The right to wonder

Iraqi Kurdistan is today a country of 5 million inhabitants, home to more than 1 million refugees who fled Syria or displaced from the areas of western Iraq violated by ISIS.

On July 17, 2014, the Islamic State, with an edict, communicated to the Christians of Mosul that they could stay in their homes only under two conditions: converting to Islam or paying a tax to access the right to profess another religion.

The alternative? Leave the country!

Erbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdish region, within its ancient walls oozing millenary history, thus became the enclave where one could seek refuge.

But any camp for displaced persons, as well as a refugee camp, is a "non-place" that can hardly replace and fill the voids of one's own land, of the not too distant house left adrift of a conflict.

Difficult but not impossible is the "right to wonder", pertaining to every human being.

Thus, even in an emergency space, this violated population sometimes finds the strength, even if only for an instant, to color a refugee camp with joy.

That right is shown in the Harshm IDP Camp by the two girls in the red dress worn to commemorate March 8, International Women's Day.

A few days later, on March 10, the Syrian Kurdish refugee population in the Qushtapa camp reminds me of this, on the occasion of Kurdish Clothes Day (day of Kurdish dress), going to work and school inside the camp wearing with pride the clothes of the tradition.

In this context, Pope Francis, during his historic trip to Iraqi territory in March 2021, had pleaded "Shut up the weapons".

A sentence that put a seal on those dense and tiring days, with a colossal security system that silently from one part of the country to the other defused terrorist cells ready to take advantage of the delicious opportunity.

These words have become the title of a reportage book concerning the complicated social terrain in which the Pontiff's mission took place, between the dangerous internal divisions of the troubled Islamic world and the murky economic interests that hide behind ethnic and religious diatribes.

Stefano Stranges

NP Gennaio 2022

A small gas station in a village near the Iranian border.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three children inside their home in the Harshm IDP camp, Erbil. They are dressed up to commemorate International Women's Day. The camp was created in 2012 and since 2014 it has been used for displaced people from Mosul due to the siege of the city of Isis.

 

 

 

 

Ankawa, Christian quarter of Erbil. Armed guards at the entrance to the Chaldean saints Peter and Paul cathedral, one day before Pope Francis' visit to the city.

 

 

 

 

 

Chaldean Church Saints Peter and Paul, Erbil. 200 children and 20 teachers who attend catechism courses in the Christian community of Erbil are preparing to welcome Pope Francis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bahrka IDP Camp. Shalan is a carpenter. She had to flee Mosul with her family, like so many other families in the camp. Here he continues to build and design doors in his own little warehouse.

 

 

 

 

 

March 10 is Kurdish clothes day: men and women wear the clothes of their cultural heritage. To celebrate this day, Syrian nurses and teachers from Qushtapa camp, Erbil, are also at work dressed in their traditional dress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nashtman Complex.

Within the Medina this complex houses 20 families and 170 people from the Bartalla and Qaraqosh area. They are purely displaced Christian families, fleeing the siege of cities by Isis. Noura plays with her children in one of the corridors of the complex overlooking a shopping center in the Medina of Erbil. They come from Bertalla and have lived there since 2014. Some Muslim and Christian NGOs look after families.

 

 

A view of the Kawergosk refugees camp, in the Kurdish region of Iraq on the border with Iraq.

 

 

The Pope's arrival at the airport of Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A tailor in his shop inside the Kawergosk camp, in the Iraqi Kurdish region bordering Iraq.

 

 

 

 

 

A child in the streets of Baharka IDP Camp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A disabled person staying in Baharka IDP Camp comes from a village near Mosul. The child, the son of a family member, always remains by his side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Panorama in a suburb of Erbil.