APPG Kurdistan

This week’s column by Gary Kent

A paradox I have found in travelling around Kurdistan is that I often learn as much about Britain as about Kurdistan. Exposure to a different culture and thinking forces me to re-examine what I take for granted about my own country. Why do we do this, that or the other and what can best work in either place? It’s not being diplomatic to say that sharing knowledge and expertise is a two-way street and that relations between Kurdistan and the UK should be between equals. I don’t want to over-romanticise Kurdistan but what stands out is a deeply friendly and hospitable attitude towards foreigners, especially Brits, and an openness towards new ideas. Some of these are straightforward or just technical but others are more sensitive.

One of the big issues on our all-party delegations is that of women’s rights and specifically so-called honor killings, domestic violence and female genital mutilation (FGM). We don’t have all the answers. I remember our co-chair Meg Munn MP, who was Equality Minister during Tony Blair’s premiership, noting that the UK could not be complacent or condescending about domestic violence since an average of two women a week are murdered by their partners in the UK.

Full article at http://www.rudaw.net/english/science/columnists/4848.html

The Jews of Kurdistan

Lecture by Professor Yona Sabar, Professor of Hebrew and Aramaic, UCLA and Ariel Sabar, author of My Father’s Paradise

Royal Geographical Society, London

Thursday 28th June 2012

Lecture by Professor Yona Sabar, Professor of Hebrew and Aramaic, UCLA and Ariel Sabar, author of My Father’s Paradise

Doors open at 6pm for an exhibition of photographs of Kurdistan by Anthony Kersting from the archives at The Courtauld Institute of Art and music by Tara Jaff. Lecture commences at 7pm

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An evening of Jewish Kurdish music featuring singer Ilana Eliya and Daphna Sadeh & the Voyagers

A concert at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, London N15 4RX

Saturday 30th June 2012

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http://www.gulan.org.uk/

DISCUSSING the nature of national identity and its complex links to political power doesn’t apply just in Scotland.

http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/opinion/comment/hanzala-malik-iraqi-kurds-want-the-scots-support-and-they-deserve-to-get-it-1-2337913

Westminster is in recess, the focus is on the Queen’s 60th anniversary and I have been back to Kurdistan for my ninth visit which prompts me to offer a view from Westminster rather than about the UK Parliament.

To paraphrase Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music, here are some of my unfavorite things about Kurdistan.

But first a vignette from 2008. I was then with parliamentarians who had only been in Erbil and believed that investing in agriculture was a futile vanity project. We then drove to Sulaimani and they immediately understood that the majestic mountains, arable plains and water features could drive agricultural production and tourism.

But we also noticed the litter. On my first visit in 2006 I thought that the plastic glinting by the roads was protecting saplings but sadly they were just discarded water bottles. The scale of litter everywhere in Kurdistan is a national disgrace, symbolizes a lack of individual responsibility for patriotically looking after the homeland and will deter tourism.

Likewise, it is impossible to travel around Kurdistan without seeing the scale of dangerous driving. I feel safer in Kurdistan than parts of London but fear the terrifying possibility of a high-speed road crash. It’s terrible to see so many cars driving at 100 km plus just behind the car in front. Nor is it wise for so many parents to allow their children to sit or stand in the front of cars without seatbelts.

These are relatively easy problems to solve through public awareness campaigns and civil penalties. The same goes for much improved fire and electrical safety in public buildings – I once stayed at the Sulaimani hotel which burnt down with the loss of nearly 30 people.

Other problems may take longer and also need concerted action. These include a top-heavy state, corruption, an unprofessional media and women’s rights. Tackling these are morally vital but could also increase the productivity and wealth of Kurdistan.

Now for some of my favorite things. Kurdistan usually impresses visitors who see a massive construction boom and a steely determination to overcome the past and cope with the problems that prosperity produces. Whilst there, I saw what I would call an ‘enthusiasm of engineers’ discussing how to overcome traffic gridlock.

But improving the basic hardwiring of Kurdistan had long been an impossible dream for such professionals and patriots. Such infrastructure was only deemed important for the military needs of Saddam Hussein. Oil and gas weren’t mapped or developed.  Why develop such riches for a people considered subhuman and worthy of extermination.

