By KANI XULAM Unlike most of us, Lukman Ahmad loves being in jail. In fact, he loves it so much he voluntarily stays in it every day! Well, he’s not really imprisoned—as we think of prisons—but he is actually in a jail every day. Lukman is an artist, with his studio in a hoary, former… Continue reading
Articles
An American Girl’s Search for Her Kurdish Father
By KANI XULAM This is the heart-tugging story of a nearly-lost email, a lost love and lost father—and a daughter’s conscientious search for her lost Kurdish father, whose picture she clutches to her heart while sleeping. The introductory email came through Facebook, but for some reason I didn’t see it until eight months later. I… Continue reading
Seide Sise: A Tale Worth $ 2,000
By KANI XULAM 7/7/2013 “None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.” –Pearl S. Buck It was the gentle calm after the violent storm of 9/11. Americans had by then bought many books about the Quran, Muslims and the Middle… Continue reading
Chiya Miksi: The Man Without a Tail
By KANI XULAM 6/23/2013 Let me tell you about a remarkable Kurdish gentleman. Better yet, let him tell you: “The year was 1960. I was ten years old. We had just moved to Mamak, Ankara. One day, I went out to play ball with kids in the neighborhood. They spoke Turkish. So did I. But,… Continue reading
An Open Letter to the President of the United States
March 17, 2013 “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” Barack Hussein Obama Dear President Obama, Like the sudden fall of Berlin Wall you showed up unannounced in my life. Like most Americans, I was not prepared for your spectacular entrance— exploding upon the national scene as the star-studded keynote speaker at the… Continue reading
Is Nonviolent Resistance an Option for the Kurds?
Having shepherded livestock in the mountains of Kurdistan as a kid, I can tell you from experience that a whip that weighs ten ounces can corral a bull that weighs 3000 pounds. Continue reading
Crisis in Turkey
By Haluk Gerger (1) December 1997 Occasional Paper No. 28 Published by Middle East Research Associates (MERA) Amsterdam/Holland Turkey is living through the gravest crisis in its history. The once universally revered project called the ‘Kemalist Republic’, with its strong international support and wide emulation in the Third World, seems to be painstakingly vulnerable to… Continue reading