In a region increasingly ripped apart by intolerance and ethno-sectarian violence, the region’s Kurds continue to swim against the trend. In Syria, the Syrian Kurdish YPG has allied with Assyrian Christians, regional Sunni Arab tribes, and secular rebels to defeat Daesh(ISIS) and establish a democratic, egalitarian society. In Iraq, where ethnic cleansing and sectarian strife have often been the norm, Iraqi Kurdistan has taken in an estimated minimum 1.5 millions refugees from other parts of Iraq, be they Christian, Kurdish, Yezidi, or secular Sunni Arabs. And now, a celebration of its Jewish heritage is taking place in the capitol city of Iraqi Kurdistan, something that would be unthinkable in many of the region’s countries.
Kurdistan celebrates Kurdish Jews
By Rudaw 1/12/2015
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdish Jews and Jews whose ancestors lived in Kurdistan gathered Monday in Erbil to commemorate their history in the region and their expulsion by past Iraqi regimes.
“We saw this as a chance to show the entire world what happened 70 years ago and how step-by-step they did genocide and massacres against this minority,” Sherzad Omer, the head of Jewish affairs in the ministry of religious affairs and endowment, told Rudaw.
rudaw.net/…
The Kurds are proving themselves to be a great example of tolerance in a region being consumed by intolerance and a world that often feels increasingly intolerant. They not only should be an example to their neighbors, but also deserve our strong support, including support for them to have an independent state. As Maajid Nawaz, chairman of the Quilliam Foundation, stated in a recent panel on British television, “If the Kurds had a state, it would be a torchlight, a beacon; the Middle-East’s only Muslim-majority, secular democratic state in the entire region. And it would set a great example for everyone else.”