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Kurdistan: Small-screen Epic Lifts Kurdish
Spirits
26.4.2008
By Rebaz Mahmood in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan
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Drama about Kurdish struggle regarded as one of the
region’s most successful TV productions.
April 26, 2008
Iraqi Kurdistan has never known the like of it.
Over the last few months, an historical drama
gripped people’s imaginations, with viewers of all
ages crowded around televisions in teahouses across
the region to watch the show. Even the roads were
noticeably emptier of traffic while it aired.
Gardalul, or Storm, a 25-episode mini-series that
ended its second season last week, revived memories
of the north’s struggle against Ba’athist rule and
has made an especially strong impact on Kurdish
youth – many of whom were oblivious to the recent
history of their region.
The drama focuses on Ba’athist rule in Kurdistan,
beginning in the mid-1970s when the Kurdish
resistance was starting anew.
In 1974, the Kurdish armed struggle against Iraqi
forces collapsed, forcing Kurdish leader Mustafa
Barzani – the late father of the Kurdistan
Democratic Party leader – to flee to Iran and later
to the United States. The following year, Jalal
Talabani formed the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan,
PUK, and renewed the battle.
The Kurdish region has been autonomous since 1991,
and Talabani has served as president of Iraq for the
last three years.
Gardalul tells the story of the civil war against
the Ba’athist’s military forces and intelligence
agents. The mini-series has roused Kurdish pride,
particularly among its jaded youth, and is one of
the region’s most successful TV productions.
"People are thirsty for Kurdish arts,” said Shaho
Sa'id, a professor of literature at the University
of Sulaimaniyah. “They watch [television] and see
dozens of different Arab shows, but we don't have
such things.”
The mini-series, which starred 350 actors, was
written and directed by Jalil Zangana, one of the
most famous directors in Iraqi Kurdistan. The show’s
first season, broadcast in 2006, concentrated on
Sulaimaniyah between 1976 and 1977, while the second
focused on the period from 1977 to 1987.
Gardalul, which is expected to have a third season
next year, is broadcast on Kurdsat, the main Kurdish
channel in Sulaimaniyah, which was founded and
directed by Talabani’s wife, Hero Ibrahim.
The mini-series has attracted a wide audience with
its stories of acts of violence by Ba’athists
against Kurds, including murders, arrests and bloody
public confrontations in Sulaimaniyah’s shopping
areas and universities.
In one scene, Sulaimaniyah school students chant
nationalist slogans against the Ba’ath regime, and
its security forces shoot and kill a female student.
A number of students are also arrested after being
brutally beaten and are put in solitary confinement.
A mourning family is shown in the next scene,www.ekurd.net
and it becomes clear
that the female student and one of those who were
arrested are siblings.
Youth in Iraqi Kurdistan have largely only known
life under Kurdish governance and are widely
critical of Kurdish leaders.
Awat Najmadin, manager of Kurdsat, said one of the
goals of the mini-series was to educate the younger
generation about life under Saddam’s regime, as well
as that which preceded it.
“It is very important for our young people to be
aware of the history of their own people,” he said.
“They should know that the current situation in
which the Kurds live emerged from the blood of the
martyrs who faced death on a daily basis.”
Pshtiwan Noori, an actor who worked in both seasons
of the series, called the show “a great work of art
that will enrich the artistic wealth of my nation”.
He agreed that it was an important history lesson
for younger Kurds.
“We now have a new generation who, unfortunately, do
not know about history,” he said. “Most of them
don’t have a book in their homes.”
Rabar Hiwa, a 20-year-old student in Sulaimaniyah,
said he was surprised to learn about the
difficulties faced by Kurds in the 1970s.
“We didn’t know about those events,” said Hiwa.
“Watching this series has helped educate us about
some of that history.”
Another drama has played out behind the scenes of
the mini-series,www.ekurd.net
with a writer accusing
Zangana of stealing his idea. However, the
allegation has not affected the popularity of the
show, and many say they are eagerly awaiting the
third season.
Shorish Jawhar, a 32-year-old shopkeeper, who said
his father named him Shorish (revolution) in honour
of the Kurdish revolution, said he did not fully
understand the name’s significance until he watched
the series.
“I would have supper and do nothing else until the
show finished,” he said. “It reminded all of us of
the Ba’athist injustice and oppression.”
Rebaz Mahmood is an IWPR-trained journalist in
Sulaimaniyah.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, iwpr
net
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