Little was done to establish the energy potential after the 1991 uprising as the Kurds were too poor and isolated. But energy riches can now fund the thwarted projects of the engineers.

It is helped by well educated Kurds returning with experience in countries that take good infrastructure for granted and are anxious to get things going back home.

The Kurds endured inferior foreign goods and services during the long limbo between the uprising and 2003. They can now demand quality and best practice.

The expertise of enthusiastic engineers is also meeting the demands of growth. Take traffic. Private cars were once rare but now some families have three or four cars. I understand that the number of cars in Erbil has soared from 40,000 to 250,000 in a decade.

Congestion is blocking the arteries in cities and poor roads between the cities adds time to the burgeoning trade with Turkey. Pipelines and rail can reduce that. One day trams could reduce urban congestion.

I visited Dohuk which is, in my view, the most beautiful city in Kurdistan. It is relaxed, airy, cooler, spacious and colorful. It is the safest Iraqi city although only 35 kilometers from the most dangerous city of Mosul. It can become the city of tourism but the 160 kilometer journey from Erbil takes 3 hours and it is only just starting an airport. A better roads system can connect the cities internally and with neighboring countries.

Dusty old Erbil is spreading its wings and the boom is attracting a bubble of businessmen which drives plush hotels and swish gated communities. But Kurdish union leaders told me their priorities include hundreds of thousands of affordable homes.

Tackling litter bugs and road hogs is the easy bit. Building infrastructure that lasts for decades will needs careful planning in partnership with a Kurdish and foreign private sector that should grow and underpin pluralism.

Thanks to the Exxon Mobil deal and the new relationship with Turkey, there is increased talk about the possibility of an independent Kurdistan Region. That may or may not be feasible. But with enthusiasm, expertise and enterprise Kurdistan could remake itself as a global nation that is smart, democratic and outward looking. Success will build further success. That is what I take back to Westminster.

* Gary Kent is the Administrator of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). He writes this column for Rudaw in a personal capacity.

http://www.rudaw.net/english/science/columnists/4802.html

The construction boom across Kurdistan inevitably creates ugly building sites but they soon go and landscaping can blend the new build into the environment. Sadly other eyesores just seem to go on forever.

Kurds are fiercely patriotic judging by all the flags fluttering here. But you wouldn’t know that from the scourge of litter on their roads and verges.

When I first came here in 2006 I thought that the plastic glinting in the sun I saw constantly was from protections for seedling plants. Sadly they were just discarded water bottles which are a large part of the Kurdish litter epidemic.

I am told that things are improving in that many families who take to the countryside on Fridays for their picnics collect the detritus and put it into bags but then just leave them there.

The state then literally picks up the bill by sending in people to cart it all away.  They should always provide bins in beauty spots and picnic areas.

The mess is an indictment of Kurdish society and requires cultural and legislative change. The solution is rather simple. Don’t throw your rubbish on the ground and put it in bins or take it home. Or face a fine.

It is about building individual and collective responsibility and also part of the process of getting smart about the environment.

Zero tolerance on littering encourages recycling which also drives using energy more efficiently. The solar-powered street lamps you can see on the old Hamilton Road to Shaqlawa are just the start.

But there is another type of mess you can see on the road – traffic jams and, much worse, traffic collisions.

Driving is a major political issue here. As wealth has increased in recent years so has urban congestion. This can be eased by new infrastructure and traffic management.

The driver is king in Kurdistan and although pedestrian crossings have appeared in large numbers they are not really respected.

On the open road, despite signs, radar and new traffic helicopters fast macho driving is the rage. Superfast landcruisers and other high-performance beasts do breakneck speeds on two lane highways which causes head on crashes. The widespread use of mobiles by drivers adds to the toll. It’s so sad to see young kids without seatbelts standing in the front of speeding cars. They face instant death in accidents.

My guess is that road deaths and injuries are well above average. This represents individual tragedy but also a high social cost in police time, health care, lost productivity and more.

A mixture of enforcement and encouragement can change the bad habits that drive all this.

