Kurdish region open for business despite tensions in the north
- 30 Oct 07, 03:14 PM
ERBIL, NORTHERN IRAQ - The Erbil International Trade Fair opened yesterday. Representatives of western brands like Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Mercedes Benz, Sony and Massey Ferguson are pitching for business from local companies and investors. It seemed astonishing to browse the high-tech gadgets and displays and meet agents sent from London, New York, Beirut and Dubai.
Why? Drive just a few hours from Erbil, the regional capital of Kurdish northern Iraq, and you reach cities like Mosul and Kirkuk, still suffering from daily killings and bomb attacks. Three hours to the north is the Turkish/Iraqi border where troops from both countries are massing, awaiting a threatened Turkish incursion against PKK bases nearby.
But the Kurdish region of Iraq is open for business. Gleaming shopping malls and apartment complexes are being built. Western firms and Arab consortiums see the region as an emerging market with potential as a gateway to the rest of Iraq. If and when sectarian violence cools, the Kurds will be ready to capitalise.
But the tension this week with the Turks to the north has revealed a dilemma for the Kurds. On one hand, the fierce sense of Kurdish identity promotes some sympathy for the PKK fighters hiding in the mountainous border area. There are also suspicions here that the Turkish government is more interested in challenging the growing power of the Kurdish Regional Government .
On the other hand, the region鈥檚 economic boom has been kick started with Turkish cash. The malls, hotels, airports and housing developments are mainly Turkish funded and built. Most of the goods on the shelves are Turkish imports. Trade across the one border crossing was worth $2.6bn last year.
The British educated director of the Kurdish Regional Government鈥檚 Foreign Relations Department admits to worries. Falah Mustafa Bakir says he worries that conflict with the Turks could undo his campaign to convince the world that his region is . As we spoke, a convoy of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters was heading to the border as a precaution against a Turkish invasion.
鈥淲e are used to defending ourselves throughout our history,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e will do it again if necessary.鈥 But he knows that the next few weeks could determine whether next year鈥檚 trade fair will be so well attended.
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I am not sure whether it is reassuring or worrying to know that there are still people who have sufficient faith in the way the three main parties say that they seek to engage the public in serious debate to be able to engage their intellect, emotions and enthusiasm in persuing such debate.
Myself, I do wonder whether there is any profit in it, especially when the media is owned by the few who have, and retain, all power, and actually - do they really listen to hear what we are saying, or merely to select from what we are saying to support their own agendas? See 'The Programming Of The President. by Roland Perry (indeed, as long ago as 1984) Aurum Press - the last time I had any enthusiasm and idealism invested in the political process.
Cynic? Maybe.
I do suppose, from your point of view, it keeps you tele people employed. Not that I despise you - on the contrary, I admire you, since it is your enthusiasm that keeps the democratic process alive. I am grateful. I pray that you will continue to draw from the deep wells of optimism and faith in human nature that you do have. No, really.
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Across the border in SE Turkey my contacts tell me that a flourishing Kurdistan (comprising Norther Iraq) could bring peace to eastern Turkey, because Kurds will feel that they do have a safe haven if they need it. It will also offer the Turkish government the opportunity to develop industry in the region by encouraging legal trade across the border. Let us hope it works. And let us hope that the Christian and Yezidi minorities in the region feel comfortable there, bringing further contacts to business.
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