Thirty-eight years after Iraqi forces dropped chemical weapons on Sheikh Wasan village, killing 211 civilians – mostly women, children and elderly – the same streets are now lit by clean, off-grid solar energy.

The transformation is the work of the Rwanga Foundation and its founder, Idris Nechirvan Barzani, a young Kurdish businessman and philanthropist who has quietly become one of the region’s most active advocates for renewable energy in post-conflict communities.

On 16 August 1987, Iraqi aircraft and artillery bombarded the Balisan Valley with mustard gas and nerve agents in what is recognised as the first chemical attack against Kurdish civilians – a full eight months before the better-known Halabja massacre. Survivors were rounded up, families separated, and many children died in detention camps.

Today, 72 solar systems – 432 high-efficiency panels in total – power every home, the mosque, the school, the health centre and the Martyrs’ Hall in Sheikh Wasan. For the first time in decades, the village of 281 returned residents has reliable 24-hour electricity.

“These villages paid the heaviest price under the former regime,” Idris Nechirvan Barzani said. “Providing them with clean, sustainable energy is the least we can do – not as charity, but as restitution and an act of justice.”

Since 2013, Rwanga Foundation has focused on neglected rural communities, and transformed them into fully solar-powered communities, creating local jobs in installation, maintenance and small-scale agriculture that reliable power now makes possible. The Sheikh Wasan project is the latest in a string of initiatives to promote sustainable development in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

Survivors and their descendants welcomed the new panels as a tangible sign that their suffering has not been forgotten. “We lost entire families to the gas,” said one resident who asked not to be named. “Now our children study under electric light and we can store our produce all year round. This is justice in the form of sunlight.”

Human rights groups have long called for greater international support for Anfal survivors. The solar project, funded entirely through private Kurdish philanthropy, highlights how local initiative is filling the gap left by Baghdad and the international community.

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Simit (also spelled simeat) are well known throughout the eastern Mediterranean countries, especially Turkey. Despite some differences, they are all shaped as rings and are generously encrusted with sesame seeds. These could very well be the start of what is known today as the Jewish bagel.

The authentic varieties, like Iraqi simit, are closely related to bagels, in that they are poached in hot water before baking.

In fact, the name of these pastries originally came from this practice because the root verb samata (سمط) means ‘dip briefly in hot water.’ This is a baking technique deeply steeped in history. In one of the extant medieval Arab cookbooks, a recipe for ring cookies called ka’k instructs that the dough be shaped into rings, which are first carried by a rolling pin and dipped briefly in boiling water and then arranged on a tray and baked in the brick oven called a furn.

In Iraq, simeat are shaped into attractive small twisted rings, encrusted with lots of fragrant toasted sesame seeds, crispy in crust and chewy in texture. They are bought from wandering vendors who arrange the simits on baskets in tall piles and carry them on their

Recipe for simit:

Simit makes an excellent light snack. Here is an easy way to make them without having to parboil them before baking. (Makes 28 pieces)

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3 tablespoons dried yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup (250 ml) warm water
10 cups (2½ lb/ 1.25 kg) bread/strong flour
1 tablespoon salt
¼ cup (60 ml) oil
3 cups (715 ml) warm water
For glaze: 1 egg-white whisked in 1 tablespoon water
Sesame seeds, dry toasted, for sprinkling

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1. Oven heat 450°F/ 230°C/ gas mark 8.

2. Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1 cup (250 ml) warm water, and set aside for 5 minutes.

3. In a big bowl, combine flour and salt. Make a well in the middle, and then pour in yeast mixture, oil and 3 cups/715 ml warm water. Incorporate liquids into flour in a circular movement using a wooden spoon. With oiled hands, knead for 6 to 7 minutes until you get a smooth dough. Let rise in a warm draft-free place for about 1 hour.