Banning  tinted windows sent the right signal. They were the symbol of a powerful elite which thinks that traffic laws are for the little people. All need to obey them for the good of all Kurds and visitors.

But also to make Kurdistan a destination for tourists. People often ask me if it is dangerous to come to Kurdistan.  They mean terrorism and the answer is no. I wouldn’t want litter or road deaths to put off potential visitors.

They are missing some of the most beautiful and jaw-dropping sights in the world. Outside the cities the plains, high mountains and crisp springs loom large in this small place.

It is incredibly friendly to foreigners. We were asked in for chai by a complete stranger today but sadly were in a rush.

Iraqi Kurdistan could earn a decent crust out of tourism. Judging by the number of coaches with Arab Iraqis it is a destination of choice already. But western tourists just hear the word Iraq and those who say people should go there are deemed eccentric or foolish.

More tourism would be helped by eliminating litter and curbing boys own drivers. A decent travel guide plus maps to the many sights of this lovely place. I hope that one soon due will do the trick. Kurdistan is blossoming for the business community but that relationship is only just beginning for tourists.

Tourism may continue to grow as a niche market for those attracted by ancient battlefields and archaeology.

It can come to include bigger markets for those who like a good dry heat (though count me out in the hot high summer itself) and restfulness.

I have seen many supposedly intractable problems solved in coming here since 2006. These issues can be tidied up but quickly, please.

Gary Kent is the Administrator of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/gary-kent/litter-bugs-and-boy-racer_b_1555075.html?just_reloaded=1

Some years back a young Iraqi Kurdish woman had to pass through Turkey but knew that talking Kurdish or mentioning Kurdistan could be awkward. The problem was that her first name was Kurdistan. When asked her name at passport control she tried to evade the query but finally blurted out “Northern Iraq” – the Turkish alternative to the dreaded K word.

But the vacuum left by the departure of American soldiers is changing old habits and hostilities.

This was on display at a remarkable gathering this week in Erbil, the rapidly growing capital of the Kurdistan Region.

Senior international oil and gas executives joined Turkish and Kurdish ministers and officials to discuss a drive for a new economic relationship.

Two-thirds of the 1500 foreign companies in the Region already hail from Turkey and have been a powerful lobby for more commerce which is already worth 8 billion dollars a year.

But this week’s high-profile and choreographed courtship could build what a senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official called “new horizons of strategic partnership.”

The equation is brutally simple for both sides.Turkey lacks energy resources but could become the tenth largest economy in the world with a huge appetite for oil and gas. Just across the border Kurdistan has 45 billion barrels of oil and a maybe a century’s worth of gas

Ankara and Erbil  agreed plans for new oil and gas pipelines. Turkey acquires reliable and diverse energy sources and routes. Kurdish gas is also cheaper than  supplies from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan. Kurdistan and Turkey join the chain of secure energy supplies to the Euro-Atlantic community and the UK

The Kurds monetise their assets and plough the proceeds into public services and diversifying their economy. Kurds could emuate Dubai but with far greater social justice. The Kurds aspire to more than a rentier state where an elite cocoons itself from democratic politics.

But Kurdistan is landlocked. Without a friendly neighbour it cannot export.

Its water, agriculture and energy resources  would give it a living but it would be a stultifying and much poorer society.

Kurdistan is part of Iraq but relations with Baghdad are currently dire. Kurdish success in unleashing its energy sector, attracting major western companies and challenging  bureaucrats and wannabe dictators in Baghdad have infuriated some in the central government

Others would want the rest of Iraq to take a leaf from the Kurdish book and boost public services and enterprise

The Iraqi PM claims that the Kurds cannot export energy without permission. The Kurds argue this centralist approach breaches the constitution agreed by the Iraqi people in 2005. They say that exported oil remains Iraqi oil and benefits the whole country. The Kurds will send the revenue to Baghdad minus the 17 percent share to which they are entitled under their version of the Barnet formula.

Exploiting their resources should not be seen as  secessionist but a benefit to Iraq as a whole.

A solid link with Turkey based on unsentimental economics gives the Kurds greater leverage with Baghdad in finalising a feasible federal framework based on the constitution.

