demonstrations! and food.
We attended a demonstration this evening, held in solidarity with the Syrian Kurds who are even now in control of several cities in eastern Syria. (Also known by some more nationalistic folks here as "western Kurdistan," hearkening back to the fact that the Kurds' traditional homeland overlaps modern political boundaries.)
(Side note: The Iraq Central Government - that's Nouri al-Maliki's government; you've heard of him - is prohibiting Syrian refugees from entering Iraq. The Kurdish Region Government, on the other hand, has been letting refugees in for months (or longer). Over the weekend, Iraqi forces tried to cross into a Kurdish-controlled area, and the Peshmerga - the Kurdish army, basically - stopped them. This comes after KRG President Massoud Barzani's statement last week that the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga are training Syrian soldiers in Kurdistan. ... Diplomatically, things are getting interesting here.)
Anyway, so we CPTers went to the demonstration to observe what would happen. The demonstrators had received permission from the government to gather, and while it's disappointing that such a thing is necessary, it also seems to guarantee that the government won't suddenly decide it doesn't want demonstrators gathering, and disperse them. It was an interesting thing to watch, and I took a bazillion photos (I'll wait to post them until the team debriefs), a few of which actually turned out well.
Afterward (the thing about getting permissions for demonstrations is that they tend to have official end times), the team walked down to one of our favorite restaurants, so Patrick could celebrate his somewhat-belated half-birthday (everyone else here has birthdays in July; his is in January) and have tasty Kurdish food. And I can post a couple of pictures of that.
A photo of the ridiculous amount of food you are served if you order "chicken and rice" - at least at this particular restaurant. Three different kinds of soup (at least..), two kinds of rice (one with saffron and something else, and noodles, and the other just with butter), half a chicken, and bread. Oh, and this is after the plates of "appetizers", and the fruits and custards they served us for breaking the Ramadan fast. I only ate about half of what was on my plate, and still felt like I rolled away from the table.
Did I mention the soup? Yeah. Soup is the starter. David doesn't know he's getting his picture taken, here. Patrick sure does. And me, I just look like my eyebrows have gone blonde. They're still ginger, don't worry.
:D
(Side note: The Iraq Central Government - that's Nouri al-Maliki's government; you've heard of him - is prohibiting Syrian refugees from entering Iraq. The Kurdish Region Government, on the other hand, has been letting refugees in for months (or longer). Over the weekend, Iraqi forces tried to cross into a Kurdish-controlled area, and the Peshmerga - the Kurdish army, basically - stopped them. This comes after KRG President Massoud Barzani's statement last week that the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga are training Syrian soldiers in Kurdistan. ... Diplomatically, things are getting interesting here.)
Anyway, so we CPTers went to the demonstration to observe what would happen. The demonstrators had received permission from the government to gather, and while it's disappointing that such a thing is necessary, it also seems to guarantee that the government won't suddenly decide it doesn't want demonstrators gathering, and disperse them. It was an interesting thing to watch, and I took a bazillion photos (I'll wait to post them until the team debriefs), a few of which actually turned out well.
Afterward (the thing about getting permissions for demonstrations is that they tend to have official end times), the team walked down to one of our favorite restaurants, so Patrick could celebrate his somewhat-belated half-birthday (everyone else here has birthdays in July; his is in January) and have tasty Kurdish food. And I can post a couple of pictures of that.
A photo of the ridiculous amount of food you are served if you order "chicken and rice" - at least at this particular restaurant. Three different kinds of soup (at least..), two kinds of rice (one with saffron and something else, and noodles, and the other just with butter), half a chicken, and bread. Oh, and this is after the plates of "appetizers", and the fruits and custards they served us for breaking the Ramadan fast. I only ate about half of what was on my plate, and still felt like I rolled away from the table.
Did I mention the soup? Yeah. Soup is the starter. David doesn't know he's getting his picture taken, here. Patrick sure does. And me, I just look like my eyebrows have gone blonde. They're still ginger, don't worry.
:D