4. Punch down dough, and divide it into 28 portions. Let it rest for about 10 minutes, covered.

5. On a slightly oiled surface, form into simit rings as follows. Divide each piece into two parts. Roll each part into a rope about 9 in/23 cm long (if dough feels elastic and springs back, let it rest for 5 minutes). Lay 2 ropes next to each other, and wind one rope around the other. Curve twist into a circle, matching ends to form a continuous ring. Make sure to seal the ends very well to prevent them from opening while rising and baking. Put shaped pieces aside on a flat surface. After making about five, brush them with the glaze, and dip each, face down, in the toasted sesame. Arrange rings on a greased baking sheet. Leave space between them to allow for expansion. Repeat with other batches.

6. Let rise in a warm place for 40 to 45 minutes, covered with a kitchen towel.

7. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven. To create a good crust, spray the simit and oven with water. Repeat about 2 to 3 times, for the first 5 minutes. Total time of baking is about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately or let pieces cool off in a wicker basket or on a rack. Cooled ones can be kept in plastic bags in the refrigerator or freezer. Heat in the oven as needed.

I sometimes break away from tradition and make simit with cheese, olives and herbs. Quite tasty and aromatic.
Here is how to make them:

Herbed Simit with Cheese and Olives

Prepare dough as given above. After dough rises, punch it down, and add to half of it the following:
¾ cup (4 oz/115 g) pitted/stoned and chopped olives
½ cup (2 oz/60 g) crumbled feta cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup (½ oz/15 g) each chopped fresh mint, parsley, and dill

Knead the ingredients into the dough. Let it rest for 10 minutes, and then divide it into 14 portions. Shape and bake as described above.

This post is by Nawal Nasrallah, author of Delights from the Garden of Eden and more

For more treats from Iraq, try watermelon rind jam, and Iraqi stuffed grape leaves

The post Make Simit, the Iraqi Bagel with Sesame Seeds appeared first on Green Prophet.

Givatayim’s legendary eggplant-maker Oved Daniel, whom they call the “professor of sabich [Iraqi eggplant dish] science,” is opening up a new restaurant in Tel Aviv. Previously a gifted soccer player, today Daniel is a local food celebrity whose specialty sabich is one of Israel’s most beloved foods. Sabich has its roots in Israel’s Iraqi community. It is a traditional Baghdadi breakfast dish, consisting of fried eggplant, Arabic salad, parsley, fresh onion and a baked or boiled egg and emerged as a national sensation in the 1960’s.

In 1961 Tzvi Halabi opened up the first sabich stand in Ramat Gan, the Tel Aviv suburb with a thriving Iraqi-Israeli community. It was Halabi who first added hummus and tahini to sabich, and sold it to Israeli consumers inside a warm pita. Then Oved Daniel opened up his place in the neighboring suburb, which is when sabich grew in popularity.

The workers at “Oved” became local food celebrities among eggplant lovers, famed for their unique slang, derived from soccer metaphors and Hebrew wordplay.

For example, to order a sabich without red or yellow spicy sauces, one says the score is “zero, zero.” These colors correlate with popular Israeli soccer teams. You could also say that Maccabi Tel Aviv wins to order one sauce without the other, a tie to order both sauces.

In a few weeks, Daniel’s  highly anticipated new restaurant will become the first branch aside from the original “Oved” in Givatayim.

::Maariv (In Hebrew)

Read more about Israeli foods:
Eggplants and Peppers: Produce in the Middle East
Book Review: Mama Nazima’s Jewish-Iraqi Cuisine by Rivka Goldman
One-handed Whole Wheat Pita Recipe, the Old Yemini Way

Image of pita bread via Shutterstock. Image of Oved sabich via Leigh Cuen.

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Five tankers crossed the border from the KRG into Turkey in July, marking the first exchange of oil or gas between the two governments. The trade was just a harbinger of a bigger hydrocarbon trading relationship between them, according to a recent report in Reuters. For Turkey, the KRG represents a new source of oil and gas imports, to which Turkey has long been addicted. For the KRG, the opportunity to trade with Turkey is a way of flaunting its independence from Baghdad and demonstrating the value of its resources.

It’s not a one-way trade. At the end of August, Turkey also started shipping refined fuels to the KRG to fuel its power plants. Though the KRG is allocated 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) of fuel from the central Iraqi government, it only receives 15,000 bpd, according to sources in the Reuters article.

