00:00
growing up as most people in Europe I
00:01
was really really afraid of Iraq I mean
00:04
everything I saw about the country and
00:05
everything I heard about the country
00:07
seemed to me really dangerous and unsafe
00:10
to say the least however during my
00:12
travels over the last six years I’ve
00:14
realized that quite often the places
00:15
were most afraid of turned out not being
00:19
as bad so then I packed my bags and
00:22
travel to the northern part of Iraq
00:24
called Iraqi Kurdistan where I met a lot
00:26
of awesome people had great foods
00:28
explored caves and towns and villages
00:30
even hitchhiked and hung out with
00:32
soldiers and did so much more if you
00:35
watch the video until the end you’ll
00:36
obviously see all my adventures and I
00:38
really hope that this video will be one
00:40
of the many arguments out there for why
00:43
we need to make peace and not war
00:45
welcome to one of the most feared
00:48
countries in the world Iraq the Kurds
00:53
are the world’s largest ethnic group
00:55
that currently do not have their own
00:57
independent country comprising over 30
00:59
million people the Kurds make up the
01:01
fourth largest ethnic group in the
01:03
Middle East and inhabit a mountainous
01:04
region straddling the borders of Turkey
01:06
Iraq Syria Iran and Armenia in the early
01:09
20th century many Kurds began to
01:11
consider the creation of a homeland
01:13
generally referred to as Kurdistan after
01:16
World War one and the defeat of the
01:17
Ottoman Empire the victorious Western
01:19
Allies made provision for a Kurdish
01:21
state in 1920 such hopes were dashed
01:23
three years later however when the
01:25
Treaty of Lausanne made no provision for
01:28
a Kurdish state and left Kurds with
01:30
minority status in their respective
01:31
countries despite establishing a
01:33
short-lived kingdom of Kurdistan and
01:35
numerous other attempts to gain
01:36
independence or at least autonomy
01:38
nothing really belong
01:40
two results until the national uprising
01:42
that began in all of Iraq in 1991 you
01:46
see at that time Saddam Hussein was busy
01:48
trying to occupy Kuwait because of its
01:49
oil reserves and as he resolved the
01:51
people in Iraq both South and North
01:53
started a countrywide uprising that
01:56
spread to most of Iraq’s provinces in a
01:58
matter of days
01:59
however when Saddam’s ruthless army came
02:01
back everyone had to flee to the borders
02:03
of Iran and tuck in a massive exodus of
02:05
nearly 2 million people 75 percent of
02:08
whom were occurred when the
02:10
international community realized what
02:12
was happening in northern Iraq United
02:14
States and the coalition forced Saddam
02:16
to with Roy’s armies and established a
02:18
no-fly zone over the region bloody
02:21
clashes between Iraqi forces and Kurdish
02:22
troops continued and after an amazing
02:25
shaky balance of power was reached the
02:27
Iraqi government fully withdrew its
02:29
military and other personnel from the
02:31
region in October in 1991 allowing the
02:34
region to function defect who
02:35
independently given birth to the
02:38
autonomous region of the ratchet
02:39
Palestine I can’t believe I’m saying
02:45
this but I’m finally in in Iraq right
02:48
Stan check this out that’s quickstep
02:52
absolutely again we took spark I love
02:56
the openness fast as I could hopped into
02:58
a taxi and felt so excited I couldn’t
03:01
have written
03:04
amazing
03:05
it felt really crazy to see back that on
03:08
the roads hands but apart from that
03:09
everything looked very normal and
03:11
actually quite modern okay finally
03:15
checked into my hotel let’s go check out
03:16
the room it’s just yeah this is not just
03:19
a bit it’s a bed in Araki the next
03:29
morning I woke up as early as I could
03:30
and went out to explore the capital of
03:32
Iraqi Kurdistan on Erbil the traffic
03:35
here is crazy I’m trying to cross the
03:38
road
03:39
but apparently it’s not the easiest task
03:41
in Laurel though it’s working it was
03:44
early Friday morning which in Iraq is
03:46
the weekend and because of that the
03:47
local market was absolutely packed with
03:50
people and merchants selling all kinds
03:52
of goods for Mo’s DVD players and
03:54
second-hand shoes to hardware tools and
03:56
clothing to delicious foods and drinks
03:58
all of that and more was foreseen then I
04:00
proceeded to the city center of Erbil
04:02
were they having much more established
04:03
