In the village of Dara Bazmar, just 30 kilometers away from the city of Erbil on the road to the border between Iraq and Iran, there is an odd tree. This tree is not like all the others trees that you know and the Muslims in the region avoid talking about it.
There is no even a single leaf on its long branches, which stick up just like a sinister looking wizard’s fingers. The tree’s trunk is so dry that hordes of ants tightly cover its bark.
This tree is a ghost that makes people believe it has mysterious power pray to it. While I was taking pictures of the strange plant, my guide pointed at something I have not noticed before – there were thousands of rotten nails, stuck into the bark under the dense ant cloak.
“People used to come here, stood next to the tree and prayed to make their dreams come true,” the guide explained to me.
For us the tree is a symbol of life, family and nature. In the northern Iraqi village of Dara Bazmar, however, “The Tree With the Nails” symbolizes the agonizing death. Soaked into so many human wishes, ambitions, dreams and pains, stabbed with so many nails, the plant died and nowadays its dry trunk stands alone along the road, abandoned from all those, who were praying to it not long ago. Even a cheap coffin could not be made of this wood.
This tree is Iraq itself. Iraq, where violence, power, dictatorship and war stuck their lethal nails killing all hopes of beauty and life. There is however, a place in Iraq, where hope is still alive in spite of the chaos and the sufferings. This place is called Kurdistan.
The Iraqi Kurds rule their region since 1991, when a flight restricted area has been separated above the district. Now, four years after Saddam’s regime end, more than four millions Kurds face a crucial choice. On one hand, they can finally enjoy the chance of living on a relatively calm and quiet territory (as far it is possible in the Iraqi reality), their leaders were democratically elected and the elite also exist. On the other hand, however, the citizens live next to their hostile neighbors, who cannot accept the prosperity of the Kurds in northern Iraq.
The city of Erbil welcomes me with its indescribable heat and dry winds, waving a flag, which could be seen anywhere in Northern Iraq. That is the Kurds’ flag with a yellow sun against red, white and green background. The Chairman of the Kurdistan Regional Assembly Adnan Mufti welcomed me in the building of the regional council in the center of the city. I went through four points, where I have been checked for weapons before reaching the spacious office of the politician“Where am I at the moment – in Iraq or in Kurdistan?”- I asked provocatively.
“First of all, welcome to Kurdistan! Of course, you are in Kurdistan, but it also could be said it is Iraqi territory at the same time. But that’s the new Iraq we decided to build. It should be a federal, democratic country”, Mufti explains.
The new Iraq the Chairman mentioned should be a federal state, where the Kurds could feel autonomous. As they should have felt so for 15 years now. The Kurds held elections throughout the whole region and appointed their own government, headed by a prime minister and a president.
The question that arises however is: how the Kurds would be convinced to be part of United Iraq that is planned to be formed in the future?
The majority of the Kurds, especially the young ones, want to live in their own separate country. They gain confidence, as they know they are the balancing power in Iraq. The Kurds take the highest positions in the state – those of the president, the deputy prime minister and the foreign affairs minister. Except, as much as the other Iraqi areas get involved in the Civil War, as stronger the Kurds striving for political and economic independence becomes.
That was the opinion of a 20-year-old boy, called Adnan, who I met in the canteen in a university in Erbil.
“I expect that in 10 or at most 15 years Kurdistan is to be an independent country”, the student shared.
He is one of hundreds young Kurds, who feel they do not belong to Iraq. Actually, there is dramatic difference between the Kurdistan region and the other parts of the country. Several bombs explode in Baghdad every day, while in Erbil, Sulaimaniya and Dohuk the construction works are constantly developing.
The citizen of the Iraq’s capital do not leave their homes for weeks while the Kurds, secured by their police authorities, called Peshmerga (“Those, who stands against death”), go shopping in large modern American – style malls.
Religious fanatics kill innocent people “in the name of Allah” only half an hour away from Erbil, while the Kurd girls enjoy the articles and the photos in foreign fashion magazines.
“The secular way of life is our escapism from the religious fanaticism,” told me Professor Abbas Vali, the Dean of the new English-language University in Erbil.
“The religion is a very important factor in Kurdistan. It is a popular religion and not a political one. The people pray, go to the mosques; observe the traditions and the rules of the Koran. They live as the Islam enjoins. In our region the religion is not likely to be politicized. That is why Kurdistan is a secular place.
