This is a village we visited near the Turkish border.

My hat flew off while riding in the back of a truck.

With Magda in a cave in some mountain.

Just about to eat dinner with some good friends.

I love this picture. This is the view from our roof in Suli.

The bus station in Halabja.

This is basically a headstone for a mass grave in Halabja.

Some dudes roasting a chicken at the bazaar.

The street at the bazaar.

One of Saddam's tanks at a museum.

Sharing an intimate moment with Lukasz.

Iraq Update August 1 - 31

Each month we summarize the different things we've done in a update which is sent out to the whole CPT constituency. I was responsible for the August update. I am posting it here if people are interested in learning about what kept us busy last month. I'm going to try to put together a post full of pictures soon. People have been asking to see pictures so I'll try to share some soon. I'm getting used to being here. It's interesting that I've only been in Iraq for six weeks and I already feel like life here is normal. I'm happy being here even though I miss family/friends back home. The first two weeks here there were only three people on team. Now there are five of us. The more the merrier. I enjoy social interaction so being around more people helps me not miss home as much. Love, Stefan.



On team during this time were: Chihchun Yuan, Garland Robertson, David Hovde, Stefan Warner, and Lukasz Firla


Visits, at home and away
The month started off with the team visiting the Zakhmatkeshan Iranian refugee camp. The team interviewed multiple people, mostly learning about the situation of Kurdish Iranians. David met with the priest of the local Chaldean Catholic church to learn about the situation of Christians now in Suleimaniya and some of the history of their experience in Iraq.
The team attended a special Parliament meeting in regards to the current plight of villagers who are affected by Iranian shelling.

Karwan, attorney shot the spring protests, and his fiancé visited the house to further discuss his foot after the shooting. He also shared about further harassment him and his family have received. A young man from the NGO, Preemptive Love Coalition visited the team. Preemptive Love Coalition works with the local medical community in dealing with young children who were born with heart defects. The team traveled to Rania where seven civilians were killed in an aerial attack by Turkish military. The team was invited to attend part of the funeral for the family. The team also interviewed partners from Rania about the attack.

Actions
Much of the team’s work this month dealt with organizing and carrying out public actions in response to Iranian shelling and Turkish bombings. Local partners expressed excitement about this because there has been little international pressure about the shelling and there is fear that the there would be repression if KRG citizens took part and/or organized these actions.

The first action took place in front of the Iranian consulate in Hawler, The action went well, a statement was read and given to the representative of the consulate. Media covered the event and spread back to Suleimaniya where someone recognized Garland on the street from the television and thanked him for the action. Local partners expressed interest in the team continuing the actions so the team planned another action in Hawler but in front of the KRG Parliament building. The action went well. The team invited some folks from the IDP camp to come and join the action. One man did join the action. He was able to speak with the media and three members of Parliament.

The team decided to organize another demonstration, this time in front of the U.S. Consulate. While planning the action, the family of seven was killed by the Turkish military. So the team decided to also stop by the Turkish consulate in Hawler to deliver a statement and speak with the Consul. The team joined by three Kurdish men set up across the street from the U.S. consulate for the action. After demonstrating for an hour, the group went across the street to speak with the Consul, who would not speak with anyone from the group. Garland and the team’s adviser spoke with the press in front of the Consulate until security demanded the group to leave.


Other Happenings
Lukasz Firla arrived from Europe in the latter part of August after doing outreach for CPT in the summer. A couple folks from the team visited Halabja to learn the history of the chemical bomb massacre in 1988. Team said good-bye to its beloved Doug Pritchard, who has faithfully been the team's project support coordinator for many years and welcomed its new temporary support coordinator Sylvia Morison. It was a bittersweet skype call.

International Day of Peace

 So apparently today is the International Day of Peace. Nobody mentioned it today on team so I'm assuming nobody else knew. I just found out and I'm about to go to sleep. Makes me laugh for some reason.