marketing from the ottoman period the
04:06
goods were so appealing this time that I
04:07
even got myself an awesome Kurdish suit
04:10
I’m currently buying a really cool a
04:12
Kurdish style hats and let’s let’s try
04:14
it on then it was time to explore I
04:25
decided to take a long walk around the
04:27
whole city but everyone was so happy to
04:29
see me was super hard to make products
04:33
it’s so interesting I’m in Iraq walking
04:37
with these sheets completely alone and I
04:40
feel totally secure eventually I came to
04:43
the largest public park in Erbil that
04:45
was built on the side of one of Saddam
04:47
Hussein’s most infamous detention
04:49
centers after his regime fun today the
04:52
peaceful Oasis covers several hectares
04:54
and is the perfect place for anyone
04:56
wishing to escape the hustle and bustle
04:57
of the city
04:58
and relax in big time when I left the
05:01
park I decided to check out the largest
05:02
and the most beautiful mosque in Erbil
05:04
known as the Jalil Cadmus
05:10
but I saw that I was filming it because
05:12
they like the mosque was begun by Jalil
05:17
yet who died in 2005 before its
05:20
completion
05:20
however Jalil Sons finished the mosque
05:22
in 2007 in memory of their beloved
05:25
father the mosque is 15,000 square
05:27
meters large and holds about 2,000
05:30
people not only is it large but also has
05:32
been cited as one of the most beautiful
05:34
mosque interiors in the Middle East I
05:36
definitely couldn’t agree more
05:38
having checked out the mosque I
05:40
proceeded to a place I certainly never
05:42
expected to find in Iraq a modern
05:44
shopping mall the mall had hundreds of
05:46
different star selling thousands of
05:48
different things as well as a large
05:50
print card with internationally
05:51
recognized brands what this mall is
05:54
completely packed there honestly the
05:56
horns to spend their weekends at the
05:58
part when you can go to a mall and have
06:00
yourself a burger no one not even in
06:03
Iraq at that point it was already
06:05
getting late so I went back to the city
06:06
center that was teeming with action and
06:08
entered the Citadel of Erbil that’s a
06:11
famous UNESCO World Heritage Site as
06:13
well as one of the oldest continuously
06:14
inhabited human settlements in the world
06:17
dating back to 5000 years before Christ
06:20
I just came inside the Citadel at the
06:22
very very center of of Erbil and as
06:24
opposed to just being a big tourist
06:26
attraction which is the case in most
06:28
other cities this is actually huge
06:31
supercool public space and so there’s no
06:34
entrance fees you can just get in
06:35
anytime you like and there’s so many
06:37
people here hang it around drinking and
06:40
eating foods whatever and and it’s a
06:42
very very exciting place I think it’s
06:44
it’s it’s completely packed
06:46
very very cool and there’s so many young
06:48
people here as well eventually went to
06:49
local coffee shop and what’s the sense
06:51
that over the horizon from the beautiful
06:53
city of Erbil the next morning things
06:57
got Friel you see my awesome friend
06:59
Gabriel who’s been traveling the world
07:00
for longer than I’ve been alive flew
07:02
interact to explore the country with me
07:04
for a couple days so we rented a car
07:06
together and went friends
07:09
Roadtrip oh man flooring Iraq at first
07:17
the roads were nothing out of the
07:18
ordinary but then we finally reached the
07:20
mountains where the local people were
07:21
incredibly friendly and the views well
07:24
they were so good and we could hardly
07:26
believe who would guess that this is
07:27
Iraq me me I would I would there’s more
07:34
to this country than you know you see in
07:35
the news later in the evening we hopped
07:37
into a cable car and went up the
07:39
mountain in search of our hotel located
07:41
any popular ski resort in the mountains
07:43
I just woke up in this pretty epic Rocky
07:49
Mountain Lodge and check out the views
07:58
Wow I honestly never expected to find
08:01
myself any fancy ski resort while
08:03
traveling around Iraq Andrew was super
08:05
awesome to be there as it was the low
08:07
season and s it was practically empty
08:09
and incredibly peaceful and calm what a
08:12
beautiful place later that day we once
08:14
again hit the road and continued
08:16
exploring as much as we could just up
08:19
that he completely random a Kurdish
08:21
village by the side of this beautiful
08:23
beautiful river let’s go the other way
08:45
