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Iraq: We visit an oasis of calm

Future ... Layla and Shkwan Faris with kids, from left, Gaylan, Mohammed, Shaheen and Shaho

From MARTIN PHILLIPS
In Arbil, Iraq

Published: 20 Mar 2008

The Other Iraq’, the peaceful Iraq, far from the bombings and bloodshed of Basra and Baghdad. The Iraq that is rarely heard of in Britain.

This is the Iraq free of sectarian violence, slaughter and kidnappings, where every day new homes and facilities are being built; where women are treated as equals and Westerners are welcomed with open arms and a smile – not bullets.

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Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan region, said: “Having emerged from the darkness of dictatorship into the light of democracy, we are determined not to squander this opportunity.

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“We believe that Iraq can be a free, democratic, federal, secular, and pluralistic country if sufficient efforts are dedicated to this goal.

“The Kurdistan region can be an example to the rest of the country in achieving peace, stability, democracy and economic development. We are determined to avoid the problems that have bedeviled the rest of the country.”

It is all a far cry from the devastation across the rest of Iraq. In Arbil, posters boast that the 5,000-year-old city is the longest inhabited place in the world.

Now they hope this cradle of civilisation can lead the way to the birth of a new, healed Iraq.