After the interview, go to visit our students and you will see that most of the girls are dressed just like their coevals in Paris and London. There are also some, who wear kerchiefs. But it is only because they want so – nobody can tell them how to dress,” the Dean explained.
It was at the afternoon. The students from Hawler were having lunch in the new canteen of the only one new university in Iraq. Nejdel, Mohamed, Ali and Adnan invited me to sit at their table. Nejdel, who did not wear a kerchief, told the life in this city was relatively calm and she could study without being afraid of going to classes in the university. That was so until the previous month.
“There was detonated a bomb in our region about a month ago, which scared us a lot,” shared the student.
The incident, mentioned by Nejdel, occurred in the beginning of May when a bomb-truck exploded in front of the Interior Ministry’s building. 12 people were killed and other 80 – severely injured. That assault reminded to the Kurds about the place they lived in and showed them nobody intended to let them exist freely in a country, which sunk into the chaos.
The Kurds are part of this chaos as they are involved in the complex ethnic pattern in contemporary Iraq.
A mini-model of Iraq today is the city of Kirkuk. It is situated on 9 billion barrels of petroleum and is populated by an explosive mixture of Kurds, Arabs, Assyrian Christians and Turkmen. In the past Kirkuk was the center of the Kurd culture but today it is broken by numerous ethnic fights.
In the 80’s Saddam Hussein deported thousands of Kurds, forcing them to abandon their homes, in an attempt at turning the city into an entirely Arab one.
Now, after the end of the dictatorship, those Kurds return to their places, which have already become homes for the Arabs. As a result, bloody fights occur in the streets every single day. A total of 18 children died in an assault on April 1.
The Kurds, however, are explicit on the point that Kirkuk should go under the jurisdiction of Kurdistan. That becomes clear from the worlds of the chairman of the Kurdistan Regional Assembly Adnan Mufti.
“In historical and economic respect, Kirkuk is part of Kurdistan. The historical documents read so. The old maps of the Ottoman Empire and whole Europe show that. A separate article in the new Iraqi constitution defines the statute of Kirkuk. There should be conducted census, the situation must be brought to the normal and a referendum should be organized until the end of the year,” the chairman explained.
The referendum over Kirkuk’s statute is scheduled for November 15. The value of the oil fields is set at more than USD 500 Billion. This money could guarantee the Kurd autonomous region full finance independence or… independence of a future Kurd state.
Actually, the Kurds are hardly working on the economic development of their area. Mohamed Herish is responsible for investments in the whole Kurdistan.
“We are now suffering because of the notorious image the west media gave to Iraq,” Herish said, leaning back in the big black chair in his cabinet.
“Stability in the whole country is the main priority of Iraq’s government. The situation in Mosul and Kirkuk differs from this in Erbil and Sulaimaniya. Security does not depend on the location but on the people’s mentality and their feeling of belonging to one community or another. In Kurdistan there are special units, which keep the security and supervise all that happens in the region. We enjoy the support of our society, which works with us. We do not allow any suspicious individuals entering our area. That is our most powerful mean of defense and what is missing in the other part of the country. The people there do not cooperate with the authorities, which causes the chaos. The situation is getting more and more complex,” the financial expert shared.
The economic priorities of the Kurds are closely related to the need of the population and the region’s strategic development. There are serious problems in the education sphere as far as the infrastructure is concerned.
Another negative point the foreign investors face is the lack of energy capacities. “The power will be cut off in a while,” told me my guide Hamid in a small restaurant in Erbil I have visited in my first evening, spent in Iraq.
“Cool!” – I thought – “I am in Iraq in the evening, knowing nobody and the power is to be cut off…”
“In order to solve the problem with the power supply, the Kurdistan Regional government issued licenses to foreign investors, who are to build 200-megawatt facilities,” Herish said.
The road and bridge infrastructures are also in an extremely poor condition. There is not a single highway in the whole region. The agriculture needs serious improvements as well. The soil is fertile but it has not been cultivated yet.“Our farmers cannot sell their production because of the transport’s high prices. As a result we are forced to import all the cultures needed,” Herish added.
The dream of being independent is closer to the Kurds than it has ever been. This dream, however, is limited, as they know if it comes true that could unleash a conflict with Turkey. More than ten million Kurds leave on Turkish territory. The authorities there call these Kurds “mountain Turks”.
