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Language keeps Kurds, Arab refugees
separated in Iraqi Kurdistan
11.8.2007
By Najeeba Mohammad
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August
11, 2007
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region (Iraq), --
Karwan Hussein, 10, knew better than to respond to
the greeting shouted by his new neighbor. His
parents had already given him a stern warning about
talking to Arab speakers. "They're Arab terrorists,"
he said. "My mother told me not to be around people
who speak Arabic because they might kidnap me."
Hussein explained that it wasn't just the current
violence in the southern part of the country that
prompted his parents' concern. They had long ago
told him how former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein -
"who was an Arab" - destroyed Sulaimaniyah and other
towns in the Kurdish-dominated north during his
reign.
As the violence has exploded in the southern part of
the country, millions of Iraqis have fled their
homes in search of refuge.
According to the Iraqi Red Crescent, as many as
4,500 Arab families have fled to this Kurdish city
in the past year alone.
Yet, once they arrive, they find themselves
ostracized and viewed with suspicion. There is
practically no interaction between children of the
two ethnic groups, a legacy born from decades of
distrust.
Gonad Abdullah, a Sulaimaniyah-based sociologist,
says such attitudes are understandable. "The way the
children are being brought up is a reflection of the
political situation in Iraq, the disputes between
Kurds and Arabs and the wars between them," she
said. "Kurdish and Arab children feel like strangers
because they have been raised to feel uncomfortable
with each other.
In addition, while many of the Arabs who have fled
to the north are highly educated professionals, many
are unable to speak or understand Kurdish, the
predominate language here. The barrier only serves
to add to the isolation of the two communities. One
Arab doctor, who asked that his name not be used out
of fear for his security, said he felt fortunate
when he was able to secure a job in a clinic here
after fleeing his home in Mosul. But his practice
had been limited because he's unable to speak
Kurdish and therefore has a hard time communicating
with his patients.
He said language problems have forced him to take
his two children out of school. "They don't know
Kurdish, and they were coming back crying from
kindergarten everyday because they couldn't
understand what the teachers and the other students
were saying," he said. In fact, language remains one
of the most serious barriers between Arabs and
Kurds. Most Kurdish children know very little
Arabic, in part because Kurdish is the only language
taught in most schools and it's the only language
they hear at home.
While Sulaimaniyah does have four Arabic-language
schools where Kurds and Arabs study together,
students often bring their ethnic tensions to class
with them. "I spend most days acting as a mediator
between the students and bringing them together
because there are fights between Shiites, Sunnis,
Kurds - all of them," said Kamal Mahmood, the
headmaster of Shorsh preparatory school where
classes are conducted in both languages. "I have
told them many times that there should not be any
discrimination among sects, classes or languages in
the school, or we will suspend or expel them," he
said.
Najeeba Mohammad is a journalist in Iraq who
writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting,
a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in
areas of conflict - MCT
kuwaittimes net
** 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. Most
Kurds don’t speak Arabic, especially the younger
generation, the 2nd language in Kurdistan after
Kurdish is English language. 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 patrol, its own national anthem, its own
education system, even its own stamp inked into the
passports of visitors.
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