who are friendly and helpful. They even employ an older man who is not the full quid to do local deliveries.

Unusually this shop also sells a small selection of alcohol. Generally alcohol is sold in separate shops as many Muslims don't like shopping in stores where alcohol is sold. It is also a very good deal -

a litre bottle of decent whiskey for just $13!

Government Departments for everything

While having oil is a wonderful thing, it also has a downside. After years of conflict and with oil money flowing in, one of the priorities of the Kurdish government was creating jobs and here that meant government jobs. Most people work for the Government in all its various forms and in Slemani that percentage is estimated to be around 70%. It is everyone's dream to get cushy job in a government department.

Government Departments are literally packed with people. The passport office is a sprawling complex of offices and public counters chocker with staff. Even the Asiash head office manages to squeeze five or six burly men in miniscule offices. What everyone does is anyone's guess and I suspect the systems are unnecessarily bureaucratic just to employ people.

Little is done to encourage the production or manufacture of anything and it is very rare to find any item in the shops made in Kurdistan. In Slemani manufacturing is confined to some cement and concrete products for construction, and other than that the main private enterprises are retail and service industries.  

With a security force of 175,000 made up of Police, Traffic Police, Asaish and Pershmerga (Army), it is much more appealing for rural young men to sign up for a life in uniform than a hard life working the land.

Of course with the government running out of money these last few months, the effect of civil servants not being paid or paid late has been devastating for the economy.

Chaixana Paris

After lunch everyday we go to this one chaixana (tea house) which has the best tea in the street.  There are no chairs and it is just a tea stand in the street open to the elements. These are everywhere, mostly in front of food places (you can have tea with a meal) but often tucked into alleys and doorways or just on the footpath. These are for men only, though very rarely a woman will drink tea there. While nothing is said it is not a respectable thing to do.

Kak Nazad always greets me with 'Hello, good morning, welcome to Slemani City' regardless of the time of day. He also changes the name of his chaixana everyday and today it is Chaxana Paris. As everywhere in Kurdistan people are chatty and friendly and will occasionally strangers will pay for your tea just to be hospitable 

The tea is very sweet and of course hot and here you pour the tea into the saucer and drink from that. I remember when I was very young, older people in NZ drinking their tea from the saucer. The habit is alive and well in Kurdistan.

Lunch time

Not far from where I work is a busy street lined with cafes, chaixana, restaurants and fast food places. Bwar (my work colleague) knows them all and is very keen on one place in particular. I am sure it has a name, but no one has ever told me what it is and as there is no sign, I have no idea what is is called.

When you arrive you pay for a coloured token which determines how many dishes you get. We always get yellow which is five dishes. Once you have your token you then scramble to the counter with everyone else and pick up your food.

The food is plain Kurdish cooking and doesn't offer a great variety. You have choice of long grain or short grain rice, two soups (mutton or chicken broth) and five vegetable stews most of which are cooked in light tomato sauce - white beans, okra, eggplant, potato or turnip.

Not spicy, food is flavoursome and cheap - in addition to the five dishes you also get nan bread and a bottle of water for 5000 dinar (NZ$5). The bread is constantly arriving from the small local bakery so it is always warm and fresh.

Prepared in huge stainless steel vats, the food is fresh every day and nothing is keep over to the following day. Even the chicken is fresh and not frozen.

This is not leisurely dining. You sit at large communal tables and while your neighbours are friendly they will not be chatty. Eating is a serious business and Kurds eat really. really fast. No idle talk, just eating - chatting is for the chaixana later. I have never seen people eat so intensely - it is like they are not sure where their next meal is coming from. Once done you go.

The main dining area is the preserve of men, though very occasionally younger women will sit here without any problem. As with most traditional eating places there is a separate area inside for families and women.