Pen & Gun

Pen & Gun

What a Pen Did Can Be Done by a Gun!

A few decades ago, people were proud of having a gun since gun did what it must have been done. Responsible and patriotic citizens were those who took the duty of protecting our society and defeating our foes. Our heroes went to the mountains and caves to strive against those who were against our existence. They did not want to see us being a nation; they even did not want to see live as a human being. They thought we were inferior to THEM. 

However, things were changed completely. We are very grateful. THANK GOD! There is no doubt that God helped us defeat our enemy and have gone another step closer to reach our dream.  The reason was Peshmarga, and Peshmarga used GUNS to go to battle and fought the enemies with their hearts. They could not have done it without guns. 

Does it mean that even today we need guns?

We still have the same goal, which is we want to be treated as a true citizens; and a true citizen is one who lives in a state. However, people say we are citizens now, but are we?

If yes, then where is our own state? 

That is what we are endeavoring for now. BUT, do we still have to hold guns?

The answer is NO. The age of using gun passed away. Now, our gun to fight our enemy is PEN. This is how I think: the only way nowadays to fulfill our aim is to educate ourselves. Pen is what we need now. AND, using pen is equivalent to education. Education is what brings success, and our success is to reach our dream!

Dears, most of us hold pens now, but we unfortunately do not know how to use it, we do not know where to write and what to write. We have a pen, but we need to know how a pen should be used unless we are still living in the age of using a gun without holding a gun. 

What is Ramadan? Why Should WE Fast?

 What is Ramadan?
Ramadan is a period of fasting, reflection, devotion, generosity and sacrifice observed by Muslims around the world. While major holidays of other faiths have largely become commercialized events, Ramadan retains its intense spiritual meaning.

The word "Ramadan" comes from the Arabic root word for "parched thirst" and "sun-baked ground." It is expressive of the hunger and thirst felt by those who spend the month in fasting. As opposed to other holidays, when people often indulge, Ramadan is by nature a time of sacrifice.

Why should we fast?

• Through fasting, a Muslim experiences hunger and thirst, and sympathizes with those in the world who have little to eat every day.
• Through increased devotion, Muslims feel closer to their Creator, and recognize that everything we have in this life is a blessing from Him.
• Through increased charity, Muslims develop feelings of generosity and good-will toward others. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once said, "A man's wealth is never diminished by charity."
• Through self-control, a Muslim practices good manners, good speech, and good habits.
• Through changing routines, Muslims have a chance to establish more healthy lifestyle habits -- particularly with regards to diet and smoking.
• Through family and community gatherings, Muslims strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood, in their own communities and throughout the world.

May Allah accept our fasting, forgive our sins, and guide us all to the Straight Path. May Allah bless us all during Ramadan, and throughout the year, with His forgiveness, mercy, and peace, and bring us all closer to Him and to each other.

It is taken kindly!

بۆ ئه‌و به‌ڕێزانه‌ی داوای جیاکردنه‌وه‌ی دین له‌ ده‌وڵه‌ت ده‌که‌ن...For those people who are saying that Religion should be separated from States- Governments:

بۆ ئه‌و به‌ڕێزانه‌ی داوای جیاکردنه‌وه‌ی دین له‌ ده‌وڵه‌ت ده‌که‌ن:
ئه‌گه‌ر توانیتان ئه‌ رزێک دروست بکه‌ن جگه‌ له‌ ئه‌رزه‌که‌ی خوا؟
ئه‌گه‌ر توانیتان ئاسمانێک دروست بکه‌ن جگه‌ له‌ ئاسمانه‌که‌ی خوا؟
ئه‌گه‌ر توانیتان بارانک ببارێنن  جگه‌ له‌  بارانه‌که‌ی خوا؟
ئه‌گه‌ر توانیتان هه‌ وایه‌ک دروست بکه‌ن جگه‌ له‌ هه‌واکه‌ی خوا؟
ئه‌گه‌ر توانیتان ڕزقو ڕۆزیه‌ک بۆ خه‌ڵک بهێنن جگه‌ له‌  ڕزقو ڕۆزیه‌که‌ی خوا؟
ئه‌وا بۆتان هه‌ یه‌ شه‌ریعه‌تێکیش بۆ خه‌ڵک دابنێن جگه‌ له‌ شه‌رعه‌تی خوا........
 ئه‌گه‌ریش ناتوانن، ئه‌وا ده‌متان داخه‌ن و سوپاس خوا بکه‌ ن بۆ ئه‌و به‌رنامه‌ جوانه‌ ی پێی به‌ خشی وین.
The translation:
For those people who are saying that Religion should be separated from States- Governments:
If you could make another Earth except this one that was made by God,
If you could make another sky except this one that was made by God,
If yo could make rainfall except the one that was made by God,
If you could make another air except this one that was made by God,
If you could provide food except the food that was provided by God,
then, you can make another system of running governments different from the system given by God....
And, you can't as it is impossible, then shut up and be grateful to God since he provides the best system of and for every thing....