"The arc of universe is long but it bends towards justice" - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I want this to be true. Some days, like today, I have a hard time believing it. I've been reading about Troy Davis who is scheduled to be killed in a few hours by the State of Georgia. I also read about the victim of the crime Mr. Davis is accused of committing. A off-duty copy who tried to break up a fight. He was shot and killed. The man's kids are around my age. They grew up without a father. Palestine is trying to gain member state status in the U.N. but it probably won't happen. The occupation will continue and the U.S. will continue to give military aid. The situation everyday in Iraq is depressing enough. Traditional Kurdish culture continues to be a major victim of the on going conflict between rebel groups vs. Turkey and Iran. People are killed and displaced regularly. The man who housed us when I visited the San Pedro Frio mining community last summer with CPT recently received a death threat. So yeah, I have a hard time with the quote above but I don't want to give up hope.
 I don't even know what to say at this point. I feel like I should have some inspirational shit to type here but I don't. Maybe the alternative to caring and trying to bear witness to the Kin-dom of God is giving up. Maybe move on and "grow up". Forget that. I don't have anything else to say so I'll leave you with this.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sorry I haven't posted anything lately. Here is a reflection I wrote for CPT. If you have any
thoughts or critiques, feel free to share.
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      I recently attended a funeral for a family that was killed by the Turkish military. The family was traveling in a car when a Turkish warplane conducting air strikes in Northern Iraq launched a rocket that hit the family's truck. Seven people in total were killed, including a six month old baby girl. The funeral was in Kurdish, a language that is new to me, so I did not understand what was being said so I couldn't help but contemplate. I couldn't help but think about the question most people I imagine ask when attending a funeral. Why? Why has this family died? Why will this six month old baby not be able to grow old, be loved, and love others, like I have? I asked my self these questions not in some type of existential crisis but in practicality. Why did the Turkish military send warplanes into Iraq that eventually killed this family? The easy answer would be because recently the PKK (an armed Kurdish group fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey) claimed responsibility for an ambush that left 14 Turkish soldiers dead in South East Turkey.

             So it seems simple, if only the PKK would stop the violence against the Turkish state, then Turkey would not retaliate and innocent people wouldn't die. Right? Possibly. But before condemning an oppressed group for using violent tactics, it is necessary to understand the conditions that lead up to this behavior. In short, is there a reason the PKK has taken up arms against Turkey? The answer is yes. Starting in the 1930's a policy of assimilation and "turkification" was set in place. Thousands of Kurdish people died as a result, usually during forced resettlement. Well into the 1980's Human Rights Watch has documented numerous examples of the Turkish military forcibly evacuating villages and destroying homes to prevent the return of Kurdish inhabitants. Earlier this year Turkey's electoral board bared prominent Kurdish candidates from running elections which infuriated the Kurdish population. To this day the Turkish government refuses to recognize the Kurdish people as a distinct minority. With that said, I do not support the violence done by PKK and I mourn the deaths of Turkish military personnel. But what can be expected when a nation-state oppresses an ethnic group for eighty years?

           I think Archbishop Hélder Câmara sums it up in his tract, The Spiral of Violence "Violence attracts Violence. Let us repeat fearlessly and ceaselessly: injustices bring revolt, either from the oppressed or from the young, determined to fight for a more human world." Archbishop Câmara explains that there are three levels of violence. Number one is some injustice, an example would be slavery. Number two is revolt. Number three is repression. When justice is withheld it is almost inevitable that an oppressed group will lash out with violence. In U.S. history one can look at Nat Turner as a similar example. Nat Turner was born into slavery in Virginia, a preacher who eventually led a slave rebellion. Much violence was done by Nat Turner and his followers but it was not senseless. It was the result of intense violence and oppression done to him and his people by white slave masters, who I believe share the ultimate blame. I'm still a pacifist. I am still a follower of Jesus and I hope his example of non-violence can lead us all out of oppression and domination. With that said, I hope we who are proponents of love and non-violence will remember that this is a complicated world.  Let us fight the temptation to condemn the oppressed but to look past the layers of violence and remember where the original violence started. Some might disagree with me and think I am treading into non-violent heresy. So be it. I would like to end this reflection with a quote from the beloved champion of non-violence, Gandhi. "Though violence is not lawful, when it is offered in self-defense or for the defense of the defenseless, it is an act of bravery far better than cowardly submission. The latter befits neither man nor woman. Under violence, there are many stages and varieties of bravery. Every man must judge this for himself. No other person can or has the right."