It is time I give up and no need to bring a lawsuit against me!

Rizgar Khoshnaw | Exclusive to iKurd.net

I have been writing about Kurdish issues for the 19 years and I only write from real life experiences as I have many of them. In the past 19 years, I have lived/worked/visited Kurdistan and I have learned a great deal about how business is conducted and how people think and work. I have written extensively about my experiences and what I think about Kurdistan and I must say that after all these years, I have concluded one thing and that is: It is time I give up!

There are many reasons for me to have reached this level of disappointment and losing interest in doing anything anymore that has to do with Kurdistan. I have come to learn the people much better and I am extremely disappointed at the majority of the Kurds. I have come cross many that are very dishonest, lazy, backstabbing, corrupt, two-faced and unpatriotic and I can no longer deal with such people. The good ones are lost in between the majority that are dishonest and corrupt. It is sad, but this is the reality and we must accept it.

Anyone that knows me well, and has been following my writings, knows that I do not give up that easily and I am known to be very determined to continue till I see results. For example, after traveling back to Kurdistan for the first time on June 1996, I saw the terrible living conditions and decided to find a way to help. In the following four years, I traveled to Kurdistan, from the US, 25 times at my own expense to help with the oil-for-food program.

On July 2001, using four years worth of research and investigation, I published a book detailing the mismanagement and the corruption of many of the United Nations personnel and provided all of my findings to the Kurdish government so they can benefit from my work and researching this corrupt program. I provided my findings to many Kurdish politicians, including my old friend, Dr. Shafeq Qazzaz ( Minister of Humanitarian Affairs that was in charge with the oil-for-food program in Kurdistan) and his deputy, Fakher, and sadly, nothing was done.

Ironically, Fakher was my old roommate for a period of one year in the 1980’s in Nashville, told me at that time that I was wasting my time investigating the oil-for-food program and I disagreed with him. Now I know that he was right, and I was wrong. He knew how to deal with the people in Kurdistan and now he own a very large and successful company in Erbil. I wish I had taken his advice 19 years ago.

No action was ever taken and the program continued as it was with all the corrupt remained in their position and continued their corrupt dealings. I wasted tens of thousands of dollars (not including my opportunity cost) and four years of my life to fight the corrupt and try to expose the wrongdoers to no avail. In the end, I was the only loser!

No one can ever change the system and the people in Kurdistan. It is all set in stone and no matter what we write/say, nothing will ever change.

No one can refute the fact that the power in Kurdistan is in the hands of the KDP only and we all must admit this and move on. I mention the KDP because when Gorran party joined the PUK recently in order to confront the KDP, now we see serious troubles within the PUK and there is no unity. The KDP is the only real power in Kurdistan and this is a fact. To support my point, I would suggest to my readers to read my article published exactly one year ago (Today is October 7, 2015) and read what I had said back then!

Everyday, I read hundreds of very negative comments on facebook, articles and twitter about the KDP and nothing ever changes. These people can write all they want, but, in my honest opinion, they are only wasting their time, as I have for the past 19 years. I will be the first to admit that I wasted lots of time for absolutely nothing.

Actually, I take back what I just said above, I did get something from my hard work and writings! What I got, on May 4, 2016, was a three page written threatening letter from a large and prominent law firm based in London threading me with a lawsuit for writing about Gulf Keystone Petroleum!! Furthermore, they demanded that I pay them $2,500 for the cost of writing me the letter (and this is just the start!) that they sent me and demanded that I stop writing as well. How in the world can I fight these people with unlimited access to money and power? The answer is simple: I can not!

It seems that my article (What is going on with Gulf Keystone Petroleum in Kurdistan) published on April 19th , 2016 did not bode well with someone and they decided to take action against me. Too be honest, I still do not know who the hell is suing me and wants me to stop writing? The letter mentioned the names of: Gulf Keystone, Ashti Hawrami, the KRG and Nadhim Zahawi (a UK Parliament Member) but they did not tell me which of those people/entities are coming after me!

No matter which one of these guys is suing me, I can not afford to confront/fight any one of them and I have decided to stop writing and give up once and for all. There is no light at the end of that tunnel! This is what I get for trying to help and expose the corrupt. Justice at its best- the corrupt wins, the honest loses! Welcome to the new world.

Rizgar Xoshnaw, a senior Kurdish writer based in Washington, a longtime contributing writer and columnist for iKurd.net.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.