The Genocide of Kurds Under the Name of Anfal

The Genocide of Kurds Under the Name of Anfal

What is the definition of Anfal?

The Middle East defined the process of Anfal as, "Anfal is a name given to a series of inhumane attacks done by the brutal Ba'th soldiers. The whole process of Anfal consisted of eight attacks that were taken place in six different places. On September 17th, 1987. the condemned Ba'th regime had census in the whole Iraq.  After four months of the census, the process of Anfal started. The first series of Anfal started on February 22th, 1988. The process was ruled by one of the Ba'th Office from the North. After a while, it was run by Ali Hassan Majed."

Dr. Azad Muhammed Amen, a professor in the Salahaden University defined the process of Anfal as, " According to our perspective, the process of Anfal didn't only consist of the attacks of Ba'th Regime's troops against the Kurdistan villages and Peshmarga- Kurdish Soldiers, but it was a well- organized process of destroying thousands of villages in Kurdistan. After the process of Anfal, the destroyed Kurdish villages were bombarded with Chemical bombs. Those innocent Kurdish people who were not killed by the chemical bombardment, were arrested by Ba'th regime. Then they were conveyed to the Ba'th Campus. After that, the process of classifying the arrested people took place, and they were transferred to different places. Women and children were sent to their special campus. However, the elder people were sent to the jails from the South of Iraq. Also, Those people who were between (15-50) years old were sent to death. Before the process of Anfal started, the graves had been prepared for Kurds. Countless Kurdish people were disappeared without giving any explanation and judgments.

What were the reasons of the process so-called Anfal?

1. The geography of Kurdistan is very important. That is why it has been the battle field of various wars between different countries and nations ever since. Saddam was trying to invade it in order to get the significance of its geography.

2. It was an attempt to unbalance the Number of Youths both boys and girls between Kurdistan- The North of Iraq, and Iraq- The South. It is undeniable that the best way to reduce the number of youths is to arrest them, and kill them. Their main goal was to decline the number of boys in Kurdistan.

3. A part of Iraq, especially the mountain and the wild areas were controlled by Peshmarga. The Ba'th Regime thought that they had right to fight in order to get back the control  of that part.

4. The Ba'th Party announced that Kurds made problems for Arabs. They said that Kurds were the only obstacle for the Arab Unity. The Ba'th regime claimed, "If we get rid of Kurds and bring back Kurdistan to Iraq, there will be the real unity between Arabs." Their approach of getting rid of Kurds in Iraq was done by the Process of Anfal. Don't You Think Kurds Were the Real Victim of Genocide? 

5. The military and economic support of foreign countries was another reason that encouraged the Ba'th Party to start the process of Anfal. Post Helterman, a member of Human Rights Watch in America, thought, "If the military, political, and economic support of Foreign and International countries weren't provided to Ba'th, the process of Anfal wouldn't have been applied successfully.

6. Iraqi leaders and commanders were taught that Kurds were inhuman. Iraqi leaders and commanders were psychologically affected. They were told that Kurds controlled a part of Iraq, but the Iraqi leaders  have to get it back. Therefore, the main aim of Iraqi leaders were to bring the end of Kurds.

What were the results of Anfal?

1. Almost all the Kurdistan region was bombarded by the chemical weapon.

2. Destroying almost all the villages in Kurdistan.

3. Almost all the Kurdistan villages underwent Looting and Prowling our wealth and treasure by Ba'th Regime. Besides that, sheep, goat, cars, and possessions were stolen.

4. Those Kurdish girls who were between 15-29 were sent to Egypt; I am sorry, They were not sent, but sold to Egypt.  Egypt bought the girls from The Ba'th party. Till now, there are a lot of families in my region waiting for their girls to come back, but who knows where their daughters are now?

5. Five thousand (5,000) people called" Kurdi Fali" were arrested. We don't know what happened to them. The only thing we know is that THEY were taken from Kurdistan, but we don't know where they were taken to.

