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Luxury Cars, Quiet Streets and Safety --
in Iraq? 21.3.2007
By Terry Mccarthy |
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Away
From Baghdad, Kurdistan 'The other Iraq' Enjoy a
Calmer Lifestyle
March 21, 2007
Kurdistan region (Northern Iraq), — We
started our journey through Kurdistan high up in the
mountains near the Turkish and Syrian borders. We
met a shepherd, Ahmad Mohammed Ali, who has 80
sheep, almost as many children (it seemed) and a
fairly peaceful lifestyle.
When we asked him about security, he said his only
problem was with wolves, who had been attacking his
sheep. He didn't know much about the fighting around
Baghdad and wasn't that bothered about it either. As
a Kurd — an ethnic minority who are mostly Muslim
but not Arabs and don't speak Arabic — he is
different.
All of Kurdistan, we discovered, is different.
Although technically part of Iraq, it feels like a
different country. The Kurds, who have lived
semi-autonomously since 1991 after they rose up
against Saddam in the wake of the first Gulf war,
now jealously protect their differences.
They have an unofficial border around Kurdistan,
checking any Arab Iraqis coming up from the south.
There has been no major terrorist attack here for 18
months. During our entire trip in Kurdistan, we
didn't hear a single gunshot.
According to the recent ABC News poll "Where Things
Stand," 66 percent of the Kurds who dominate
northern Iraq say their lives are going well,
compared with 39 percent of all Iraqis.
This relative security proves increasingly
attractive to other Iraqis. Many are moving up here
to settle down and work, particularly those with
high skills, like doctors and engineers. There is a
new industry in Kurdistan of private medical
clinics, staffed almost entirely by doctors from
Baghdad. |
Kurdistan 'The other Iraq'
Kurds celebrating in Safe Kurdistan region |
Iraq's small Christian community — about 2 percent
of the population before the 2003 invasion, probably
less now — is increasingly moving north, too,
escaping the violence in the big cities. There is an
area right up close to Turkey that has traditionally
been Christian - for some 1,500 years it housed
small villages with churches and monasteries. Now
these villages are getting many more Christians
moving in, where they feel safer.
Just on the border of Kurdistan is Kirkuk, a city
that is half Kurdish — and peaceful — and half Arab,
Turkomen and Assyrian, where there have been a lot
of bombings.
But just 50 miles up the road is Erbil, the biggest
city in Kurdistan, and here there is security and a
huge boom in business as a result. We met one
businessman who is investing $1 billion in an office
and shopping complex to house 8,000 shops and 4,000
offices, which he says is the biggest in the Middle
East.
abcnews go.com
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