Election Day and Mam Jalal votes

Today is election day for the central government in Baghdad. For Kurds the only impact of this election is the size of muscle they can use on the government. All actual day to day government functions are handled by the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government). In contrast to the three weeks, all is very quiet in the city today - the airport and all borders are closed (including the internal border between Arab Iraq and Kurdstan), long distance travel is banned and there are checkpoints every where. In Arab Iraq over 1000 people have died this month, while in Kurdistan there has been no trouble at all. However in Khanquin in the the disputed territories, a suicide bomber killed 30 people and injured 50 others at a Kurdish political rally on Tuesday.

Tuesday was a pretty ordinary day and while I was waiting for Bwar to drop off some books at the library, I was aware of distant gunfire. I was not concerned as gunfire is common here, though unusual during the day. More shots were fired and this time a good deal closer and then Bwar returned to tell me the news.

Kurdstat television had just shown a short item of Jalal Talabani casing an early vote in Germany. Affectionately know as Mam Jalal (Uncle), he is the current President of Iraq, a staunch Kurdish nationalist and leader of the local PUK Party (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan). He has only been seen once since December 2012 when he was rushed of to Germany for medical treatment after a massive stroke. There have been all sorts of rumours that he was actually dead.

Slemani just erupted in celebration and within half an hour the central city was chaotic with PUK supporters ecstatic at the news. The traffic jam and noise continued through to mid-night and the gunfire was continuous.

Watch your step

Health and safety are foreign concepts here. This political hording is placed right across the footpath in the main street, a builder completely blocks the path and one section is totally dug up..... and this is the main street.   Who cares that the pedestrians have to walk on the road? Footpaths are treacherous and you have to keep a really close eye on where you are going. Levels drop by small or large amounts constantly. Trees are planted in the middle of a path, cars park anywhere and in many places local shopkeepers have used shiny tiles outside their shops which are lethal when wet. In one street, the footpath suddenly drops three metres into the entrance of an underground carpark.

Holiday confusion

"This is the country for the holidays" according to our editor Bwar and it certainly is. Over the last two months I have only worked two full weeks and this week we have another two days off (at least).

However, here people are frequently confused as to the actual day of the holiday and even what the holiday is for. In some cases it is just the schools and government  employees (60% plus of the population) who have the holidays - for private enterprise it is more of a free-for-all.

This week is the perfect case in point. On Wednesday 30th Iraq goes to the polls to elect a new government. Now everyone agrees that day is a holiday. The following day is May Day and most people think it is also a holiday. In the meantime some schools and government offices are also having Monday and Tuesday off, but no one is sure which schools and which government offices and so the confusion begins .

Unlike the relaxed and festive atmosphere for New Zealand elections, here the security is on maximum. The borders are closed, as are the airports with all flights canceled, and the internal border between Arab Iraq and Kurdistan is sealed. Long distance travel is discouraged and the number of checkpoints substantially increased.

In a hopeful moment during the early part of the election campaign, the violence in Arab Iraq actually decreased, but in the last 10 days the ugliness has returned and the death total for this month now tops 900 (Approximately 1000 dead each month for January, February and March).

None of these deaths been in Kurdistan and the only incident in Slemani was last week when some hotheads took a few pot shots at the PDK headquarters in the main street.

Election fever has now reached a high point and I think tonight is the last opportunity for the parties to campaign publicly. Security has been intense along Salim Street, but the military and police here are very experienced in maintaining order in a calm and relaxed manner.

The other night I was taking some photos when a soldier came up to me, put his arm around my shoulders and politely said "Mamosta you can not take photos of the military". Mamosta is a very respectfully term broadly meaning teacher.

The food truck

I saw this food truck in the main street the other night, taking advantage of the election crowds. God knows where it came from or what they were trying to say as the only thing Dutch about the truck was that sign! The food was just the usual local fast food and who would have thought Dutch food was a selling point anyway, especially here. 

Foreigners

Last week someone asked me if I lived in secure compound with other foreigners.  I have never considered living in  compound with foreigners and then I realised that I don't even know any foreigners here and that all my friends are Kurds. The only exception is a Colombian friend in Hawler and he has been here since 1996 so he almost doesn't count.