The Iraqi Prime Minister has helped Erbil by abusing Turkey as a hostile state.

The new Kurdo-Turkish link has just started and who knows where it will end

The architect of the energy synergy is the Kurdish Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami. He told me after the conference that putting economics in the driving seat means that “things that mattered once will come to matter less.”

Kurdistan can fairly present itself as a solution to many problems and allow new solutions to old problems to develop naturally.

There is a growing debate within Kurtdistan about whether an independent state is possible.

With Turkish support that could happen. Or Kurdistan could stay as part of Iraq and be independent in all but name.  Autonomy with prosperity in a drug and crime free society could trump full independence.

Economic success could also exert a powerful gravitational pull on neighbouring provinces in Iraq including the Kurdish city of Kirkuk – their Jerusalem – but which is outside the current boundaries of the Region.

Growing economic and energy ties with Kirkuk and Mosul can make Kurdistan a political ally but changing boundaries may be unlikely.

But not impossible. Putting economics before politics doesn’t frighten the horses but allows mutual benefit and respect to create new realities.

And that will be the case in Turkey itself where aversion to the K word has been driven by fears of aiding rebellion in south east Turkey where most of its own Kurds live.

But Kurdish areas of Turkey can benefit from increased trade. Better conditions can undercut PKK guerillas whose 28 year war with Turkey has cost 40,000 lives and still prompts cross-border raids on their camps in the remote mountains within Iraqi Kurdistan. If the PKK were to lay down its arms then the Kurds would find it easier to negotiate a new relationship within Turkey.

This new “open door policy” can allow the Kurds to prosper, galvanise the rest of Iraq and reframe old and bitter disputes more constructively.  Kurdistan is no longer taboo and its dynamism could be a force for good in the Middle East.

Gary Kent is the Administrator of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/gary-kent/the-kurdishturkish-courts_b_1545637.html

The sixth fact-finding report in five years of the all-party parliamentary group outlines considerable progress and examines obstacles on Kurdistan’s journey from genocide and poverty to pluralism and prosperity.

The six members of the delegation were Conservative MPs Robert Halfon and Stephen Metcalfe, Labour MP Fabian Hamilton and myself plus Hanzala Malik MSP and Umbreen Khalid from the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on the Middle East and South Asia.

Landlocked Kurdistan has long been at the often violent vortex of competing empires. We are always told that it is a tough neighbourhood. When I started going there in 2006 I heard about petulant Turks deliberately delaying trucks of perishable goods at the frontier. A day or two in the baking sun ruins a cargo of pomegranates.

The trade with Turkey is now worth billions with now hundreds of Turkish companies trading in Kurdistan. In a massive symbol of the change, the Turkish prime minister recently joined the Kurdistan region president in opening the swanky new airport in Erbil which has the fifth longest runway in the world and take any type of aircraft.

The developing relationship with Turkey could assist its Kurds and be a lifeline to the region, especially now that the once vague lure of substantial oil and gas reserves is real. The Kurdistan region is in the top ten for oil reserves. It also has gas that could supply its own domestic market, that of Turkey and beyond for a century. With pipelines from Kurdistan to Turkey the region becomes part of the European energy security equation.

Sadly, relations with the rest of Iraq have deteriorated from the high point in 2005 when a federal constitution was agreed by over 80% of the people in a referendum. It enshrined the autonomy of the Kurdistan region and promised a pathway to resolving various disputes over the exact boundaries of the region and the terms of oil production and revenue sharing.

There has been negligible progress on these issues, although the Kurds play a major role in the federal government and put together the deal that allowed a cabinet to be formed after nearly a year of stasis. This drives debate about how the Iraqi Kurds can secure devo max or embrace some form of independence.

In the meantime, the Kurds are getting on with recovering from decades of poverty and isolation. Since their heroic uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991, they have decided to embrace democracy and a more open economy. Living standards have soared, new housing and services are coming online. Electricity is nearly continuous compared to a very few hours per day in the rest of Iraq. It is certainly a destination for well-heeled business people judging by the number of new five star hotels and luxury housing.

