How the Kurds are rebuilding after years of suffering

The following article by David Anderson, Labour MP for Blaydon, appears in Tribune

I have just spent my second week in two years in Iraqs Kurdistan region, which is more vibrant and secure than the rest of the country. I didn't support the initial invasion but five years later I was lucky to be on a parliamentary friendship and fact-finding mission meeting ministers, the President and union leaders.

We shouldn't live in the past though Iraqi Kurds could be forgiven for dwelling on their bloody history. I have now twice seen the Red House in Sulymaniya. For years, Saddam's thugs tortured and executed Kurds in this hell-hole. The dark and dank cells, torture equipment, the bloody noose and the official rape room are on display.

The Red House is but a small part of the picture. In the late 1980s, 182,000 Kurds were killed in Saddam's genocidal "Anfal" campaign. 5,000 people were killed in one single chemical weapons attack on Halabja and children are still being born with deformities from the poisons left over.

We toured Banislawa on the outskirts of the capital, Erbil. It was one of many "obligatory collective villages" but our translator called it a concentration camp. Saddam rounded up Kurdish villagers region and forced them into Banislawa where they had to build their own ramshackle dwellings. Marauding secret police would then select victims to be "disappeared." Mass graves are still being found.

Given this, it would be understandable were Iraqi Kurds to give up on Iraqi Arabs and seek independence. However, they have opted for democracy in Iraq and autonomy for the Iraqi Kurds – figuring the two go together. There are signs of hope in the wind, literally.

There was great celebration when we visited the Speaker of the Kurdistan National Assembly because the Iraqi flag was flying there for the first time. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had refused to fly the flag because it symbolised Saddam Hussein's toxic regime. The flag was redesigned and now flies alongside KRG colours. It gives hope that Iraq can stick together.

And Iraqi Kurdistan is rebuilding itself. Compared to my last visit, I counted many new housing, hotel and retail developments in the bustling cities. Ministers proudly told us of ambitious plans to build thousands of houses and revitalise their cities and countryside.

The region is rich in natural resources and beauty. It has huge reserves of oil, natural gas and minerals. Their fertile lowlands and stunning mountains, with powerful rivers and waterfalls, are stunning. It could be self-sufficient in food and export its surpluses. One day a small army of tourists will enjoy its unspoilt and largely unpolluted scenery and historic and archaeological sites. The Citadel in Erbil is 8,000 years old and the oldest site of human habitation in
the world.

It's impossible to stay in this landlocked country without coming to understand that this small sliver of territory, about the size of Scotland, is in a tough neighbourhood. We saw this with recent Turkish incursions into the region, which require a diplomatic rather than military solution.

History and geography explain the Kurdish saying that they have "no friends but the mountains" where successive generations have found refuge. Aircraft are the Kurds' other friends. They have sunk hundreds of millions into a massive airport being built in Erbil. We stood open-mouthed on the planet's fifth largest runway which seemed to stretch beyond the horizon. This bridge to the world will be able to take the biggest freight carriers and be an east-west travel hub.

Like the rest of Iraq, the region also faces a painful transition from a shattered and battered command economy to a market economy, which I discussed with the Kurdish union leader Hangaw Khan. Union leaders and ministers fought together against Saddam in the Kurdish military forces – the Peshmerga - "those who face death." I hope that the unions and government remain social partners so that the interests of the working people are met as tough decisions are taken to update the economy.

The rural economy could be crucial. We visited a rebuilt village, Kani Khan. Its roads were rough but the surroundings, in the foothills of the mountains, were awesome. We plan to raise funds for an English Language classroom – a symbolic token of friendship. We will also encourage external investment. It's in our interests that Iraqi Kurdistan prospers as a model to the rest of Iraq and the wider Middle East. Then perhaps so many people may not have died in vain.

Dave Anderson is Labour MP for Blaydon, Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary group on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and also Joint President of Labour Friends of Iraq.