On one of our last days in Kurdistan, after being on the road for days, we organised a vigil outside of the Turkish consulate in Erbil. It was against the cross-border bombings In Kurdistan by Turkey, in support of the villagers we had spent the last few days visiting.
It is not that easy to organise protests in Kurdistan. Julie and Mohammed warned us that it was likely to be shut down very quickly and with possible arrests. After thinking about this it was decided that one of our team mates would not be able to join us because she was Arab (Baghdadi), and in an encounter with the police it would be worse for her. The rest of us had our status as internationals to protect us, hopefully. We made plans for the bus to not wait for us. Organised who would hold what so that we could begin quickly and without fuss. Completed a drive by to decide where we would stand. We even had the team's lawyer waiting on hand (Latif was actually already there but we did make him wait in the bus instead of joining us). It was a bit scary but it felt good to be doing something. I had felt deeply the injustice of my privileged life when hearing the stories of people who lived every day in fear. Why did i get to grow up in safety, with no fear of not eating or the roof over my head collapsing under the pressure of a bomb blast? In my head I keep repeating the words, 'from those whom much is given, much will be expected' (Luke 12:48). Some people would say that is silly and mixed up with the 'catholic guilt' stuff, but it makes perfect sense to me. I have been given so much, so many opportunities, education, guidance. How can i live with all that and not do my best to share it with people who haven't been given all of it? One of those things i was given was being born in a country that is safe, rich and powerful. I am don't agree with the ways the system has ensured these things, but i feel like that is even more reason to exploit it for the benefit of places like Dupre. So i stood out there with my Australian passport, fairly positive i would not be hurt, knowing my family wouldn't be targeted, I wouldn't lose my job, i wouldn't "disappear", my house wouldn't be burned down, my land wouldn't be taken away. And to our surprise, in the end I wouldn't even have to answer police questions. We do not know why the Asayish did not stop our protest. Were they intimated by the title, 'internationals'? Did they agree that Turkey should stop bombing civilians? Was it because we weren't criticising Kurdish political parties? Whatever the reason we stood there for an hour and a half with our banners. We were interviewed by Kurdish media. We got lots of support from passerby's. We were joined by three men going past. And we didn't pass out from heatstroke. It was only a small act of defiance and support. Maybe it would have felt like more if we had been arrested, but I was too exhausted to try and convince the police that they should. However it was something we could do and it felt good doing it as a group of people from Ireland, Poland, Australia, Norway, America, Canada and Kurdistan. Telling Turkey that we were aware what they were doing. If I was in a bad situation I would like to know that people were doing that for me, even if it didn't change anything, Knowing that people were doing some little thing, not just nodding and going on with their lives. Hopefully the people in the consulate looked out of their windows at some point and saw us and hopefully it did change some hearts and minds. I just want to just say that there are other protests by Kurdish people, it wasn't completely groundbreaking what we did, just that we were safer. A couple of days after I left Iraq there were mass demonstrations by teachers and other people in the public sector, about the cuts to their wages. The CPT crew were there supporting them and you can read more about it on their website. Soon after these protests which sounded so positive, an activist from Erbil arrived to talk with CPT about his arrest and abuse at the hands of security forces days before. Hemn Abdulkhaleq (Hemin Bnaslaway) was dragged out of his home by Asayish, they punched his son and caused his pregnant wife to have a miscarriage. After being taken away he was beaten and threatened, his head was shaved and he was told that he had to leave Erbil because he was calling for people to protest corruption in the government. CPT is accompanying him and trying to get his story heard, for more details look up their blog on cptikurdistan.blogspot.com |
The BeginingThis started when a friend began speaking to me about his experience with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Palestine. So far, a couple of years later, it has got me to this point where I am sitting at a chair in Iraqi Kurdistan, beginning my own delegation with that group. Archives
November 2016
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