Bedreddin Salih, a Kurd from the Kurdistan Region who has lived in Norway for two decades, and his colleagues announced the establishment of the group in Erbil on December 18 after getting approval from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and discussing it with Norwegian officials.
In an interview with Rudaw, Salih explained that when Kurds like him first visited Norway, they had trouble understanding the culture and politics in the Nordic nation, partly because there was no formal institution to forge a bridge between the nations. Organizing traditional events like Newroz, the Kurdish new year, were difficult without some institutional support. So Salih decided to remedy the situation by setting up the KNV.
“When we were in Norway, we discussed with Kurdish and Norwegian residents of Norway what we could do to form an organization or centre to link the Kurdistan Region and Norway and remain for a long time in order to implement long-term plans,” he explained.
Thousands of Kurds have fled to Western countries over the past half century because of waves of unrest at home. Kurds from Iraq fled attacks by the former regime on what’s now the Kurdistan Region in the eighties and nineties, as well as during the US invasion in 2003.
The KNV was in the works for two years, said Salih, and he expects it will hold its first congress in April or May next year, with KRG and Norwegian officials in attendance. He also hopes to see Norwegians joining the association in the future.
“We mostly do civil work, focusing on Kurdish academic and cultural relations as well as bringing together the businesspeople of both places,” Salih said.
Both nations have a similar history of oppression, he said. “Like Kurdistan, Norway had been under the control of neighbors for years. This means that the people of Norway have experienced the same atrocities we did.”
Oslo does not have a diplomatic mission in Iraq, so the association hopes to serve as a link between Erbil and Oslo.
Oslo-based companies and organizations are active in Kurdistan Region, mostly in the humanitarian and oil sectors. DNO was one of the first international oil companies to work in the Kurdistan Region. Two of Norwegian NGOs, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), have operated in the Region, providing development and demining programmes.
Norway is also a member of the Global Coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), which has helped the Kurdish Peshmerga in the fight against the group.
Additional reporting by Gulbahar Altas
