A hospital in Turkey to help Kurdish journalists

The hospital will cut 50 to 70 percent of the cost.

Iraqi journalists are calling for more help, as a majority--including journalists in Kurdistan Region-are facing difficult financial issues.

The Organization of Writers Without Borders in Iraq has signed a deal with a big hospital in Ankara, capital of Turkey, to treat Iraqi and Kurdistan Region journalists, as well as their families, at a discounted cost.

"From the 25th of this month, journalists and their families can get treatment in the hospital," said Mam Burhan Qaneh, head of Writers Without Borders from the Suleimaniyah city office.

Qaneh pointed out that according to the deal, the hospital will cut 50 to 70 percent of the cost. Moreover, the organization will prepare visas for the journalists and their families. He requested that journalists visit their offices in Erbil, Suleimaniyah, and Kirkuk for more information.

Writers Without Borders in Iraq was established in 2005. It is a nongovernmental organization that aims to help Iraqi writers and journalists; its headquarters is in Kirkuk city.

Qaneh told "The Kurdish Globe" that since the organization announced the statement, in a very short time a number of journalists have contacted the organization and want to go to the hospital.

He mentioned that Iraqi journalists deserve more help and support from government and nongovernmental organizations. Ara Ibrahim, a journalist from Kurdish language "Hawlati," praised the efforts of Writers Without Borders.

Ibrahim said, "There is not so much help for Iraqi journalists including journalists in Kurdistan; we only have a syndicate, and the only thing they do is give us an identification--nothing more."

the article and photo by Qassim Khidhir

An Iraqi poet insults Kurds

During a poetry festival in Baghdad aired on Biladi satellite TV, which belongs to Ibrahim al-Jaffari, former Iraqi Prime Minister, poet Samir Sabih took the stage and started reading poems about attacking Kurdish people. “Soon we will burn down Kurds and drive them away from Kirkuk city," read Sabih.

The TV showed Iraqi Turkmen MP Fawzi Akram Tarzi from Sadr bloc continuously applauding and cheering as the poet constantly insulted Kurdish people. The scene, widely reported in Kurdistan Region, angered Kurdish people.

Kurdish MPs in Baghdad immediately demanded MP Tarzi and Sadr bloc apologize, but they haven't. Meanwhile, 32 Kurdish MPs have signed a petition and demanded Iraqi Parliament lift immunity on Tarzi.

After the incident, the Kurdish security agency in Kirkuk issued a statement. The statement read that on February 2, 2009, in a security operation, the agency arrested three insurgents; two of them were the bodyguards of Fawzi Akram Tarzi. Tarzi's bodyguards are responsible for killing U.S. soldiers, Iraqi police, and soldiers in Baghdad and Kirkuk, the statement added. "When we arrested them, they were in possession of sniper rifles and anti-tank weapons," read the statement.

Moreover, it pointed out that the two insurgents were able to pass checkpoints very easily, because they had identification made by the Sadr bloc MP. Biladi TV was established in 2006 and is funded by Iran.

Volunteer grave diggers

Some find comfort at the bottom of an empty grave

Hajji Salah, 56, and his team are ready to dig a tomb for anyone, Muslim or Christian, at anytime--and at no charge.

In Kurdish society, when someone dies and he is male, he is washed in a mosque. If the person is female, she is washed at home. Immediately after, a group of men rush to a cemetery to dig a grave for the dead person.

Hajji Salah, also known as Salaha Rash, and his team of five men have been digging graves for eight years; they have all the necessary equipment for digging graves such as shovels, drillers, a generator, a tent and other tools of the trade.

 "In Erbil city, we are well-known as tomb diggers--we are ready to dig graves for anyone, Muslim or Christian, at anytime and for free," said Hajji Salah while he was sitting behind a fire in his workplace. He is also a construction worker. "I want you to publish my phone number so that people can call me to dig a grave," said Salah.

He started this volunteer work eight years ago. He liked going to the cemetery whenever someone close to him died to help dig the grave. He likes the feeling inside the grave. "Inside the grave, while I am digging, I feel very comfortable and life becomes very simple in front of my eyes."

 Salah and his men can dig and prepare one grave in less than two hours; regularly, every week, they dig three graves. The height of the grave should be one meter and a half, and about two meters wide, but for children the grave is smaller.

There are other volunteer tomb-diggers in Erbil city who are well organized. Moreover, there are workers who dig graves for money. They charge US$200 to dig a grave during daylight, but if it is at night they charge more money. Salah said the workers who dig graves for money don't like the volunteer groups. "They think we are a threat to their business."

In Erbil city, there are no companies for such a business, but in Suleimaniya city there are.

Hajji Muhammad, Salah's friend, said when Salah went to Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, he helped a lot of people. "It was very crowded in Mecca; many old people died and collapsed; Salah carried a number of dead and sick Hajjis and put them into ambulances. I called his wife and I said even in Mecca he is helping people," said Muhammad.

Salah and his wife live alone together alone. His wife is OK with what he is doing, but she wants him to be at home at night--not digging graves.

By Qassim Khidhir

Kurdistan: The land of mosques

The Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs of Iraqi Kurdistan Region says no country in the world had as many mosques as Kurdistan Region in terms of area.

Ministry spokesperson, Mariwan Naqshbandi, stated that 100 mosques were constructed throughout Kurdistan Region—and one church—in 2009.

"Eighty percent of the mosques were built by the private sector--not by the ministry," said Naqshbandi. In Kurdistan Region, the wealthy usually build mosques, not the government; the government mainly restores old mosques.

There is a special committee in the ministry designated to build mosques. And that committee has imposed certain terms and conditions for any donor who wants to build a mosque.  The ministry decides where the mosque will be built and if the mosque design is attractive. 

Mosques built in the last four years were funded by benevolent donors rather than the government, according to Naqshbandi.

 Statistical figures show that there are 4,079 mosques in Kurdistan Region, Naqshbandi said. Some 600 were built by wealthy men. Kurdistan Region holds the world record in terms of number of mosques.

Whenever a donor proposes to build a mosque in the region, the ministry briefs him on the large number of mosques in the region and appeals to him to build a school or a hospital instead, as they are no less charitable works.