For me, a 32-year-old French, Born and raised in Lyon, experiencing Kurdistan was like opening a gift package after having tried for a long time to analyze its contents through its wrapping paper. As a French journalist based in Erbil, I am the correspondent in Iraq for the French media outlets Radio France and La Croix and for Swiss radio. I chose Erbil rather than Baghdad and will explain why, from my point of view, I made the right choice.
I first thought of moving to Erbil in 2014. As a now 32-year-old French journalist passionate about the Middle East, the city was then a stronghold for journalists following the war against ISIS and particularly the battle of Mosul. Life intervened, but finally I set foot here for the first time at the end of September 2021.
Working with the French Center for Research on Iraq (CFRI), of which I am now the communications manager, we were organizing a conference. My first surprise was seeing so many Kurdish flags and an almost total absence of Iraqi flags, which are systematically accompanied by Kurdish colors when they do appear.
Here, there was no need for an Iraqi visa – instead, a visa for the autonomous region was available at Erbil International Airport. I quickly realized that it was a quasi-state. Borders, regional government, local police, locally financed peshmerga fighters, and of course different Kurdish dialects overshadowed the Iraqi Arabic in the street. Even the phone plans are local and designed for the region. I thought I was setting foot in Iraq but felt like I was arriving in a country that is literally nowhere to be found on any of the world’s maps.
A sometimes-hard-but-fascinating multimillennial history
Fast forward to May 2022, and I am back in the Kurdistan Region for the CFRI. We are organizing a youth camp to build social cohesion and coexistence in the mountains near the village of Barzan, a two-hour drive north of Erbil. The landscapes are majestic. I feel like I am in the Provencal Alps in the south of France.
It is the historical land of the Barzani, the family that occupies a central place in the Kurdistan Regional Government of today. It is also where a dark story occurred: the genocide of the 8,000 Barzani by the Iraqi state in the 1980s, a tragedy that resembles so many others experienced by the Kurds since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. I see that the Kurdistan Region appears on the right track of development and relative stability compared to the Middle East and Iraq.
My dream is to become a journalist in the Middle East, and my choice is made: I will start in Kurdistan. There, I find a comfort of life that is much closer to the expectations of the average European because the city is dotted with modern residences and buildings.
Although Erbil has lost its historical charm, its multi-millennial history is visible in the heart of the region’s economic and political capital, with the city built around its great citadel (Qalat), which is said to have been continuously inhabited for longer than anywhere in the world.
This city, spreading out across an arid plain, is teeming with life and represents a strategic crossroads for any journalist interested in northern Mesopotamia. It is near Mosul, its heritage and culture under reconstruction; Kirkuk, a land of oil disputed between Baghdad and Kurdistan; Sinjar, the land of the Yezidis on the road to Rojava, the Syrian-Kurdish region; Turkey to the north; and Iran and Syria to the east.
Erbil is at the crossroads of the large Kurdish region divided between Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Fatally, this region is replete with interesting journalistic subjects, and so many great peoples and empires have passed through here. Erbil occupies a strategic place in the diplomacy of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Turkey, Iran, Germany and France for good reason.
The choice of security
I quickly realize that Erbil is the real refuge for non-government organizations (NGOs) in the region. The city is full of foreigners, especially in the Christian part of Ankawa (Erbil), and it is perfectly safe to walk around at night. Petty and medium crime is invisible.
In the tourist areas, most of the hotels, cafes, restaurants, and bars (yes, in Erbil, you can easily find them!) have nothing to envy France. The teahouses, bazaars, and minarets reflect the special Middle Eastern atmosphere in which one quickly feels at home.
When my family or friends were worried about me going to Iraq, I was quick to point out that Kurdistan was not quite Iraq in terms of lifestyle and feel. Of course, there are conflicts in the region, but they are focused on specific places and groups, so that they go unnoticed to those uninterested.
While I am not naive to the omnipresent surveillance and to having a private life that is notoriously more controlled than in my home country of France, I also recognize that the roots of chaos arrive faster than we can foresee without this control.
In my job, I have yet to witness any type of abuse; at most, I have experienced reinforced security measures in trying to access certain sensitive subjects. It is sometimes frustrating, but I can work freely without feeling unsafe.
The culture of hospitality and mutual support
As far as culture is concerned, it is both related to and different from that of the Arabs, Persians, and Turks. There is not one language but many dialects from Sorani to Badini (Kurmandji), which makes the task of learning the local language more complex, but a foreigner can also get by easily in Erbil speaking English. Arabic, however, remains a must-have.
This society loves music and dance, which incorporates Arabic, Persian, and Turkish influences but also has its own Kurdish codes. Its minority components – notably Arab, Christian, and Yezidi but also Kurdish-Iranian and Kurdish-Turkish – allow it to be enriched by different Middle Eastern cultures.
Finally, I would like to end on the warm welcome that I have received from the region’s inhabitants, which is incomparable. Here, people live for each other, and mutual aid is a sacred value. Can one imagine strangers inviting you to a restaurant and not wanting to let you pay the bill in France? Here, this is common.
Networking, an essential component for journalism, is, therefore, a blessing. The goodness of the people matches the beautiful landscapes seen on the horizon of Kurdistan’s mountains.
I know that the Kurdistan Region is unfinished surprising me in the good sense of the word. I plan to settle here for a while and who knows: perhaps we - you the good reader and I – might have the opportunity to meet, exchange experiences and impressions, and share a good tea or a delicious Shawarma.
Benoit Drevet is French journalist, born and grew up in Lyon, France. As a freelance journalist, he is covering Iraq for several international media outlets. He is the correspondent for Radio France, the French national radio, La Croix, a French national newspaper, and RTS and the public radio in Switzerland.