For now, Turkey is only receiving condensate liquid fuel by-products from the Khor Mor gas field in the KRG. In the future, however, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz says he anticipates a potential daily inflow of 40,000 barrels from the KRG. That’s a fraction of the 600,000 barrels of oil that Turkey imports each day,  but every drop counts when you’re 90 percent dependent on oil imports — as Turkey is — and scrambling to find new sources of the precious liquid.

In total, the KRG’s oil fields could produce up to 200,000 barrels per day for export, according KRG Energy Minister Ashti Hawrami.

Future oil industry expansions

The KRG currently ships oil to international markets through a pipeline controlled by the Iraqi government, extending from Baghdad to a port in Ceyhan, Turkey.

This system allows the KRG’s exports to be stalled by political disputes between the KRG and the central Iraqi government, however.. Exports were halted in April, for instance, over Baghdad’s outstanding debts to companies operating in the region. Exports may be halted again if Baghdad hasn’t paid its debts by mid-September, according to KRG officials.

By August 2013, the KRG hopes to begin exporting oil directly to the Turkish border, through a new pipeline with the capacity to transmit 1 million bpd.

Turkey’s relations with the central Iraqi government have been on the decline before now. But it certainly won’t help matters if Turkey becomes a major purchaser of oil and gas from the KRG.

Will this become another situation where Turkey’s appetite for unclean energy forces it into a dispute with its neighbors? That’s already happened over its efforts to drill for gas off the coast of Cyprus, and the destructive hydroelectric dams it has built along its eastern borders.

:: Reuters

Read more about Turkey’s energy politics:
Turkey’s Economic Growth Hampered By Oil Addiction, Analysts Say
US Sanctions on Iran’s Oil Pressures Turkey’s Energy Supply
Turkey Begins Controversial Drilling In Cyprus

Image via Azad Lashkari/REUTERS

The post Turkey Starts Buying Kurdish Gas Over Baghdad’s Objections appeared first on Green Prophet.

Shisha, also known as a water pipe or hookah pipe, has gained immense popularity in the Middle East. The fact that it is so popular among Iraq youth is a red light for health officials in Iraq and is prompting officials to launch campaigns warning against the hazards of this practice and to prepare for future diseases that could occur among the adult population.

“It used to be only older aged men smoked it, but recently it’s spread to all age groups,” Dr. Naeema Al-Gasseer, the World Health Organization’s representative in Iraq said.

“More studies are showing that smoking is one of the leading causes of death and it’s a great public health concern, whether it’s shisha or cigarette smoking.”

Shisha, studies show, is even more harmful than cigarettes, because of the intensity of the exposure over a short period of time compared to cigarette smoking which is less intense with each smoke, Al-Gasseer told The Media Line.

The report, a school-based survey among adolescents aged 13 to 15, suggested that shisha was the preferred form of tobacco used among young people in Iraq.

Overall, 13% of youth who have never smoked indicated they might initiate cigarette smoking in the next year.

The survey will be used to predict problems the healthcare system is likely to face in the future, especially since Iraq is a young country, with around 43% of its population under the age of 19.

“We know that tobacco smoking is a cause of mortalities and diseases. If we’re not alert to promoting healthy behavior, especially among youth, and prevent diseases, this will cause more risk factors for diseases such as heart problems, high blood pressure and diabetes,” Al-Gasseer said.

The government is not only using the survey to plan its health system and tackle future problems, but is also cooperating with the Ministry of Education and the parliament to prevent smoking, making the public more aware of the health hazards it entails, and promote legislation to stem the habit.

“The challenges Iraq has now, including parliament, is to push for legislation, to push for taxation on cigarettes, legislation to eliminate proactive advertisements for tobacco and prevent sponsorship of tobacco companies for health and development programs,” Al-Gasseer said.

She noted there were already positive changes in government, manifested in the increase in non-smoking areas in government buildings, a practice that was not in place two years ago.

Compared to other countries in the region, smoking among adolescents in Iraq is still relatively low. However, health officials are concerned about the dramatic shift in behavior of Iraqi youth, which corresponds to similar behavior in other Middle Eastern countries.

