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| I have chosen Kurdo as my nickname for my Homepage. Ancient Greek travelers or adventurers who had traveled or stayed in Kurdistan over two thousand years ago, even before Arabs who occupied Kurdistan in the seventh century, had observed that there was a unique nation in the region whose culture and language was different from other neighboring nations. When they had learned and realized the nation's name, they referred them Kurdo, or Kurdish people. |
| I was born and raised in Kurdistan, present south Kurdistan which was carved and annexed to newly created Iraq by Britain after collapsing the Ottoman empire in World War One. |
| -- I have obtained BS degree in Agricultural Science-Horticulture in Kurdistan. |
| -- I have earned AS degree in Computer Applications Programming in USA. |
| Sanction on Kurds: Not only Kurds have always been under economic pressures or sanction, but also Iraqi regime has taken all Kurd's resources. Kurds had to receive their living rationales by coupons. Gas and cooking fuel are always in short supplies while Iraq is one of the largest oil producing country. Not to mention 60% of the oil come from Kurdistan. The same sanctions on Kurds are true in Iran, Turkey, and Syria. |
| Lack of Freedom: Kurds have always been treated as hostages in their own homeland. No one could dare to speak up even for his or her rights, practice their ideology, nationality, or express their feelings in any human matters. Kurds are not allowed to enroll in Military Academy, study in law schools, or choose their fields of study according to their talents or abilities. I myself was forced to study Agricultural science in stead of choosing my won field of study. |
| Deportation : Saddam had destroyed more than four thousand villages and towns in Kurdistan. Then, Kurds were deported to various places in Iraq. More than two hundred thousands of them are still disappeared and their whereabouts are unknown. The regime concentrated most Kurdish population in three big cities of Sulaymaniy, Arbil, and Dihok. If it was not for Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 which consequently revealed his crimes to the world, Saddam most likely would have eliminated the entire Kurdish nation and nobody outside Iraq would know or probably pay attention to it. Turkey has been following the same policy as well. |
| Arabic Language: Kurds were forced to take Arabic courses every year starting from the third grade. Moreover, other courses were also taught in Arabic except the four years of temporary autonomy in Kurdistan from 1970-1974. The official language used at offices in Kurdistan was in Arabic. The same are true in Iran, Turkey, and Syria that Kurds are not allowed to use their native language neither at schools nor at offices. |
| War Against Kurds: Besides Kurdish suppression, the regime fought Kurds many times and used all kinds of weapons against Kurds except nuclear bomb. The regime battled Kurds in 1974 and bombarded two big cities of Halabja and Qala Diza with Napalm bombs. The regime used nerve gas and chemical bombs in Halabja in 1988. It had continuously arrested and executed Kurdish political activists even without any supporting evidence. |
| Racism: The regime has created such an environment of racism that it had brainwashed Iraqi Arabs in general and his criminal men in particular that Kurds are their enemy and to kill them or eliminate them is their patriotic duties. |
| Those factors above and many more of suppression, occupation, and racist policies of Iraqi regime forced me to decide that I had to leave my beloved Kurdistan and my oppressed Kurdish nation. Currently, there are more than half a million Kurds who had left Kurdistan in fear of the Iraqi regime. Most of them are in Europe and the rest are in other western countries such as, Canada, United States, and Australia. Ninety percent who fled were adult males between the ages of eighteen to twenty six and have high school, college, or university degree. |
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