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Iraqi Kurds Crown First Miss Kurdistan
30.6.2012 |
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Twelve women competed in the beauty pageant held in
Rotana Hotel Erbil, Kurdistan region of Iraq, June
29, 2012. Photo: AFP/Safin Hamed
Sheena Aziz waves to the audience after being
crowned Miss Kurdistan Region 2012 at Rotana Hotel
in Erbil, Kurdistan region, June 29, 2012 Photo:
Reuters
Shene Aziz Ako, an 18-year-old from Sulaimaniyah,
was the winner. Photo credit (Left): Zafar Iqbal/zafarfoto.net
Twelve women competed in the beauty pageant held in
Erbil, Kurdistan region of Iraq, June 29, 2012.
Photo: AFP/Safin Hamed
Bikinis banned in Iraq's
Kurdistan beauty pageant
June 30, 2012
ERBIL-Hewlęr, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', —
Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region has crowned the
first-ever Miss Kurdistan, though the beauty contest
took place without bikini-clad women and with
journalists and their cameras kept at bay.
Twelve women competed in the beauty pageant held
late on Thursday in Erbil, capital of the autonomous
region in northern Iraq, organised by a Lebanese
company and attended by foreign diplomats, singers,
actors and officials.
Reporters and photographers were allowed to enter
the hall where the ceremony was held in the Rotana
Hotel for speeches by the organising company and
Kurdistan tourism officials.
But after a performance of traditional Kurdish music
and dance, the contestants presented themselves and
the media was then asked to wait in the reception
area of the hotel until the pageant was over.
When journalists asked why they were told to leave,
a supervisor said the rights for the pageant itself
had been sold to a media company that planned to
broadcast it later.
Shene Aziz Ako, an 18-year-old from Sulaimaniyah,
was the winner.
"We organised the festival in a way that suits
Kurdish traditions and habits; you will not see the
bathing suites but you will see sports clothes and
decent evening dress,www.ekurd.net
which does not underplay the beauty of the girls,"
Roy Shalala, an official from the organising
company, told journalists.
He said the winner would have a year-long schedule
working for a cause of her choice and that "we will
put all our abilities into the success of the
mission of the girl who will hold the crown," who
had to be an Iraqi Kurd living in Kurdistan or
abroad.
Ako's cause was not immediately clear.
The judges included actor Yusef al-Khal, singer Dina
Hayek, plastic surgeon Nader Saab, all from Lebanon,
and former Kurdistan parliament member Shokriyah
Rasool, beauty expert Farhad Birbal and various
beauty contest winners.
A flashier Miss Lebanon pageant, involving far more
revealing outfits, is held each year.
Plastic surgeon Saab said he was encouraged to
participate because he is "very close to Kurdish
beauty" from operating on Kurdish women in Beirut.
"Of course the standards here match the
international standards, but beauty is still
relative because Kurdish beauty is different from
Lebanese, African or French beauty," Saab said.
"We must respect the traditions and customs, but
this does not prevent there from being a Miss
Kurdistan," he said. "We focus on the beauty and
culture, and beauty consists of a number of
aspects."
Omar Dizay, a Kurdish artist, said that "selection
of Miss Kurdistan, is a new phenomenon," and a first
for the region.
Beauty pageants have been absent from Iraq for
decades. During the time of the monarchy, which was
overthrown in 1958, they were held in social clubs,
especially in the southern port city of Basra.
Kurdistan is a conservative region where women still
face restrictions, though it is far safer than the
rest of Iraq.
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author or news agency,
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