The APPG was lucky enough to secure a debate in the Commons on the bilateral relationship on the same day as a Newroz reception in parliament.
On Halabja Day, I joined the Deputy Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and a Kurd, Councillor Mohammed Bakhtiar, the local MP and religious and other leaders as well as members of the Diaspora at the formal laying of a tree in Holland Park, which provides a permanent place where Kurds can gather on future anniversaries.
Last week, the APPG also organised a unique briefing for MPs with the KRG UK High Representative, Karwan Jamal Tahir, the Deputy Iraqi Ambassador, Nazar Mirjan Mohameed, and Alistair Burt, the Middle East minister.
It is the first time in my twelve years of activity on Kurdistan that the KRG and the Iraqi Embassy have jointly briefed parliamentarians and I see it as an encouraging symbol of improving relations between Baghdad and Erbil. Minister Burt made the point that the line-up would be noted and remembered as special given the wider tendency in the Middle East to keep grudges and sustain divisions over the decades if not centuries.
Part of me is wary given that much of this revolves around the character of the current Iraqi Prime Minister rather than a profound philosophical change in Baghdad to accept that Iraq is more than just another Arab republic in which central authority talks down to the Kurds or worse. But I am cautiously optimistic.
And it was also good to see the Iraqi Ambassador at the event in Holland Park and also at the European launch at the famous British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) of the Kurdistan Memory Programme.
It was organised by film-maker, Gwynne Roberts, who has been a regular visitor to Kurdistan since the 1970s and who did so much to expose Halabja to the world. The KMP screened three short and very moving films about Halabja and a new film about the struggle for survival of one Yezedi family against Daesh to a large audience.
One day, the KMP will become a national museum by the Citadel in Erbil and the Bafta audience was showed what it could look like when funds are found in coming years. The building has been designed by the world-famous architect, Daniel Libeskind who designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem (both of which I have been lucky enough to see) and One World Trade Center in New York.
Such a museum will put Kurdistani history on the world stage and help encourage "dark tourism," as does the Red House in Sulaimani. Some tourists will be attracted by this, some by archaeological and battlefield sites, and some by the wider natural beauty and hotels and restaurants. And some by all of that.
That in turn raises two other linked issues. The first is easier access and the second is amplifying messages to the world through film, a medium that can do so much more than the written word in lifting individual and collective stories.
One of the main aims of the APPG-organised debate in the Commons was encouraging a relaxation of the formal FCO travel advice that advises against all but essential travel and the need for direct flights. Such advice, which invalidates normal insurance, is under constant review and could in theory be changed within months. If it is changed it will make it easier for British and other people to travel to Kurdistan and also encourage companies and institutions to contemplate investment. That in turn will make a stronger commercial case for direct flights, which the UK government favours.
And my hope is that the British film industry can help build a film sector in Kurdistan to capitalise on the many locations for film-makers to compete with places like Morocco and Tunisia. And Kurdistan also needs film schools to grow local talent so Kurdistani stories keep nurturing global support and friendship.
And that also illustrates the need to reform the visa application system for Kurds coming to Britain. It has become increasingly difficult for Kurds to get visas and there is a rejection rate of about 70 percent. It flows from a wider system that, in the absence of interviews and ministerial and diplomatic discretion, encourages a "computer says no" response. Yet, mutually beneficial trade and investment, as well as inward tourism, buying medical treatment, and seeing families, require easier access. Changing the system is a priority.
In the meantime, Happy Newroz to one and all.
Gary Kent is the Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). He writes this column for Rudaw in a personal capacity. The address for the all-party group is appgkurdistan@gmail.com.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
