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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) For years, the thousands
of Kurds living in Nashville have blended into the
city's immigrant community in relative anonymity.
But now they are in the spotlight with Iraq's
national elections that begin Friday and run through
Sunday. Nashville is one of five American cities
where Iraqi expatriates can vote, and nearly 4,000
of them are registered here more than Los Angeles
and Washington. Detroit and Chicago have more.
There are an estimated 8,000 Kurds living in
Nashville, which they call ''Little Kurdistan.'' It
is the largest community in the United States of
Kurds, an ethnic minority that has long been
persecuted by Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
In 1975, the United States allowed about 2,000
Kurdish refugees to emigrate after an uprising
failed to establish their own country. Many of those
refugees chose Nashville because of its similar
climate.
''We see a hard time back home in our country in
Iraq, and we ran away,'' said Salah Osman, a Kurd
who runs a little market in Nashville. ''For that
reason, the Kurdish people live together here very
quietly.''
Posters announcing the vote are tacked up outside
Osman's market, where shoppers rush in to buy fresh
cuts of meat and a flat bread called nan. Osman said
his customers have been buzzing with anticipation.
Many are thrilled to have a chance to vote in a real
election without fear of reprisal.
''The ballot before had Saddam Hussein yes or no and
if you put no, the bodyguard took you to the jail,''
said Ali Almoumineen, 38, who left Iraq with his
wife and two children in 1999. He isn't Kurdish, but
found a home in the community nonetheless.
Kurdish expert Michael Gunter, a professor at
Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville and author
of six books on the people of Northern Iraq, said
the Kurds who moved to Nashville were comforted by
the anonymity of the Music City.
''You can sort of go about the business of becoming
an American in Nashville easier than Washington, New
York or California, where things are more
politicized,'' Gunter said. ''Many Kurds just wanted
to start a new life and emphasize the private things
not keep fighting the public battles.''
Though they found some peace in Nashville, the Iraqi
immigrants, particularly the Kurds, never forgot
their homeland.
In Osman's shop, there is a map above the register
that shows northern Iraq labeled ''Kurdistan,'' a
country that exists only in the hearts of the Kurds.
''We are small,'' he said with a sigh. ''We don't
have any choice, even in the election, to show the
people what we really want.''
Associated Press
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