even though the donkeys in that village
08:47
weren’t very welcoming the people
08:48
certainly we’re a few minutes later we
08:51
got invited to ask you to this beautiful
08:52
local family which was loads of fun
08:55
later that night we arrived to this tiny
08:57
mountain town called I may be where the
08:59
kids this shot is at football when the
09:01
sunset took our breath away and were the
09:03
local people were incredibly friendly as
09:06
everywhere in Iraqi Kurdistan ok man the
09:14
people here are so friendly it’s
09:17
incredible what do you think you really
09:19
absolutely people have been amazing yeah
09:21
everyone’s welcoming us as if we’re I
09:25
don’t know the most important guests
09:27
ever people are inviting us to their
09:29
whatever the workplace is I’ve gotten so
09:32
much free stuff already free teas free
09:34
waters free snacks free sweets Wow
09:37
the following morning we checked on the
09:39
old palace of Saddam Hussein that was
09:41
abandoned when his regime collapsed and
09:43
was later turned into a military base
09:44
where unfortunately we weren’t allowed
09:47
to visits so we hit the road again and
09:49
arrived to the holiest place in the
09:51
world for this ancient religion called
09:53
Yazidis Yazeed ISM is a monotheistic
09:55
faith followed by the Yazidi
09:57
people and based on belief in one God
09:59
who created the world and entrusted it
10:01
into the care of seven holy angels the
10:04
interesting thing about the Yazidis is
10:05
that they believe in reincarnation which
10:07
is very unique among the people of the
10:09
Middle East as beautiful as their faith
10:11
is di cities were actively persecuted by
10:13
both Saddam and later by Isis while a
10:16
strong foothold in Iraq which is where
10:18
the majority of the SED people live that
10:20
is why these days there are not that
10:22
many people still practicing as ilysm
10:24
however despite all the obstacles these
10:27
people face they don’t have any when we
10:54
got out of the temple we ran into a
10:55
group of wonderful ECB people invited us
10:57
to spend time together eventually back
11:17
in the parking lot I made friends with a
11:18
really cool local army guy who wanted to
11:20
show me his dorm and his car then once
11:32
again hit the gorgeous mountain roads of
11:34
Iraqi Kurdistan taking short breaks in
11:36
beautiful locations for some levitating
11:38
yoga until we arrived to this really
11:40
interesting place where there were
11:41
hundreds of huge frogs all painted in
11:44
bright colors
11:47
you see in the nineties after gaining
11:49
autonomy there was a civil war in
11:51
Kurdistan a well-known Kurdish artist by
11:54
the name of Ismael karate has fed up
11:56
with all the unrest and decided to paint
11:57
a mountainside in the center of one of
11:59
the worst areas for the blood he also
12:02
inscribed the words peace for Kurdistan
12:04
in Kurdish Arabic and English amongst
12:06
other peace sandals and words this
12:08
included the statement that this place
12:10
is not for fighting it is for picnics
12:13
did you expect this from Iraq no does it
12:16
exist in Iraq yes very much so sadly was
12:21
unfortunately the last David Gabriel and
12:23
I were traveling together so he had a
12:24
beautiful dinner and said goodbye ok so
12:31
Gabriel already left and with that we
12:33
also gave back the the rental car
12:35
however right now I really want to go to
12:37
this other big city here in Iraqi
12:40
Kurdistan but I don’t have any
12:42
transportation so because every single
12:44
person I’ve ever met here turned out to
12:46
be really really friendly I thought I
12:48
might as well hitchhike and there
12:50
see where life takes me it’s right now
12:52
walking to this really big highway here
12:54
around her bill and and hopefully it’s
12:59
gonna work out well we’ll see mom if
13:03
you’re watching their way I was trying
13:08
to hitchhike to the next 30 minutes but
13:10
every car that stopped told me they
13:11
weren’t going to the place I wanted to
13:13
go to because I was not far enough on
13:15
the highway so eventually I hopped into
13:17
a taxi with a super stylish Kurdish
13:19
robber and arrived to the third largest
13:20
city in Iraqi Kurdistan called Sunni
13:23
money where I met this bloody legend by
13:25
the name of the next morning bodycon
13:30
took me around his beautiful home city
13:32
sulemani is a very modern and tolerant
13:34
city that’s widely known as the cultural
13:36
capital of the rocky Kurdistan since
