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MICHIGAN, United States – Omed Ali, a native of Halabja who now lives in Michigan, US, describes the moment he first heard about the Kurdish plans for an independence referendum this fall as a moment of relief.
“I felt that all my sufferings had ended,” Ali recalled the moment he heard the news. “It felt like all my suffering gone.”
For people like Ali an independent Kurdish state is the best answer to all the tragedies of his people. His hometown of Halabja was attacked with chemical weapons by the former Iraqi regime in 1988. Thousands of innocent people were killed within hours.
A Kurdish flag is hanging inside Ali’s Pizzeria and he has the word Kurdistan inscribed on his car’s number plate.
Michigan is home to the biggest Iraqi community in the US, many of whom are Christians or Shiite Arabs.
A hairdresser at Sindab Hairstyle, a barber shop owned by two Iraqi Arabs from the southern province of Basra, is unable to imagine an Iraq without the Kurdistan Region.
“To be frank, I do not wish them to separate, because the Kurds, both here and there, are living together with us and we have grown together,” Ala Al-Basrayi said. “There were many Kurds with me in college. So when they separate, I feel like our country is disintegrating.”
The Iraqi community here have maintained strong ties with their home country. As Iraqi security forces retook Mosul from ISIS earlier this month, Iraqis in Michigan, many of them Shiite Arabs, held an event to celebrate the city’s liberation.
Among those celebrating was Hanin Mahbuba, born and raised in the US. She appears more tolerant of the idea of Kurdistan separation from Iraq.
“I feel like, if they feel like that is a great option for them. I don’t see, there is nothing wrong with it, to be honest,” Mahbuba said. “Because even though they are still Iraqi, but they are not technically Arab, like Kurdistan are different people. They – I think they deserve their country. Why not?”
“I felt that all my sufferings had ended,” Ali recalled the moment he heard the news. “It felt like all my suffering gone.”
For people like Ali an independent Kurdish state is the best answer to all the tragedies of his people. His hometown of Halabja was attacked with chemical weapons by the former Iraqi regime in 1988. Thousands of innocent people were killed within hours.
A Kurdish flag is hanging inside Ali’s Pizzeria and he has the word Kurdistan inscribed on his car’s number plate.
Michigan is home to the biggest Iraqi community in the US, many of whom are Christians or Shiite Arabs.
A hairdresser at Sindab Hairstyle, a barber shop owned by two Iraqi Arabs from the southern province of Basra, is unable to imagine an Iraq without the Kurdistan Region.
“To be frank, I do not wish them to separate, because the Kurds, both here and there, are living together with us and we have grown together,” Ala Al-Basrayi said. “There were many Kurds with me in college. So when they separate, I feel like our country is disintegrating.”
The Iraqi community here have maintained strong ties with their home country. As Iraqi security forces retook Mosul from ISIS earlier this month, Iraqis in Michigan, many of them Shiite Arabs, held an event to celebrate the city’s liberation.
Among those celebrating was Hanin Mahbuba, born and raised in the US. She appears more tolerant of the idea of Kurdistan separation from Iraq.
“I feel like, if they feel like that is a great option for them. I don’t see, there is nothing wrong with it, to be honest,” Mahbuba said. “Because even though they are still Iraqi, but they are not technically Arab, like Kurdistan are different people. They – I think they deserve their country. Why not?”
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