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Post by pieter on Oct 13, 2019 10:23:22 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 13, 2019 10:36:31 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 13, 2019 10:40:29 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 13, 2019 13:15:03 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 13, 2019 13:59:01 GMT -7
Dear friends,
I have to be honest and want to tell you that I have very positive experiences with Kurds in the Netherlands. I have met Turkish Kurds, Iraqi Kurds, Syrian Kurds, Iranian Kurds and even Kurds from Armenia. Like the Poles and the jews the Kurds have a huge diaspora all oveer the world, due to persecutions, oppressions, occupations, genocides, the harassment, bad treatment and humiliation they faced in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. I don't know much about the treatment of the 45 thousand strong Kurd minority in Armenia and Azerbaidjan.
After Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran most Kurds live in Germany. Germany has a Kurd minority of 1.2 million to 1.5 million Kurds and that is a huge minority. The fact that there also live 2.5 to 4 million ethnic Turks in Germany this creates some challanges for the German authorities next to the Islamist and Far right terrorism threat. I am sure that the German Verfassungsschutz (Internal security and secret service) is worried about the tensions between Kurd and Turkish nationalists in Germany. They have experience with Kurd and Turkish violence in Germany in the past. Fanatic Kurds attacked Turkish targets in Germany and Turkish nationalists attacked Kurd individuals, groups, meetings and demonstrations. We had the same thing in the Netherlands. The situation in Germany is very similar to the Netherlands. We have a lot of Turks and Kurds in the Netherlands too. That is why I have met so many Kurds, and know some of them very well. In the same time I know some Turks very well. And both Kurds and Turks are friends and acquaintances of mine, both privately and professionaly.
For the rest the Kurd diasppora is spread over France (150,000), Sweden (83,600), the Netherlands (70,000), Russia (63,818), Belgium (50,000), United Kingdom (49,841), Kazakhstan (46,348), Armenia (37,470), Switzerland (35,000), Denmark (30,000), Jordan (30,000), Austria (23,000), Greece (22,000), United States (20,591), Georgia (13,861), Kyrgyzstan (13,200), Canada (16,315), Finland (14,054), Australia (10,551) and Azerbaijan (6,100).
I have met Kurd Intellectuals, workers, Unionists, Social liberals, know a member of the conservative liberal VVD party of the Dutch prime minister who is a local councillor. Some Kurds I met were very honest and told me about their history and also about their pain about the discord and division within the Kurds in North Kurdistan (Turkey), West-Kurdistan (Syria), South-Kurdistan (Iraq) and East-Kurdistan (Iran). I met very intelligent, sophisticated, secular, Western thinking, open minded, refined, pleasant and humanist Kurds, who were critical about their own Kurd leadership. They the disliked corruption, nepotism, clientelism, tribalism, conservatism and patriarchal attitudes of their leaders. They regretted tribal and clan conflicts within certain area's of the Kurd society.
But most of them were and are very proud to be Kurds, proud of the Kurd history, proud of the Kurd People, proud of their Kurd language, Kurd customs and traditions, their Kurd flag and symbols, historical Kurd figures like Saladin, the first sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish ethnicity, Saladin led the Muslim military campaign against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen and other parts of North Africa. Kurds have went to Dutch kindertgarten, primary schools, highschools, vocational universities and universities. Today you have Kurd parliament members, Kurd alderwomen and men, Kurd Councillors, lawjers, top public servants, business people, Fashion designers (one of the is my friend), police officers, teachers, workers and university professors, The same counts for Dutch Turks and Dutch (Persian) Iranians.
I liked having had so much time to talk with Turkish Kurds, Iraqi Kurds (one of them was my collleague and friend, I invited him a lot of time to my house and he told me a lot about Southern Kurdistan in Nortnern Iraq where he came from, the Turkish Kurdistan -North Kurdistan-, the Istanbul he had lived in, Bagdad he knew as a former Iraqi, and his knowledge of the Arab world, because he spoke both Kurd and Arabic, and Dutch with me and some English). Like the fact that I could speak with Syrian Kurd asylumseekers due to my work and had a good conversation with an Iranian Kurd during a long train drive. Next to that I had the opportunity to read a lot about Kurds and see documentaries, series and movies about Kurds. The Kurd diaspora is present in Europe for sure and tensions with the ethnic Turks and Islamist Islamic state supporters will continue to exist. Both ethnic Turkish nationalists and Islamist Salafist Jihadi Islamic state supporters are arch rivals of the Kurds. Confusing is that also most Turkish nationalists hate the Salafist Jihadi Islamic state supporters, because Daesh (Islamic State) terrorist attacks killed many ethnic Turks and Kurds in Turkey. Also still existing rivalry and tensions between various Kurd fractions and tribes or clans will continue to exist. Some Kurds are more conservative Sunni Muslims than the Turks, they have their family honour codes, honour killings and family feuds that goes many generations back. Comparable to some archaic Albanese, Arab, North African Berber and Armenian traditions.