13:39
always been a center of great poets
13:40
writers historians scholars and singers
13:42
the city also boasts the largest market
13:45
in all of Iraqi Kurdistan and deftly the
13:47
craziest food I’ve ever seen in the
13:49
Middle East your hands apart from
14:10
Shoney’s favorite crazy foods bodycon
14:12
also told me so much about the city’s
14:14
history which apparently is really
14:17
fascinating remembered the kingdom of
14:19
Kurdistan that I mentioned before well
14:20
its capital was none other but the city
14:22
of saline money you see after World War
14:25
one the British and other Western powers
14:27
occupied parts of the Ottoman Empire and
14:29
Britain was designated as the mandate
14:31
power the British had promised the Kurds
14:33
during the Great War that they would
14:35
receive their own land to form a Kurdish
14:37
States however the British did not keep
14:39
their promise and the Kurdish people
14:40
were really unhappy
14:42
so they revolted to try to solve the
14:44
situation the British tried to establish
14:45
a puppet government in the region and
14:47
self-appointed a popular local leader
14:49
volume of wound butter Sanji
14:51
however Muhammad didn’t want to stay
14:53
under the British control he wanted to
14:55
gain independence very soon Suleymaniye
14:58
was declared the capital of the kingdom
14:59
of Kurdistan and Muhammad himself became
15:01
the first and the only king of Kurdistan
15:04
by 1920 Mahmoud to British displeasure
15:07
was using his power against the British
15:08
by starting uprisings the rebellion
15:11
lasted until Mahmoud was wounded in
15:12
combat captured by British forces he was
15:15
sentenced to death but later imprisoned
15:17
in a British fort in India even though
15:19
he managed to come back from Indian
15:21
continually revolting against the
15:22
British his future attempts weren’t as
15:24
successful however he became a national
15:26
hero and is still remembered today with
15:28
this place of him around suleimani you
15:31
know is the craziest part of this story
15:33
Mahmoud was actually the
15:34
great-grandfather of none other but my
15:37
boy one of the first places bad economy
15:44
too was this large old cigarette factory
15:46
that was turned into a beautiful
15:48
creative space for young Kurdish people
15:50
who want to write books create art play
15:52
music and do all sorts of other creative
15:54
things man this place is huge and so so
15:58
so beautiful look at all
15:59
the wall art and all the graffitis and
16:01
all the installations it’s incredible
16:05
there’s got a few people doing arts
16:07
discussing poetry right there and Steven
16:10
have a sin or what it’s insane
16:13
Wow and apparently the monthly fee is
16:15
only three and a half dollars so yeah
16:19
that’s definitely good value for money
16:21
well if I lived here I’d definitely be a
16:24
loyal member on our way out of the
16:26
creative space we checked out this very
16:27
emotional photo exhibition dedicated to
16:30
the victims of the fight against the
16:32
terrorists and later went to the old
16:33
intelligence headquarters of Saddam’s
16:35
regime this place is a veritable
16:37
significance in the people of
16:38
Suleymaniye because this is the first
16:40
place that the people attacked and took
16:42
down during the national uprising of
16:44
1991 these days has been turning to
16:46
amuse him to show his the crimes
16:48
committed by Saddam’s regime it’s also
16:50
home to a striking Hall of Mirrors an
16:52
exhibit dedicated to the thousands who
16:53
died during Saddam’s war against the
16:56
cuts it’s only Carter is lined with
16:58
shards of mirrors each one representing
17:00
the thousands of cuts killed by Saddam
17:03
during his campaign I’m currently
17:04
standing on top of a random tank here at
17:08
the Museum in the city center of
17:10
sulemani apparently there’s so many of
17:12
them everywhere you go look at that
17:14
everywhere all around me right now these
17:18
things are so deadly so dangerous if any
17:24
of our technologies are really really
17:27
really sad that has to be tanks so
17:30
unfortunately we have these things
17:33
so I’m fortunate
17:35
the next morning walked into baddha
17:37
Khan’s car and went on a road trip
17:39
high up in the mountains
17:42
[Music]
17:51
we visited quite a few different ancient
17:54
monuments tiny villages in the beautiful
17:55
natural sites until we came to the fuzz
17:58
destination of our trip the city of
18:00
halabja that is home to one of the
