When i travel, usually the most memorable parts of my trip don't come from the museums or
the food but the people that i meet. In this trip i'm meeting Ali and his friends. Ali grew up here
in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. He graduated with a degree in petroleum engineering.
I'm getting to know him and his friends just to see what's on their mind what is life like
here in this part of Iraq. What's up guys! Uptin. What's your name? Muhammad. Bako.
Nice to meet you. Do you know arabic as well? Yeah Nancy Ajram
I know some arabic. Just met up with a friend, a new friend Ali what's up? Kurdistan is the
kind of place where it really lights up at night. Yeah of course the activities are at night.
Nice to meet you what's your name? Zagross, nice to meet you guys who's winning?
Okay Ali i'm the only guy wearing shorts is it-
is it because of religion or more fashion or both? Kurdish people don't like short
Then they dress up like me they they show "i'm a really a man" i don't know why
What do you wish people knew about Kurdistan? Well, you know Kurdistan has kind of been known because
of Isis war we have fights and because of our peshmerga people like there are lots of people
have hurt us, okay? And because of oil and maybe some historical stuff but in general i think
what american people should know about Kurdistan is like we are fighting for our rights-
I just want to say something we do everything in our power to obtain independence from Iraq
and to be to be independent from Iraq is a constitutional right
We have different culture, we have different uh language and i think that's enough to be separated
All right this happens a lot in travels: you go somewhere you're excited to eat the local cuisine
and then you meet some people and they don't really want local cuisine they want burgers they
want pizza and it's happened to me so many times especially in the middle east because
they eat local cuisine at home so when they go out they want to have burgers and pizza
When i travel to any country they speak Arabic with me. Well when they know
I'm not Arab they get surprised how i can't and speak Arabic and i have an Iraqi passport
It's really cool to be here because you see the contrast between old Erbil where that
was at the citadel you saw the bazaar and you know the traditional kind of tea houses,
people playing backgammon which is so cool and then you have newer bill where you see
you know a lot more younger people it reminds me of any kind of outdoor outdoor like venue
i would see in the U.S. or in Dubai i mean it's really quite cool it's it's uh it's beautiful and
you know it's nice that in one night we got to experience both old erbil and new Erbill
Which which one is saffron?
FRIENDS? Do you watch FRIENDS? No? No. Movies? Spiderman? Yes we have spiderman. And you said america
would be your number one? Yes number one of course. To live or visit. No visit, i love Kurdistan
And why America? People that they traveled to America they said
it's just another word. in New York it's more different
than the other countries. With your Iraqi passport what countries can you visit ?
I think 20 countries like Iran and Egypt and Lebanon and Syria I think it's about 20
countries. Does it frustrate you, you cannot visit more without visa? Yeah. Are you mad? Yeah of course
He just saw something on Instagram visa lottery. What did he say? There is a chance for for the
other people from other countries, outside of America, that can get a visa first
and then they can get the green card as well and after five years they
get the passport of America. So what did he just see on instagram though? They're opening
it or it was an update? Yeah. So are you going to apply? Yeah. You're going to apply? Of course
Have you applied before? Yeah, i didn't get it
You were born you grew up outside of Baghdad but you moved to Kurdistan to Erbill, why?
Because my business is here and my university also is here. And your parents live here or they're still
in- Yeah. Your mom and dad? Yeah, my wife too is here. Oh nice.
Do you speak Kurdish now? Yeah yeah. Do you go back and forth between Erbil and Baghdad? Yeah of course
for instagram?
or snapchat of course
How is it? Did it turn out good?
Many many people lost- they gave their life, they lost everything
their houses. Thousands of villages they have been destroyed through the Iranian.
Our previous generation our power and they could rebuild this country so we are responsible and we
are optimistic. And do you see yourself actually living and working here or would you try to go to
London or Dubai or U.S.? To be honest i might go outside to to get a master or something
but this country needs us, we should stay and work harder to keep this place safe