All that is welcome but we also found that public services such as health can be basic when we visited a hospital in the capital, Erbil. The Kurds are very well aware of this and are enthusiastically encouraging links with the UK health sector and universities to overcome such backwardness. They are enthusiastically encouraging foreign investment and trade, not least with the UK.

But their economy is creaking under the pressure of a top-heavy state with insufficient capacity and skills. It is, above all, far too large for a healthy economy with about 80% of the workforce on the government payroll.

Shifting the balance and growing independent institutions are vital to deepening the democratic process. The region has fair and free elections and an opposition, but needs to engage more with a youthful population which cannot live on the successful liberation struggle waged by their parents and grandparents.

The need for reform is understood widely in Kurdish politics but requires greater stability. Kurdistan is much safer than the rest of Iraq, which is why it is seen as a lucrative destination for foreign capital. But change is difficult and the Kurds welcome foreign expertise and experience in furthering reform and building a sustainable economic model that doesn’t entirely depend on energy resources.

They want to develop their plentiful but neglected agricultural base which Saddam effectively killed off a generation ago. They can develop a tourist industry. They are investing heavily in education and links with the UK are speeding up with two or more universities considering the possibility of setting up campuses in Kurdistan. The first group ever of sixth-formers, from Suffolk, just visited the region. Suddenly Kurdistan is on the map.

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Gary Kent is the Administrator of the All-Party Parliamentary group on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq.

http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/05/16/fact-finding-in-kurdistan/

We keep saying that UK Plc should help its economic prospects by exporting our goods and services and investing in places with a pent-up demand for quality.

One such place, which has been impossible to access for many years but is now increasingly open to us, is the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

I know that the very word Iraq summons up images of war and danger but this is definitely not the case for its Kurdistan Region which I have just visited with a cross-party delegation of MPs.

We criss-crossed the scenic and hospitable Region to meet ministers, business people and build a fuller picture of Kurdistan, past, present and future.

The past is tragic. From the time that the Kurds became an involuntary part of Iraq in the last century they have suffered discrimination which became genocide, most notably under Saddam Hussein. Nearly 200,000 Kurds were killed as part of a systematic effort to wipe them off the face of the earth.

The best known example of this is the use of chemical weapons in 1988 against Halabja where 5,000 people were instantly killed. We saw the windswept and still bleak plains of Germiyan where many villages were destroyed to force farmers into cities where they could be better corralled and killed.

Our group is supporting a campaign for the UK to recognise this formally as genocide. The point is to signal that justice will be done and that the Kurds will not be abandoned again. Details can be found here.

Britain is widely respected in Kurdistan because we have stood by them before. When they rose up against Saddam in 1991 we instituted a no-fly zone so that they could not be bombed and strafed as they fled in biblical scenes to the mountains. This forced Saddam to retreat and allowed the Kurds to rebuild their society. This became even more possible when Saddam was eventually ousted in 2003.

They have used this freedom without fear to embark on a long journey towards democracy and an open economy. It will take time to overcome the legacy of war-driven politics and economics but they have opened many universities, their services and living standards are ever increasing. They have had free and fair elections and, almost uniquely in the Middle East, an Opposition.

Above all, the region is safe. No foreign soldiers have been attacked and there have been no terrorist incidents for five years. Foreigners are welcome and the facilities for them are fast improving.

They are stuck with some awkward neighbours such as Iran but they have put great effort into successfully deepening relations with Turkey which could help resolve its own Kurdish issues and be a strategic partner for the export of its plentiful oil and gas reserves to Turkey and beyond that to Europe and the UK.

They don’t choose their neighbours but they are very keen to choose their friends. And Britain is definitely one of these. Their second language is English, many leaders spent years in exile here and are keen to learn from us. Most of the postgraduate students on their government funded scholarship programme choose to study here which is a great fillip for our higher education system. The first ever visit by sixth-formers, from Suffolk, has just taken place.

Our delegation met the President, Massoud Barzani, who told us of the many opportunities for British firms in oil, gas and, as he put it, “you name it.”

