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Iraq's Kurdistan cities havens of
stability - for now 23.10.2007 |
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October
23, 2007
DUHOK, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', -- "Welcome
to Dream City" says the sign at a funfair in Duhok,
a city in Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous region.
It's past 10 p.m. and parents stroll arm-in-arm in
the cool evening air in this northern Iraqi city
cradled by two steep mountain ridges, 60 km (40
miles) from the Turkish border.
Their children dash from the dodgems to an amusement
arcade. A towering Ferris wheel rotates overhead,
lights flashing, the smell of popcorn wafting.
For people to the south in Iraq's capital Baghdad --
where people scurry home in the late afternoon to
endure nights of crackling gunfire, thudding
mortars, wailing sirens and the thunder of
helicopters overhead -- such a scene is but a dream.
But as Turkey gears up for a potential attack on
separatist PKK rebels hiding in Iraqi Kurdistan's
mountains, fear is rising here that this region's
stability too may crumble.
Turkish artillery shelled the craggy peaks a two
hour drive northwest of Duhok on Monday, ratcheting
up tension.
Washington fears a Turkish incursion could sow chaos
in the region and harm its uphill battle to bring
stability to the rest of Iraq.
"They should be firing at the PKK but they are
targeting civilian villages and we are worried about
this," said Eesmet Huseen, 47, who runs a restaurant
in Duhok. "The problem is with the PKK and Turkish
soldiers, not with the Iraqi people."
As night falls in Duhok, bakeries do brisk business,
whipping fresh bread out of kiln ovens. Old men play
cards and dominoes, sipping tea in sidewalk cafes.
Midnight nears, and a vast supermarket in a shopping
mall is still open. Girls in jeans and T-shirts
saunter out.
"You feel alive when you come here. You can do
anything you want. Husbands, wives can go to the
shops with their children, or sit in a coffee shop,"
said a Baghdad resident visiting Kurdistan.
"You can stay out late and just jump in a taxi
without fear of being followed. You can't do that in
Baghdad."
DIFFERENT TO IRAQ
Brutally suppressed by former Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein, Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region
is enjoying an economic revival four years after the
U.S.-led liberation of Iraq. Residents don't want to
lose their safe-haven status.
"In Kurdistan, we are different to Iraq," said
Huseen. "We haven't let the terrorists come here."
Large swathes of the country are plagued by suicide
attacks, car bombs, kidnappings and sectarian
killings, variously blamed on Sunni Arab Islamist
militants linked to al Qaeda and Shi'ite militias
with backing from groups in Iran.
Westerners in Baghdad don flak jackets when they
leave their heavily-guarded compounds and race
across town with armed guards. But in a plush hotel
in Kurdistan's capital city of Erbil, they sport
smart suits and briefcases, ready to do business.
There are gleaming new hotels, residential complexes
are springing up in Erbil's hilly outskirts. Shiny
imported cars are on display in showrooms, and young
men sweep away litter and water newly-planted shrubs
along the main boulevards.
Largely absent are the high, concrete blast walls
that encircle so many compounds and hem in highways
in Baghdad. There are only a few, near some
government buildings and a hotel carpark.
But they are decorated with colorful murals:
sunflowers, snow-capped mountains, galloping horses,
castles, stone bridges spanning fast flowing rivers,
and adverts for Pepsi. Even a concrete overpass is
daubed with bright green and blue paint.
On the roads, drivers in Baghdad are always on alert
for edgy, private security guards, speeding cars
that might be bombs or checkpoints with "kill zone"
painted on concrete blocks.
But in Erbil, drivers are on the look out for
traffic police in white peaked caps who dish out
parking tickets. And there's a new concern. Cameras,
tucked away high overhead on road signs, have been
installed -- to catch people running red lights.
Reuters
Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule in
part of the country. Today's teenagers are the first
generation to grow up under Kurdish rule. In the new
Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as Kurdistan
region. Kurdistan region has all the trappings of an
independent state -- its own constitution, its own
parliament, its own flag, its own army, its own
border, its own border patrol, its own national
anthem, its own education system, its own
International airports, even its own stamp inked
into the passports of visitors.
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