But the sophisticated, modern, secular, humanistic, Pro-Western, Pro-democracy and Freedom Kurds I know are very pleasant, sophisticated, tolerant, open and nice people. The Kurds are used to diversity and pluriformity amongst themselves. You have Sunni Muslim Kurds, Alevi Kurds, Shia Muslim Kurds, Sufist Kurds (the mystical mythological branch of Islam -prosecuted and targeted by Salafist extremists from Al Qaida and the Islamic State -Daesh- today) , Chrisitan Kurds, Jewish Kurds, Zoroastrist Kurds (who have their own Sun religion), Yezidi Kurds, secular humanist Kurds, atheist Kurds, communist (Marxist Leninist) Kurds (like the PKK supporters), secular liberal Kurds, Agnostic Kurds and etc. I have seldom met such open and tolerant people like the Kurds that were not extremists, that I met. They have experience with living for centuries next to Turks, Persians (Iranians), Assyrian christians, Jezidi people, Armenians, Druze, Alevites, Sunni and Shia Muslims, Russians, Greeks and others.
Sunni Muslim Turks sometimes have difficulties with Greeks, jews, Armenians and Kurds. Most Kurds I met didn't had a problem with Turks, Arabs, Jews, Iranian people, but they had a problem with the Turkish, Syrian, Iraqi and Iranian regimes and the lack of support they received from the West in their struggle in their point of view.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by pieter on Oct 14, 2019 12:05:31 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 14, 2019 13:47:19 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 15, 2019 8:31:13 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 15, 2019 8:34:31 GMT -7
Very interesting lecture by Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, Representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government to the USA
Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman is a good example of the beauty and intelligence of Kurd women. A sophisticated, academic and decent lady. I have seen many Kurd women and girls like her in the Netherlands. She is an excellent representative for her nation in the USA. I know Iraqi Kurds and Turkish Kurds in Arnhem.
Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman's father and brother were killed by Islamic extremist during a suicide bombing
Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman: “Islamic State in Iraq: It is actual a marriage of ISIS in Iraq, which was born out of Al Qaida, so it is the Islamist extremist who interpret the Quran in their own weird way. And you could interpret the Quran in a million ways, so it is those Islamist extremists, but they have allied with the Ba’athists, the Ba’athists who used to be with Saddam Hussein, who were responsible for chemical weapons, the genocide, the torture, throwing people of buildings. We see those same tactics, it’s the same people. So the 2 of them have married together if you like. The Ba’athists want to come back to power in Iraq, the Islamist extremists want a Caliphate. And it is a marriage of convenience. Using the geopolitical situation but also using Islam, their version of Islam as a tool.”
This is a center right conservative liberal councillor of Prime Ministers Mark Rutte's VVD party in Arnhem. His is of Iraqi Kurd descent.
He is an excellent councillor
This Kurd Parliament member is of Turkish Kurd descent. She often expresses her support for Palestinian and Kurd Human rights, social security and women rights
Many Dutch Turks dislike her, due to her connection to the Kurd cause, and because they see her as a traitor of Turkey.
Here you see a discussion of 2 Dutch Kurds of Syrian Kurd descent sitting on the right side and on the left side a Pro-Erdogan, AK parti supporting Turkish Kurd and Turkish female journalist. The emotions run high and it is amazing that these people don't physically clash. Her you see the Syrian Kurd YPG/SDF on one side and the Turkish Pro-Erdogan/Pro-Turkish army side on the other side sitting at one table. The journalist who leads this multi-cultural program Half Moon (Halve maan) is of Dutch Moroccan descent and thus a neutral outsider in this case. She tries to lead the discussion with authority, to discipline the people, but both sides are not open for the other side. You see the extreme emotion in the face of the Kurd filmmaker with long curley hair. His family is in the territory which is being attacked. He tells how his family is bombed and how they are fleeing to Raqqa. You can't understand this discussion. I know, but if you watch a few episodes you see the emotions on the faces. The Iraqi Kurd filmmaker calls the Pro-Erdogan Kurd a NSB-er, this means a Dutch traitor in the war, a Quisling, a Nazi. This is a huge accusation. In other situations a clash or fight would have been broken out. You see the mental and physical resentments towards the Pro-Turkish duo on the table by the Pro-Syrian Kurd representatives.
"I am a Turk. I am a Kurd."
"I am a Turk. I am a Kurd. I am a human being, "says the Turkish-Dutch actress, journalist and documentry maker Nazmiye Oral:" Against killing innocent civilians, by anyone, there is no crime. " She tells the story that she grew up with her very conservative religious Sunni Muslim ethnic Turkish parents and that Alevite Kurds became their neighbours and that they grew up with their Kurd neighbours as brothers and sisters, with no difference between Turks and Kurds.
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