Iraqi Kurdistan is currently undergoing a massive boom, a veritable gold rush and its leaders are asking our companies and public institutions to lend a hand to help them create a sustainable economy and better public administration. It is a gift horse which we have been looking in the mouth. It’s time for all those with the relevant expertise and products to take a gander at Kurdistan.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/gary-kent/iraqi-kurdistan-is-a-gift_b_1517803.html

The recent inaugural Oil and Gas conference in Erbil, the capital of the largely autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq, attracted 600 people including senior politicians and executives from across the world in what is likely to be a regular feature of the global energy scene.

The prestigious gathering conveyed growing business and political confidence in a place that was once a byword for poverty and oppression and an economic backwater.

The conference was set alight by news that the world’s biggest oil company ExxonMobil had decided to settle in the region.

It shouldn’t be surprising that this behemoth would want to do business in Kurdistan. After all, it is now widely seen as the final frontier for onshore oil and gas. Its energy reserves had been deliberately neglected by Saddam and it is only since what most people here call liberation in 2003 that the scale of its natural assets has been mapped.

The scale of often easily recoverable assets has come as a pleasant surprise. Experts estimate that it has reserves of 45 billion barrels of oil which could make it the world’s fourth largest producer and possibly as significant as Libya.

There are major gas reserves – possibly a century’s worth. Such energy assets make Kurdistan a potentially powerful strategic partner in ensuring energy supplies to Europe via Turkey with which the region’s relations have substantially improved, although there is much work to do in lifting the position of Kurds in Turkey.

And the Kurdistan region also has untapped potential in minerals such as phosphates, iron, copper and marble. Then there is agriculture and tourism in what is the safest part of Iraq, where there have been no attacks since 2007 and where there have been 200 terror-related deaths since 2003 compared to about 120,000 in the rest of Iraq in the same period.

Yet the Exxon decision is hugely controversial in Baghdad. The federal government maintains that the Kurds don’t have the legal right to conclude their own contracts without permission. The Kurds argue that their regulatory regime is consistent with the Iraqi constitution agreed by a popular vote in 2005.

However, Baghdad blacklists oil companies that operate in Kurdistan from the larger scale of work in the south. Both sides accept the need for external investment and expertise but differ on the terms.

The Kurds have been highly successful in concluding advantageous deals with over 40 smaller oil companies from 17 countries, including smaller British ones although they have recently been joined by the former BP Executive Tony Hayward, who was at the conference and whose Vallares company has now merged with a Turkish company.

The Kurdish minister for natural resources, Ashti Hawrami, himself a former oil man with North Sea experience, has also done very well in encouraging corporate social responsibility to build schools and other infrastructure. The Exxon entree may encourage other oil majors. An open question is whether BP would emulate Exxon.

Groups such as the APPG on Kurdistan have long argued that the Kurdistan region is open for business and could be a gateway to the rest of Iraq as its security improves. My initial visit to Kurdistan five years ago was to meet trade unionists. They urged British investment with a Communist leader asking to ‘borrow your bourgeoisie’ as they didn’t have one. The ‘bourgeoisie’ is finally getting the point with a variety of small British companies going to Kurdistan to see for themselves. APPG Co-chair Meg Munn MP formally opened the recent large trade fair in Erbil together with the president and prime minister of the Kurdistan region.

But the Exxon dispute is not merely a technical one about contracts, but is potentially about the future of Iraq as currently constituted.

The Kurds did not voluntarily join Iraq nearly a century ago and were denied statehood with Kurds dispersed across Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.  Successive Iraqi regimes repressed the Kurds who are often looked down on by Arab chauvinists. This led to decades of genocidal acts most notably at Halabja where 5,000 people were killed by weapons of mass destruction on one day in 1988. Some 180,000 people were killed overall and thousands of villages were destroyed. Farmers were shot on sight, wells were poisoned and people forced into urban concentration camps as part of a systematic effort to eliminate the Kurds.

The Iraqi Kurds say they have exercised their right to self determination by opting to stay in Iraq but on condition that it is democratic and federal with substantial autonomy for the region. If Baghdad reverts to centralised dictatorship all bets are off the table.