6. Eight thousand (8,000) people called Barzani were arrested in a place in Kurdistan called Barzan. The only thing we know is that we don't know what happened to them, and we don't know where they were killed and buried.

7. More dangerously, (182,000) Kurdish innocent people were arrested from all over Kurdistan in a few months regardless to age and gender. The 182,000 arrested Kurds included women and many children who were still drinking MILK. " For which sin?" What did a 1 month child do to Ba'th? The child even couldn't speak. For Which sin?

The only Sin that Kurds had was, "They Were Kurds." Under the power of Saddam, it was a big sin and transgression to be a Kurd. If you were a Kurd, You deserved death without any question.

8. Those people who were rescued from the process of Anfal faced social and psychological problems. They were left with no one. Imagine a family in which you are the only one rescued; your father, mother, siblings were either killed or taken to un-known places and Campos. Can you envision how sorrowful and painful your life would be?

There are many more reasons, but History is responsible to convey them to you, and the world.

The Process of Anfal started on February 23th, 1988 from the valley of Gafayaty; after its eight series in six different places in Kurdistan, It ended on August 6th, 1988 in Baddnan.

I got most of the information from the book of 12th grade.

By,  Hersh  Seidgul Abdullah,

A Student at AUIS.

The Story of a Son Who Found His Real Family after 22 years from himself, Zmnako Muhammad

Zmnako Muhammad is from Hallabg. Zmnako was taken by the Iranian soldiers to Iran on March, 16 1988, and he has lost his family except his mom. Zmnako has written the below story.

Dandelion

        Two days after the mortal chemical bombardment of Halabja in 16 March, 1988, an Iranian airplane brought some of the Halabjian injured to Mashhad, North East of Iran. A boy of three months was among them. He was delivered to the care of an orphanage. In the orphanage, a widow was who was another victim of the Iran-Iraq war cared for the “Dandelion,” a flower seed who had blown over the border. By and by, the woman became attached to the baby. The nurse turned into Dandelion’s mother.

        Years passed. Dandelion had a pleasant home life, but he experienced many problems in his adopted culture. The Dandelion had drifted into a society where he had no civil rights or citizenship. Since his mother didn’t have a husband, according to local law, she couldn’t get Iranian nationality for Dandelion whom the woman named Ali. She loved Ali as her own sons, and told him the story of how he had come to live with her.

  In 1991

        Occasionally, Dandelion would sit in a corner of a room and wonder why he didn’t have a father, or why he never knew the father he once had. “For which sin,” he wondered, “was this punishment?” He didn’t understand why he lacked this essential thing that all the other children around him possessed. After an hour of crying, Dandelion would wipe the tears away and resume his life. His adopted family wasn’t rich, but love and kindness do not let them to think about their poverty.

        Dandelion’s life passed well enough, until one awful day when the boy went to visit Tehran and a cousin phoned him and said, “Your mother had an accident and now she is in the hospital.” Ali quickly returned to Mashhad and went directly to the hospital where his mother was. When he saw his mother, he caressed her face. He was sad but certain that his mother would not be ill long and soon return home.

        A month went by. Sadly, the doctors offered grim news about the dandelion’s mother: An infection in her leg had gotten so bad that it was necessary to take a drastic step: “We must cut off her leg above her knee,” said the surgeon.

        After four more days, on the morning of 7 January, 2007, a nurse called Ali and said, “Your mother doesn’t have good health. You must come to the hospital.” When he arrived to the hospital, Dandelion saw his mother’s nurse and she said, “Your mother died this morning with the morning prayer.” That was the worst news in his life. This wasn’t believable for him. He just cried. He didn’t have any other person in the universe. The only things that remained from his mother were old glasses, her prayer beads and a shawl. Dandelion closed his eyes when his mother was buried.

        The hardest part of Dandelion’s life began. After his mother died, he was accepted in university. But because he didn’t have enough money, he couldn’t continue his study. He was living alone. He couldn’t study or have a good job because he didn’t have Iranian nationality. He struggled to stay alive. Many days he cried for three hours. He still had his question, “For which sin?” He had lost two families, one of them in Halabja and one of them in Iran.

        Four years passed. One day his friends in Tehran phoned him and said, “One of the Kurdish ministers is here and you can meet her.” Dandelion was very happy to hear this news. One afternoon, Ali saw the minister and she said, “There are many families in Halabja that lost their babies March 16.” She invited Ali to go to Kurdistan. In his heart, a bright light shone. He said to himself, “Maybe my father or my mother is alive and maybe I can know who my family is.”

