Erbil governor’s ‘Kurdistan’ gift to Turkish official triggers outrage

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw visited the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir (Amed) in southeast Turkey to attend a tourism and food festival last week, presenting a Kurdistan photo album to a number of local officials, including the governor. This sparked anger among some nationalist Turks who slammed the Turkish governor for accepting the gift. 

Khoshnaw and his delegation attended the inauguration of the Mesopotamia Tourism and Gastronomy Fair in Diyarbakir which lasted for four days. During the inauguration of the event, he called for more Turkish investment in the Kurdistan Region.

Wearing the Kurdistan flag pin on his coat, Khoshnaw presented a Kurdistan Photo Album book to a number of officials, including Diyarbakir Governor Munir Karaloglu, Diyarbakir Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman of the Board Mehmet Kaya, and Deputy PM of Turkey-affiliated Northern Cyprus Fikri Ataoglu. They all accepted the gift. 

However, the word “Kurdistan” has been banned in Turkey since the establishment of the Turkish state, and people who have used the word have been prosecuted. Kurds consider Kurdish-populated areas in southeast Turkey, northern Iraq (Kurdistan Region), western Iran and northeast Syria (Rojava) to be part of Greater Kurdistan, which they say was divided up by Western powers a century ago when they established new borders in the Middle East.  

The photograph of Karaloglu receiving the album from Khoshnaw soon went viral on social media, with many nationalist Turks slamming the Turkish governor for accepting the present. 

Pelin Gundes, a professor in Istanbul and a former lawmaker for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), denied the existence of Kurdistan, calling the reception of the gift a “scandal.” 

“The title of the book received by the governor of Diyarbakir is unacceptable! There is no country called Kurdistan! Dear governor, you are the governor of the Republic of Turkey. I remind you! This is a scandal! I wish this is a photomontage. I want the necessary investigation done! HOW DARE YOU!” she said in a tweet. 

Melis Aslan, a Twitter user who openly calls herself a “Turkish nationalist”, criticized Diyarbakir’s governor for accepting the gift “with a smile,” suggesting that he should have thrown the album to the feet of Khoshnaw and told them that “this is the Republic of Turkey and get out of here.”

Muhammed Serif Aydin, head of the AKP office in Diyarbakir, indirectly responded to the criticism their governor had received. 

“Erbil governor paid a visit to our Diyarbakir from our Kurdish brothers’ administration. The visit was too important to be sacrificed to dirty perceptions,” he said, thanking Diyarbakir governor for “hosting him [Khoshnaw] in the best way possible.”

He also sent greetings to Erbil in the Kurdish language.  

Kaya, who had received the same gift from Erbil governor, defended his decision in a tweet, saying he did it “with great pressure.”

Speaking to Rudaw English on Monday, Khoshnaw said there was nothing wrong in the presentation of the gift as there is a constitutionally-recognized place called Kurdistan in Iraq. 

“Regarding the presence of the word Kurdistan on its cover, there is a land called Kurdistan and this is constitutional. This is the name of our country,” said the governor. 

“This is a tourism album which consists of touristic photographs of Erbil. It includes photos and maps of all parts of Erbil in detail,” he added. 

Khoshnaw also said that this album has previously been presented to officials from other countries as well, noting that the criticism cannot overshadow his “important and successful” trip, claiming that the campaign against the word Kurdistan “has other purposes” without mentioning them.  

None of the recipients of the album in Turkey reacted negatively when receiving the album, according to Khoshnaw. 

The Kurdistan Region and Turkey enjoy great economic relations, especially in the oil and construction sectors. A large number of the Region’s people go to Turkey for tourism. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the usage of the word “Kurdistan” in September 2013 while he was prime minister, during the early months of a historic but short-lasting peace process between Ankara and the PKK.

Erdogan told journalists that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, had used the word Kurdistan around a century ago.

After months of being tried and losing his academic career, a Kurdish researcher was acquitted on his charge - making propaganda for a terrorist organization. A final ruling is yet to be made on him. He has been tried for celebrating a revolution of Kurds against the Iraqi government in the sixties and using the word “Kurdistan” in social media posts in 2021.

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