18:01
saddest events in the history of Iraqi
18:03
Kurdistan you see in 1988 in the final
18:07
stages of the iran-iraq war the Kurdish
18:09
guerrillas captured the Halabja after
18:11
two days of conventional artillery
18:13
attacks Iraqi planes dropped gas
18:15
canisters on the town in a large-scale
18:17
chemical attack on the local population
18:19
at least 5000 people died as an
18:22
immediate result of the chemical attack
18:24
and it is estimated that a further seven
18:26
thousand people were injured or suffered
18:28
long-term illness this was the first
18:30
time in history that a government used
18:32
chemical weapons on their own people
18:33
which was an incredibly sad event in
18:35
Iraq’s history inside the building they
18:38
also have a museum where they’re showing
18:39
the the replicas of some of the most
18:41
famous photos taken our that time and
18:45
it’s such a such a sad memory I felt
18:49
devastated after learning about this
18:51
catastrophe but my brother bodycon told
18:53
me that his fellow countrymen have
18:55
definitely been through so many crazy
18:57
events in the past but we shouldn’t feel
18:59
too sad about it we should learn from
19:01
those horrendous mistakes and make sure
19:03
to do all we can to prevent things like
19:05
this from happening in the future and so
19:08
who went on our one final adventure
19:10
together hiking with his friends in the
19:12
mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan the Kurdish
19:14
people in their Mountain say they love
19:17
each other
19:19
butters is a mountain man having hiked
19:33
from quite a bit we made ourselves a
19:35
wonderful picnic together all watching
19:37
the sunset over the gorgeous gorgeous
19:39
horizon when the Sun finally said it was
19:42
time to explore the coolest place I had
19:44
visited throughout my time in Iraqi
19:46
Kurdistan an absolutely incredible two
19:49
kilometer Lanakila we’re trying to go
19:52
inside one of the caves
19:53
the entrance is so narrow
20:04
okay the reason these kids were so
20:06
fascinating was not only because they
20:08
were so long and so big but also because
20:10
thousands of guerrilla soldiers used to
20:12
live there during Saddam’s regime which
20:14
is simply incredible given how humid and
20:17
dark the place really is in this part of
20:19
the cave the ceiling is actually super
20:21
high I don’t know probably 15 minutes
20:23
obviously committed with this this
20:25
camera but it’s really really high it’s
20:28
so humid in here feel like I’m sweating
20:30
all over it’s incredible and they
20:35
imagine me that so many people had to
20:37
live here for many many years in these
20:38
conditions two kilometres thousands of
20:41
people
20:43
[Music]
20:48
okay so I’m so apparently we just came
20:51
to the very end of the cave which is two
20:53
kilometers away from the entrance and
20:55
here they have this tiny tiny tiny tiny
20:57
gap apparently if you lay down you could
21:01
go to the other side and pop out but
21:04
it’s really called the mud and
21:13
everything under under walls then we
21:20
walk two kilometers all do we back to
21:21
where we came from and exiting the cable
21:23
is certainly not as easy as we thought
21:25
ah the bat hit me did that hit me man oh
21:32
my god there’s some one does he do just
21:40
one more only God please don’t there are
21:46
like five to hit me then we caught up
22:02
with even more of vatican’s awesome
22:04
friends and had so much fun camping in
22:07
the wild
22:07
[Music]
22:13
traveling around Iraqi Kurdistan I
22:16
witnessed so much hospitality warmth and
22:18
kindness that had simply blew me away I
22:21
experienced firsthand how positive and
22:22
friendly the local people really went
22:24
they hosted me they took me around it
22:26
had given me three things they played
22:28
with me in welcoming up as if I was one
22:30
of their own
22:31
you know what felt a little better
22:32
though the fact that most people
22:34
including me would never expect to
22:36
experience something like this in that
22:38
part of the world because we’re afraid
22:40
afraid of things we don’t know afraid of
22:42
particularly having that afraid of
22:44
places we hardly know anything about
22:46
however this ship once again proved to
22:49
me that reality is generally very
22:50
different because most people are very
22:52
kind friendly and welcoming in every
22:55
part of the world
23:03
[Music]
23:05
you
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