“In Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the Gulf there’s an increasing number of youth smoking shisha and the families accept it,” she said. “When you ask them why, they believe that shisha isn’t harmful. That’s a misconception. It’s no longer limited to certain socio-economic classes and Iraq is just picking up in this.”

The report coincided with reports in the Syrian news agency SANA that Syrians spend up to $600 million a year on tobacco and cigarettes, despite a ban on advertising and smoking in public.

Smokers in Syria spend on average 8% of their income on tobacco, the Syria Tobacco Institute said, and the number of smokers in Middle Eastern countries is on the rise, despite government attempts to reverse this trend.

A recent television report in Iraq underlined the problematic aspect of how shisha had become an acceptable norm in Iraq. The report linked the growth in numbers of shisha cafes to an improving security situation in the capital, Baghdad.

“People talk about it as a good thing and don’t see that it’s harmful” Al-Gasseer said.

Age limitations for purchasing cigarettes are in place in Iraq but are not enforced, and health hazard warnings on cigarette packs do exist but are often not visible.

“I know that the tobacco-control program at the Ministry of Health is very active and we are working hard with them to provide technical support,” she said.

This story is reprinted from the Mideast News Source, The Media Line

Image credit: Man Smoking Hookah, Shutterstock

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Zaha Hadid is widely celebrated for her incredible, untethered design, but less so for her environmental sensibilities. So when we learned that the deal to design a major project for her home country, the Central Bank of Iraq’s Headquarters, is now official, we went looking for the slightest sign that this project might be at least a little bit green. Very few details have been revealed except a huge team of mostly mainstream engineers and consultants, but at least one firm involved in the project seems to recognize the importance of smart and sustainable design – Arup.

Iraq needs lean green development

Given the enormous amount of overall reconstruction that needs to be achieved in order to restore any kind of sanity to Iraq, all new developments ought to be as lean and green as possible.

But if one of TIME Magazine’s most celebrated architects eschews a sustainable project in favor of something like the Guangzhou Opera House, especially for a banking building that is representative of all that has gone wrong with capitalism (an unfair distribution of wealth chief among the list), that will send a terrible message to the country’s embattled residents.

Rivers are terribly polluted, wildlife are struggling to survive, and untold numbers of Fallujah babies are born deformed because of stockpiles of depleted uranium leftover from the more than one war in the country such that diverting excess wealth and materials to one splashy project would amount to a theft of the nation’s remaining natural resources.

We love Zaha Hadid’s flair and never dispute her architectural genius but mourn her refusal to acknowledge the 21st century’s environmental and social problems by persisting with unsustainable projects.

A glimmer of hope?

Now there may be a tiny chance that she has seen the so-called light. Among the firms involved in the CBI project in Baghdad is Arup, a global firm of consulting engineers that authored Climate Action in Megacities, “the first ever comprehensive analysis of actions underway to address climate change in the world’s megacities.”

On their website Arup claims to be ” at the forefront of low-carbon technology. From our work with renewable and distributed energy to electric transport and smart cities, we have the technical expertise to create any component of a resilient city.”

Is it possible this ethos will rub off on the world’s most famous Iraqi?

Zaha, touched

While signing the deal for the Tigris River development in Bagdad at a recent ceremony hosted by H. E. Dr. Muhielddin Hussein Abdullah, Charges d’Affaires of the Iraqi Embassy in London, Zaha displayed an unusual sentimentality.

“I am deeply touched that I have been asked to design the new headquarters for the Central Bank of Iraq,” she said, adding “I was born in Iraq and I still feel very close to it. I feel very privileged to be working in Iraq on a design of such national importance.”

Will she be touched enough to design a building that benefits all of Iraqis and not just the fat banking cats? We’ll see. But we’re not holding our breath.

Via World Architecture News

image via Associated Fabrication, Flickr

More Zaha Hadid Commentary on Green Prophet:

Ehrlich Architecture Trumps Hadid and Foster With UAE Parliament Win

Zaha’s Robber Opera House Opens

Zaha Hadid: One of TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People

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