Pêşmerge: 'Those who face death'

Ay pêşmergey Kurd...

The Peshmarga spirit in Kurds... where is it today?

your father, your grandfather, your great great grandfather; your uncle, son, brother or relative. Almost every Kurdish family has a Peshmerga that can sit and for hours tell stories of their experience during the years they spent in the mountains. The Peshmerga that fought risking his life and literally faced death for the Kurds, the Peshmerga are those that brought Kurdistan to what it is today are unfortunately losing their spirit in the 'Modernizing' Kuridsh society.

The men who were honest, strong and faced death; who are what ever he could see, who fought in the coldest winter days through the snow and through the hottest summer days under the sizzling sun. Those who fought for no return, who fought with their hearts and blood. Just for you and I to live in a place called 'Kurdistan'. What are we, as Kurdish youth, doing today to pass our sincere gratitude for those men who fought for our future by facing death?

"This is Mir Mokhsen, a Peshmerga or Kurdish freedom fighter who has fought in hundreds of battles for Kurdish freedom for half a century. He has faced Saddam Hussein’s tanks, Russian-made helicopter gunships, chemical weapons and poison gas, the unspeakable brutality of Saddam’s soldiers countless times – and survived."

(Dr. Jack Wheeler; 28 June 2008; tothepointnews.com)

It is people like Mir Mokhsen that we must appreciate and respect for today, tomorrow and always. Instead of winging and blaming people for the problems our nation faces today, youth should also consider the horrendous past the Kurds suffered. I hope today's gentlement will grow to have even a 'tiny little bit' of the peshmerga spirit that their fathers and gradfathers had... unfortunyately it is not always evident. Just talks, not true freedom fighters who are deep with emotions for their nation.

Mandali, Khanaqin and Faili Kurds...!!

Living abroad any person who asked me:
"where are you from?" or "what is your nationality"

I would simple reply:

"Kurdistan! and I am a Kurd!"

Most of the time I would have to say North Iraq and give an entire lecture of what I knew about the Kurds. If however, they knew something more they would ask:

"Which province are you from?"

Here... I would mumble. "I am not from Slemani, I am not from Hawler, I am not from Duhok, I am not exactly an Iranian Kurd either. I am from Mandali, we are called in most cases Faylee Kurds." Today, I like to see myself, personally, as a Khanaqini after many visits I see so much similarity and no difference. Geographically and socially it is very much linked to Mnali.

Khanaqin is the place where I feel I belong, even though my entire life I have not lived there for more than 21 days all together, and unfortunately have never had the honor to seen Mandali by eyes yet.

I hope this blogspot will allow for all those Kurds like myself to start our little movement and share thoughts and feelings of who we are. In the end we are all Kurds, nonetheless, we must confine to our heritage and ancestors, as you will witness from posts to come the Faylee Kurds, like the victims of Halaja and Anfal suffered, and suffered greatly!!

I was born to try... My friends welcome!

Doing everything that I believe in
Going by the rules that I've been taught
More understanding of what's around me
And protected from the walls of love

All that you see is me

And all I truly believe...

That I was born to try

I've learned to love

Be understanding

And believe in life

But you've got to make choices

Be wrong or right

Sometimes you've got to sacrifice the things you like

But I was born to Try

All that you see is me

All I truly believe

All that you see is me

All I truly believe

That I was born to try...

Welcome!!

For anyone who knows me well you would know I simply do not enjoy English music...The above, however, are words from Delta Goodrem's song- Born to Try!Accidently came on the radio in the car, the words seemed to be in my head for days after. With Google not being far I managed to type some keywords I remembered and here it is, words I truly believe in: BORN TO TRY

Not just me, but everybody and everyone is born to try. We may do mistakes more than others, this just means we learn more. We may sacrifice more than others, that just means we will go further in life. We may be hurt more than others, and that just means we learn more about life along the way!

It is the summer break here in Hawler, and coincidently the holy month of Ramadan. I must admit it is hard to enjoy the fasting season in this deadly hot weather, nonetheless, the Ramdan spirit is everywhere. As soon as you step outside your home you can feel the atmosphere of this Holy Month, something I was not used to in Australia. That is just another one of those reasons why I believe there is no place like home!! The scenery on the left is one of the many natural beauties you can witness in the region.

As the curtains of the year closed I wait the doors of 2008/2009 to open- I must admit it was a hectic year with many UPS and DOWNS. Despite all difficulties and confrontations the Politics and IR group managed to have a very enjoyable time with memories of all sorts to cherish for years to come. The most memorable in my mind is the Heran picnic.

During the cross border tensions with Turkey, as students we united together and undertook a 'peaceful' demonstration outside the university in the cold, misty morning. It definately is a day I will always be proud of. The picture is of the amazingly beautiful Avashin river, the bridge was destroyed by the Turks... the incident hurt us all. As you can see from the second picture we didn't stay silent.

In Dr. Frances's lectures it was often hard to tell who was supposed to teach with all the comments and opinions during the lecture (that was at the beginning of the year.... of course this latter changed) The last minute studies and the lectures Kak Zrar gave us the day before the exams or early morning on exam day had their own unique taste. The Picture on the right is the day before our Middle East exam the next morning. We tended to be a group who liked to leave everything to for the last minute (from assignments, catching up on lecture notes to actually STUDYING)


I must admit I miss every second. Our Politics and IR class to me was like a big family, I write with gloom that next year our family will be broken into parts, as a result of the Exam Board decision we have people going in a little different paths.

Many, including myself are a little restless and confused of how the university will continue, we all have our fingers crossed and hope things will move to the right direction. We must however remain optimistic and support one another. Even if we are not in the same class... One thing is for sure, the bond of our family and the strong frienship we share will always remain tight.


I hope you are all enjoying your break...
See you in a months time,

Happy Holidays