By Alexandra Di Stefano Pironti
BARCELONA, Spain – When Isaac Tutumlu whizzed past the finish line at an important international car race in Spain last Sunday, the ethnic Kurd had good reason to be proud:
“It’s the first time in history that a team representing Kurdistan has won an international championship,” Tutumlu said.
In a Porsche GT3R emblazoned with a yellow sun and the red-white-green Kurdish flag, Tutumlu’s Barzani Racing Team topped the Spanish Championship Iber GT, an international competition that had its last run at the Montmelo race circuit outside Barcelona, with grand touring cars from the most important brands in the world.
“The best way to obtain recognition for Kurdistan as a nation is through sport,” said Tutumlu, a 28-year-old race driver who was born and brought up in Barcelona by a Spanish mother and a Turkish-born Kurdish father who sowed the passion for Kurdistan in his heart.
As the world’s estimated 30 million Kurds remain scattered across the Middle East, where they are citizens of the countries where they live, he says he is the only sportsman officially representing Kurdistan.
“Sports cross all borders and is the best mediator in conflicts between countries and people,” Tutumlu told Rudaw during an interview in Barcelona.
“It was my father who put this nationalistic feeling inside me, and I feel proud and honored to represent Kurdistan,” Tutumlu said.
In northern Iraq the Kurds have established their own autonomous Kurdistan Region, which many believe is an important step toward eventual statehood.
“Two years ago I visited Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani and asked him permission to race under his name. Then, in 2012 after several good performances in different races, the Swiss-based car federation FIA give me official permission to represent Kurdistan,” said Tutumlu.
“During our visit to (Iraqi) Kurdistan I got the sponsorship of several international Kurdish companies. The companies were also interested in promoting Iraqi Kurdistan and I proposed to them to write in my car the slogan “Visit Kurdistan,” he explained.
Both sides of his Porsche now sport the Kurdish flag. One side advertises his “Barzani Racing Team,” and the other beckons crowds at international circuits where he races to “Visit Kurdistan.”
The first time he raced under these colors was in 2012 at a race in Monza, Italy.
“My parents had repeatedly told me in the past to quit racing because they were afraid for my life, but now my father believes that my profession is something good for Kurdistan after Barzani told us that any type of promotion of the country through sports is good. Since then, my father calls me “an ambassador of Kurdistan through sports,” Tutumlu said.
A well mannered, smartly-dressed Tutumlu studied tourism and marketing at the University of Barcelona. To be able to maintain his passion for car racing, which began early in life, he paid for go-kart races from the money he earned working loading boxes in his grandfather’s shop.
“We had enough money in the family to pay for my hobby, but my mother was trying to teach me that it is necessary to work for what we want. Now, when I see other young drivers who have made it to the top but had more help from their families than me, I see that they don't value it as much as I do,” Tutumlo said.
He started racing professionally at age 21, and has won several racing competitions such as the Catalan Touring Car Championship, Nissan 350Z Challenge, Runner up in the Copa de España de Resistencia, and Nevada Cup Radical Master.
His projects for the coming year are to take his distinct Porsche – and the Kurdish flag -- to other international and acclaimed competitions such as Lemans, Daytona or the World Touring Car Championship.