        After two months, Dandelion came to Kurdistan and was welcomed by people and the press. On the first day he went to Halabja. He was very glad because he saw his town and his people, and he cried. Forty-two families had lost their children in the 1988 massacre. Among them, just five families had a child the same age as Ali. The only way to connect Ali to a family was by DNA test. The test result came after a month. That month was very hard for Dandelion.

First time Ali arrives to his city Halabja after 22 years,

And mayor of the city greeting him

        Everyone came to know what the test result was. All of them waited. Dandelion just had his phone in his hand and saw his mother’s picture in that. He thought about his mother and just cried. That moment came and a man began to read the test result. He read the name, “Fatima Mohammad Saleh.” Dandelion didn’t know how to react to his true mother when he met her. First he kissed her hands and caressed her face. Everyone cried.

        After the crowd departed, Ali was alone with his new mother. His first question was about his father. His mother began to cry. After that she gave Dandelion seven pictures. One of them was his father and one of them was his sister. Other pictures were his brothers’ pictures and of course a photo of himself when he was three months. Dandelion learned his real name was Zmnako. Then he went to Halabja cemetery and saw his grave stone. There, he removed his name from the names of victims in Halabja to show that he is alive.

        Maybe after reading this history, you will think this is just a story and is not true. But this story is true and now Dandelion has lived with his new family for 3 years in Sulaimani. He is an undergraduate student at the American University of Iraq-Sulimany.

        He wishes all the world peace and prosperity. He believes Halabja was an event that happened in a day, but the grief is in Halabjian hearts forever. Dandelion believed that the bombardment of his city should be recognized as genocide. He does not want this tragedy to be repeated in anywhere in the world.  

Dandelion is with his mother now but other families still haven’t found their children. 5000 people died, and 10000 of his people injured by the brutal attack from the dictator regime of Saddam in March 16, 1988. Saddam Hussein died, but in every year in March 16 many drops of tears come down from Halabjian people’s eyes. 42 families have lost their children, and they are waiting for another Dandelion to come back. Still Dandelion has this very old question: “For which sin?”

Why Should Barzani- the president of Kurdistan support the Al-Eraqia List, presided by Ayad Allawi? Why should Barzani sign a contract with Al-Eraqia List?

Why should Barzani sign a contract with Al-Eraqia List?

There are a lot of political affairs in Kurdistan that I have no idea about.  I have tried to chew those ideas that give a clear explanation to the political affairs in Kurdistan, but I am left with no idea.  However, ((Here is one thing that I have a notion about)):

Why Should Barzani- the president of Kurdistan support the Al-Eraqia List, presided by Ayad Allawi?  Why should Barzani sign a contract with Al-Eraqia List? 

Surprisingly, there is a strong relationship between Al-Eraqia List and Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP List.  The spokesman of Al-Eraqia List announced that in a few days, Barzani will declare a great and surprising news. Barzani himself also said he will announce something very surprising in a few days;  That news will surprise people a lot. 

Politicians and some Parliamentarians asserted that the declaration will be signing a contract between the Al-Eraqia List, presided by Ayad Allawi and PKD List, presided by Barzani.

People have various ideas about the positive and negative sides of that declaration.  Some say that declaration will be beneficial for Kurdistan, whereas others claim that that declaration will be too negative.  They also speak out that they don’t understand why there should be a contact between Al-Eraqia List and KDP List. 

More astonishingly, they argue that some of the Al-Eraqia List Parliamentarians were the advocate of Saddam Regime, such as Salih Mutlak, who has one of the highest position Al-Eraqia List.  Yet, Barzani is seeking to sign a contract with Al-Eraqia List.

Last night, one of the members of Dawlati Yasa- presided by Al- Maliki, said, “He is very surprised at the behaviors of Barzani with Al-Eraqia List.”  He also said publicly that the relationship that is at its highest point now may go back to 1996 when a group of Saddam Regime army came to Kurdistan to support KDP.  They killed too many innocent people, especially the supporters of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Kurdistan.

Some claim that since 1996 till now, there has been a strong and living connection between Barzani and Al-Eraqia; that is why now they are looking for signing an official contract.  They are trying to announce their relationship legitimately. 

Here is what I still don’t understand: what is the point of making a contact with an Arabic List?  If you understand, let me know, I will appreciate it…….. Thank you!