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Kurdistan, a tourist magnet ... if it
weren't in Iraq
14.11.2007
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November 14, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',--
The market near the heart of this rambling Iraqi
town is a maze of commerce and constant bustle, a
quintessential Middle Eastern souk where almost
anything sellable is for sale.
The souk sprawls in the shadow of the world's most
ancient citadel, still the heart of modern Erbil,
the capital of Kurdistan region, a city that is
reckoned to be among the oldest continuously
inhabited places on earth.
If it were located in almost any other country, the
throbbing centre of Erbil would be swarming on a
sunny autumn afternoon with camera-toting foreign
visitors.
But this is Iraqi Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous
region in 'northern Iraq', and there is almost
nobody here but a large number of Iraqis – no
surprise if you consult a recent edition of almost
any tourist guide to the Middle East.
When it comes to war-ravaged Iraq, nearly all such
volumes offer roughly the same succinct advice: "You
would have to be mad."
Well, then, the authorities here must be crazy
because, on the treeless outskirts of this northern
Iraqi town – just across the road from the newly
constructed Erbil Aqua Park – there rises a
brand-new building with banks of mirrorlike windows
that reflect the blue dome of the desert sky. This
is the headquarters of the Ministry of Tourism of
Iraqi Kurdistan, a government agency established
last year in what can only be described as a triumph
of hope over experience. www.ekurd.net
Contrary to all logic, the ministry is charged with
the job of enticing visitors to a part of the world
that knows no tourism at present, has experienced
none for nearly 30 years, and has a snowball's
chance in the torrid Iraqi summer of entertaining
foreign vacationers in substantial numbers any time
soon.
"I think we need a little bit of time and a big
amount of money to be spent," says Tourism Minister
Nimrud Youkhana, who has a pretty good idea of the
challenges he faces. "People think Kurdistan is like
Baghdad, like Mosul."
He is referring to two Iraqi cities – the latter of
which is located just an hour's drive from his
office – that are beset by searing violence, in what
is partly a civil war and partly an insurrection
against a U.S.-led military coalition struggling to
impose
peace upon a rancorous land.
The happy truth for Iraqi Kurdistan is that this
region is not like Baghdad or Mosul. Instead, the
northern part of the country has been almost
entirely insulated from the car bombs and suicide
attacks that have tormented the rest of Iraq since
the overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
But such details have little impact on people in
other countries, most of whom have never heard of
Iraqi Kurdistan and recoil in horror at the merest
mention of Iraq.
Never mind that your chances of being killed in a
terrorist attack in Iraqi Kurdistan are roughly on a
par with the odds in Spain, this is not the
impression most foreigners hold, and it will be no
easy matter to change their minds, especially while
bombs are still exploding daily just a short
distance to the south.
"The trouble now is with the propaganda," says
Abdulla Yousif Danha, general director of tourism in
the Erbil area. "We are Iraq, but we are different."
Iraqis from the central and southern portions of the
country understand this distinction, and they
frequently venture north to bask in the peace now
prevailing in the ancestral homeland of the
country's large Kurdish minority. www.ekurd.net
In fact, it is something of an overstatement to
suggest there is no tourism here whatsoever. In
addition to Iraqis, smatterings of travellers from
neighbouring states – Iran, Syria, Turkey – also
have been known to turn up in Iraqi Kurdistan,
although no one keeps track of their numbers.
The landscape is spectacular, especially along the
northern border with Turkey and the eastern frontier
with Syria, where lofty walls of cathedral mountains
rear above the adjoining plains and valleys.
"The main attraction is the natural beauty of
Kurdistan," boasts Salman Bradosty, media director
for the ministry's Erbil region. "If you look
anywhere in Kurdistan, you will be attracted by the
scenery.
But adequate tourist facilities are in short supply,
and journeys between parts of the territory can turn
into arduous affairs, especially given the need to
avoid passing through cities like Mosul or Kirkuk,
both badly affected by violence.
In light of these and other obstacles, it would be
ridiculous to suggest a tourism boom is imminent.
But in a region that has known uninterrupted human
habitation for at least eight millennia, what are a
few more years?
thestar com
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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