The Iraqi Kurds have already gained enough confidence to approach Turkey with their heads up as you can hear in the statement of Regional Assembly Chairman Adnan Mufti.“Turkey should understand it could not deny our existence. That would be impossible nowadays. The world has changed, it went through two wars, burring millions. Today, the European countries that yesterday were rivals, created a common area, use common currency and strive for sharing common values. Why cannot we do the same?
It is all a matter of time. As I always say – we are ready to negotiate with Turkey and to develop our friendly relations with Ankara. We were rivals of old Iraqi regime but now we are building together the new “federal Iraq”, which borders on Turkey. It is important also that the security in Northern Iraq is a responsibility not only of the country itself but also of the allied forces. That neutralizes possible Turkish invasion to Iraq,” the Kurd claimed.
Kurdistan should be part of federal Iraq but if this project is not realized, we will take on our own way,” Professor Abbas Vali from Hawler University added.
“The idea of a federal state is the only way to Iraq’s rescue. If that project defeats, there will not be any premises to live on one and the same territory. At the current moment, 95% of the Kurd population wants to be independent. That would be the second great historical change in the region since 1922.
After all, the political maps were created to be changed,” the professor reasoned.
Anywhere in Kurdistan one can feel the spirit of the national debate on the country’s independence. That matter will get more and more topical. The peaceful solution of the Kurdish problem that about 30 million citizens face depends on numerous internal and external factors.
For the time being, the Kurdistan flag continues to wave only in Northern Iraq. The red colour on it stands for the blood of the Kurd martyrs, who lost their lives in the fights for freedom, the green – for the beauty of Kurdistan’s nature and the yellow sun – for the light on the kurds way.
Where does this way end? The way of the flag that has not its own country yet.
*Translated by Margarita Stoyancheva, Sofia News Agency
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pictures of the strange plant, my guide pointed at something I have not noticed before – there were thousands of rotten nails, stuck into the bark under the dense ant cloak. 
This tree is Iraq itself. Iraq, where violence, power, dictatorship and war stuck their lethal nails killing all hopes of beauty and life. There is however, a place in Iraq, where hope is still alive in spite of the chaos and the sufferings. This place is called Kurdistan. 
seen anywhere in Northern Iraq. That is the Kurds’ flag with a yellow sun against red, white and green background. The Chairman of the Kurdistan Regional Assembly Adnan Mufti welcomed me in the building of the regional council in the center of the city. I went through four points, where I have been checked for weapons before reaching the spacious office of the politician “Where am I at the moment – in Iraq or in Kurdistan?”- I asked provocatively. 
by their police authorities, called Peshmerga (“Those, who stands against death”), go shopping in large modern American – style malls. 
new university in Iraq. Nejdel, Mohamed, Ali and Adnan invited me to sit at their table. Nejdel, who did not wear a kerchief, told the life in this city was relatively calm and she could study without being afraid of going to classes in the university. That was so until the previous month. .jpg)
A mini-model of Iraq today is the city of Kirkuk. It is situated on 9 billion barrels of petroleum and is populated by an explosive mixture of Kurds, Arabs, Assyrian Christians and Turkmen. In the past Kirkuk was the center of the Kurd culture but today it is broken by numerous ethnic fights. 
Kirkuk differs from this in Erbil and Sulaimaniya. Security does not depend on the location but on the people’s mentality and their feeling of belonging to one community or another. In Kurdistan there are special units, which keep the security and supervise all that happens in the region. We enjoy the support of our society, which works with us. We do not allow any suspicious individuals entering our area. That is our most powerful mean of defense and what is missing in the other part of the country. The people there do not cooperate with the authorities, which causes the chaos. The situation is getting more and more complex,” the financial expert shared. 
“The power will be cut off in a while,” told me my guide Hamid in a small restaurant in Erbil I have visited in my first evening, spent in Iraq. 
in the whole region. The agriculture needs serious improvements as well. The soil is fertile but it has not been cultivated yet. “Our farmers cannot sell their production because of the transport’s high prices. As a result we are forced to import all the cultures needed,” Herish added. 
“Turkey should understand it could not deny our existence. That would be impossible nowadays. The world has changed, it went through two wars, burring millions. Today, the European countries that yesterday were rivals, created a common area, use common currency and strive for sharing common values. Why cannot we do the same? 
independence. That matter will get more and more topical. The peaceful solution of the Kurdish problem that about 30 million citizens face depends on numerous internal and external factors. 