They have refused to wait for Baghdad to get its act together. The Kurdistan prime minister, Barham Salih, who himself studied in exile at Cardiff and Liverpool, told the conference that the Kurds will never again be held hostage to the whims of bureaucrats in Baghdad. He pointed out that if they had conformed to the sluggish Baghdad timetable there would still be just two hours of electricity a day compared to the current twenty in the region. This is the backdrop to the long running dispute over contracts and the need for an overarching hydrocarbons law.

The Exxon decision could force the pace and change the balance in favour of the Kurds and may have Baghdad over a barrel so to speak. Exxon’s operations in the south are critical to Baghdad’s plans to get the oil flowing and finance essential services such as electricity supply which is about four hours a day. Baghdad could expel Exxon but probably after months of legal wrangling. It seems highly improbable that the world’s biggest oil company would have walked into this blindly. The company is huge and its wealth dwarfs that of Iraq. The best hope is that the two energy ministers ignore the dinosaurs and agree a pan-Iraq law that benefits both sides.

It would be better that such an accommodation were reached soon as the impending withdrawal of American troops could destabilise Iraq. It would also be in line with the agreements brokered by the Kurdish president which facilitated the formation of a coalition government in Baghdad after nearly a year of stasis.

An accord would then provide the needed stability for the country’s vast natural resources to be exploited and to accelerate their use of the revenues to increase basic services and further isolate extremists.

Saddam used some of the country’s vast natural wealth to benefit his narrow support base, repress everyone else and finance an aggressive foreign policy. Energy assets can now finance the good life without succumbing to the soulless opulence and a seething underclass of other countries in the Middle East. There have been huge advances for ordinary Iraqi Kurds with average per capita income increasing from $375 to $5,500 in the last decade and there is an annual growth rate of 12 per cent. The region could soon become a net contributor to the Iraqi economy.

On my seven visits since 2006 I have seen a constant process of change with high-end hotels and malls but there is still much to do to provide more homes, hospitals, waste water and other facilities.

In common with other Middle East countries, half the population is under 25. Political leaders and friends abroad can highlight tremendous achievements by the Kurdish liberation movement but for most people this is a struggle conducted by their grandfathers and doesn’t entirely answer their needs now.

The Kurdish leadership has acquired increasing legitimacy by voluntarily embracing democracy and seeking to make the transition from a top-down and state dominated economy to a more open one with independent institutions and a larger private sector.

They actively seek external advice which makes them more vulnerable to criticism over issues such as rights for women, the media, prisons and the like. The need for change is acknowledged. The region is also lucky in having an opposition which can clarify issues. External political and policy knowledge-sharing can help develop a more competent political class. Remember that until recently the priority of politicians has been survival in a massively hostile environment.

The Kurds have a deep affection for the British with whom they have a chequered history but one that has been compensated for by the actions of John Major and Tony Blair. Our education standards, the quality of our goods and our politics are admired. After some initial nervousness about dealing with Kurdistan British ministers and companies now see that they can play a major and positive role.

There are also growing cultural links. The inaugural British Film Festival in Erbil, although the city has no cinema as yet, opens this week. It has been organised by the British consulate-general, Bankside Films and the Kurdistan regional government. Films on show include those with strong female role models (The Queen, Pride and Prejudice, Made in Dagenham), tackle social stereotypes (Billy Elliot) or discuss the Holocaust (The Boy in Striped Pajamas).

The UK’s National Film and Television School is organising workshops for young Kurdish filmmakers wanting to tell their stories which can help develop the nascent local filmmaking community and encourage films about the blossoming of the Kurdistan region after decades of dictatorship, genocide and isolation.

The Oil and Gas gathering highlighted the potential of the Kurdistan region and Iraq to lift the standards of millions of people and for Iraq as a whole to regain its rightful place as a wealthy, just, democratic and influential country in the Middle East. Oil and gas could become a blessing rather than the curse it has been in the past. And Britain is being asked to play a positive role too.

November 2011.

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Gary Kent is administrator of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Kurdistan region in Iraq, writing in a personal capacity. He writes a regular column, Window on Westminster, for the English-language Kurdish newspaper, Rudaw.

http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2011/11/24/kurdistan-the-final-frontier-for-oil/