I also realised that I have a rather ambivalent attitude to 'foreigners', and by this I mean Westerners and not Iranians and Arabs. Unlike Hawler/Erbil, there are very few foreigners here, though with the pleasant spring weather, I have noticed more about, especially Germans and Dutch. The other night a foreign film crew was filming in Salim Street, and I found myself looking at them with odd curiosity and noticed that the Kurds were looking in much the same manner. Quite frankly they should stay at home!! LOL

And while we are at it the Arabs can stay at home too. With the Iraqi election this week, most schools are off and the city is packed with Arab families both having a break and looking to escape the bombings in Arab Iraq (which have been terrible this last week). I can't blame for that, but they do take over, especially in the swimming pool which this week is impossibly crowded. They are much louder, more boisterous and less polite and well mannered than the Kurds.

I can't help thinking, that having buggered up their own bit of the country, they come up here to Kurdistan and just make a nuisance of themselves :)

Here is where I work

The encyclopedia project has it's office in the Department of Antiquities building which is part of the Slemani Museum complex. This museum is the second largest in Iraq (after Baghdad) and as such we have the best protection. No little skinny security guards here, but we have the Asiagh which is the Kurdish equivalent to the SAS and they are very professional and experienced. We have one guy (in the photo) at the side gate and another three at the entrance to the museum.Of course like everyone here they love their photo taken :)

We have a lot of staff here. First there is an older woman who opens up and cleans the office every morning.In addition to the soldiers, we have a doorman, two drivers and a nice man who just makes tea all day. By the front door is a sort of waiting room and it is usually occupied by 5 or 6 men just sitting about and I have no idea who that are!

Where do I live

Yesterday I was organising the details of a contract for an author who was in the office. I asked him what is full postal address was (he had only written the Quarter) and he just waved his arm towards the window saying "Over there, near where you live". It was clear from the tone of his voice that he thought this was a perfectly adequate description. None of the other five authors had addresses other than a Quarter.

There is a postal service here, but you can only receive mail if you have a post box and anything else has to be hand delivered.

Springtime in Kurdistan

Summer has come on with a rush. With light snow just two weeks ago we are now enjoying very balmy temperatures in the mid to high twenties. We are still receiving rain, mainly in the form of intense and dramatic thunderstorms.

The very low humidity is incredible and I have to remind myself to drink more water, though a headache as a result of dehydration is a better reminder than my memory. Even at this time of year, clothes will dry in a matter of hours.

But the intense heat of summer is  not far away so I am taking pleasure in the warm days and pleasant balmy evenings while they last.

Election time again....

When I arrived back here last September, local Kurdish Government elections were in full swing. Nearly seven months later, the main parties have yet to form a government, though in reality it doesn't seem to matter that much.

Now we have Iraqi elections due at the end of this month. The Kurdish Government is almost entirely independent from Iraq and being elected as a Kurdish MP for the Iraqi Parliament must be one of the most boring and unsatisfactory (but lucrative) jobs ever invented. All the Kurdish MPs do is make up numbers - they represent no constituency, though a number are Minsters in the Baghdad government.

The Kurdish faction currently supports the al Maliki Government despite the government being Shiitte and Kurds being overwhelming Sunni. The Sunni parties in Arab Iraq are more fundamentalist (which Kurds are not) and more importantly, were key elements in the old Saddam Hussein regime and the Kurds are NEVER going to support that lot.

Kurds hold the balance of power in the existing government and as such were able to extract important concessions in regards to oil revenue. Their aim is to increase the number of Kurdish seat and maintain this balance of power. While they will have the numbers within Kurdistan, the real fight is to increase the numbers of Kurdish MPs from the disputed territories and particularly Kirkuk. However, Kurdish unity outside the KRG is fragile at best.

In the meantime we have a month of campaigning and every night Salim Street is an endless noisy parade of tooting cars and flag wavers. There is SO much bunting strung up along the streets that the local joke is that you can no longer see the sky.Along with all that noise are the occasional fireworks and gunfire, though it is hard to tell which is which. Security is intense with seriously armed soldier and police strung out along the main street, though the interaction between opposing parties is mostly jovial.

The videos were taken on Monday night - Thursday and Friday nights are much noiser.

  

Another holiday, another New Year. It is now the year 6,7164!!

Tomorrow is yet another holiday here in Kurdistan and this time it is a double whammy.

 April 9th is the 11th anniversary of the Capture of Baghdad and the Fall of Saddam Hussein. For Kurds this marks a significant step towards autonomy and independence.

This is also Yazidi New Year, a curious religion that mixes Zoroastrian, Islamic, Christian and Pagan traditions and is now largely confined to Iraq and Syria. Once numbering in millions, Yazidis were frequently identified with devil worship and suffered relentless persecution during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Kurdish Government, determined to be religiously tolerant, now protects the Yazidi community, but they are still vulnerable in the Arab areas. Attacks on Yazidis in 2007 by suicide bombers killed 500 people.