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Kurdistan capital sets example for Iraq
20.9.2007
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September
20, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', -- For
anyone who has spent time in Baghdad, the most
startling thing about a visit to Kurdistan's
capital,
Erbil, is that it resembles a city at peace, at
least by Iraqi standards. The last bomb to hit Erbil
was on May 9, when 14 people died in a suicide
attack on a government building.
Planes flying into Baghdad execute a rapid spiral
toward the runway to reduce the chances of getting
hit by any ground fire.
U.S. and Iraqi military vehicles ply the highway
leading into the city from the airport. Traffic
crawls through heavily defended checkpoints.
But the biggest hassle for a visitor arriving by
plane in Erbil is mundane, a long wait in line at
immigration. "Do you have your DOD card?" an officer
asked, mistaking an American civilian for a U.S.
government employee affiliated with the Department
of Defense.
The next cultural shock is the relative lack of guns
on the streets of Erbil, an ancient city near the
site of a battlefield victory of the Macedonian
king, Alexander the Great, over forces of the
Persian empire. A little more than a decade ago, the
city was the scene of fighting among Kurdish
factions, one of them backed by Saddam Hussein's
military.
Soldiers, some in uniforms of American-made desert
camouflage, carry automatic weapons outside key
government buildings. Some armed guards, visibly
relaxed, stroll down avenues or lounge outside
banks, fuel depots and other installations. They
don't wear helmets or bulletproof vests.
Security is tighter around a compound in the Ainkawa
neighborhood of Erbil where foreign contractors and
U.S. diplomatic staff live. Even here, though, the
concrete blast walls are fewer, and lower, than
those found at similar installations in Baghdad.
Ainkawa is a Christian district in a Kurdish city,
which is as safe as it gets for Westerners in Iraq.
Kurds are a non-Arab people distantly related to the
Iranians and make up about 15 percent of Iraq's 27
million people.
Neighboring Iran, Syria and Turkey also have Kurdish
minorities that have come into conflict with
governments seeking to curb their separatist
movements.
Iraqi Kurds rebelled against Saddam after the Gulf
War in 1991. U.S.-led forces created a safe haven
for the Kurds, who eventually established a stable,
self-governing territory that had little in common
with the chaos elsewhere in Iraq.
They rejoined the central government after Saddam
was ousted in 2003, though maintain a big say in
their own affairs.
As U.S. allies, the Kurds are targets of insurgents,
and the area under their control lies close to
troubled cities such as Mosul and Kirkuk. But
bombings in the Kurds' semiautonomous zone are
considered unusual, partly a result of rigorous
policing that keeps attackers outside the so-called
"Green Line" that divides Kurdistan from the rest of
Iraq.
An official of the Kurdistan Regional Government
invited an American journalist for ice cream and a
walk through downtown late one night to show that
Erbil was safe. Such an excursion in Baghdad, for a
foreigner or an Iraqi, would be extremely unwise.
And unlike the Iraqi capital, Erbil does not impose
curfews.
Tea shops were packed and smoke billowed from a
barbecue restaurant. Iskan Street, a shopping
thoroughfare, was hopping, even though it was
quieter than usual because Islam's holy month of
Ramadan is under way. The official urged the
journalist to walk around at night by himself.
Some foreign investors from neighboring Turkey and
elsewhere have been attracted by Erbil's stable
security and its income from oil reserves in the
region. Half-built, high-rise apartments and office
towers are rising from the dusty plains, but public
services and infrastructure need to be upgraded.
In one Baghdad-style image in Erbil this week, half
a dozen armored, sports utility vehicles carrying a
U.S. congressional delegation barreled past the
Citadel, a walled, crumbling enclave on the highest
point in the city. The convoy was forced to stop on
a crowded street as a driver, to the amusement of
onlookers, tried to parallel park in front of it.
Sirens whooped, and the convoy sped on.
The U.S. military presence in Kurdistan is minimal.
More than 1,000 South Korean troops in the area
provide medical care at a hospital on their base and
other humanitarian projects. It is easy to reach
their compound entrance; just get waved through two
lackluster, Kurdish checkpoints without a car or ID
check. On a recent day, half a dozen South Korean
soldiers without body armor crowded into a kiosk at
the main gate to listen to an officer's
instructions.
Private car owners in Erbil don't seem to have any
qualms about driving around in big, white SUVs. Such
vehicles are frequently attacked in Baghdad and
other more dangerous parts of Iraq because they are
favored by foreign contractors. In Kurdistan's
capital, there are even a few Hummers, the civilian
version of the American military Humvee.
The largely homogenous, civilian population in
Kurdistan, eager to stay away from the sectarian and
factional bloodshed among Sunni and Shiite Arabs
farther south, keeps in close contact with their
trusted security forces.
If a suspicious person loiters too long near a
government building, someone will contact the
authorities. If someone rents an apartment, the
owner will likely demand proof of identity and
clearance from security officials. Checkpoint guards
want to know where travelers came from, where
they're going, and whom they are going to see.
For all the security successes, Kurdistan's safety
is fragile by international standards. Last month,
Austrian Airlines suspended flights to Erbil because
of security concerns, and Sweden has also suspended
commercial flights to the region.
Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of Kurdistan's foreign
relations department, said the Kurds had appealed in
vain to American forces to provide surveillance
cameras, equipment that detects explosives and other
high-tech security gear. But he said he felt
comfortable without bodyguards.
"I drive alone," Bakir said. "I go the market. I go
to restaurants."
AP
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