[Salon] Shedding the Veil: Kurdistan’s Culture War erupts at the American University




Shedding the Veil: Kurdistan’s Culture War erupts at the American University

Summary: in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, a performance where women dramatically shed niqabs at the American University of Iraq – Sulaimani sparked a major controversy, exposing a growing tension between the region's secular perception and vocal conservative Sunni Islamist elements.

We thank Winthrop Rodgers for today’s newsletter. A journalist and analyst who spent several years in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, he focuses on politics, human rights, and economics and is an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. @wrodgers2

Iraq’s Kurdistan Region is often cited as a relatively secular society in the Middle East that is surrounded by highly religious ones. While there is truth to this perception, it has powerful and vocal elements that espouse a conservative interpretation of Sunni Islam. In fact, their grassroots power is growing amid profound disappointment with the ruling Kurdish nationalist parties and economic frustration. Islamist parties are less interested in taking power in the Kurdistan Region or achieving electoral success than with building their standing within ordinary society and influencing the behaviour of the ruling parties.

This dynamic was clearly evident in a controversy that erupted in the liberal city of Sulaymaniyah at the end of September. The American University of Iraq – Sulaimani (AUIS) hosted a three-day Kurdish Studies Forum, which brought together scholars, students, translators, government officials, journalists, poets, and artists to discuss Kurdish culture, politics, history and language. The concluding event of the Forum was a performance by Hunergeha Welat, a popular music and dance group from Rojava over the border in Syria.

Their set included a performance where a group of women began to dance while wearing niqabs, a garment that covers their entire face and body and is favoured by some conservative Muslim groups. During the performance, they dramatically shed their niqabs to reveal their faces, uncovered heads, and the Kurdish clothes that they were wearing underneath. This was a deliberate reference to real events that occurred when the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led group, liberated towns and villages from Islamic State (ISIS). Gender equality is a key ideological commitment of the revolution in Rojava and one that Hunergeha Welat actively practices with its inclusion of both men and women in the group.


At the Hunergeha Welat concert at the American University of Iraq – Sulaimani, performers removed garments symbolising Islamic State (ISIS) oppression, revealing traditional Kurdish attire

The audience at the concert hailed Hunergeha Welat’s performance with rapturous applause. One attendee told Arab Digest that it was the best concert they had ever seen. However, the dance performance subsequently caused a firestorm of controversy when the video was posted online and shared widely on social media.

Religious conservatives, including clerics affiliated with two main Islamist political parties, denounced the performance as insulting to Islam. Some threatened that they would file formal legal complaints. The Kurdistan Justice Group (KJG) said in a statement that the performance was a “flagrant insult to the religion and faith of this Muslim nation.” Preacher Haji Karwan, who is a member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), even went so far as to allege that the colorful clothes worn by the performers were a symbolic reference to homosexuality.

In response, AUIS released a statement clarifying that it was not responsible for the opinions or positions of the performers and “fully respects religious and social values.” Importantly, however, it also defended its role in gathering “diverse opinions and voices without interference or censorship.” Nevertheless, the university’s American connection makes it an inviting target for the Islamists, who already suspect the West of tainting local Muslim culture with indecent values.

Hunergeha Welat also received a lot of support from Kurds who appreciated its performance. One activist said on social media that “Kurdistan's radical Islamic parties and movements know very well that there is no anti-Islamic front in Kurdistan… But they are so bankrupt in politics that they trade in the religion of the Muslim people.”

The fact that Iraq is holding elections in November was not lost on anyone. In fact, the campaign formally began just a few days after the controversy erupted. It is unlikely that the furor over the dance performance will change the outcome of the seat totals, but it represents the kind of populist approach that is becoming routine in the Kurdistan Region for all parties.

The Islamist parties typically do well enough in elections that they consistently have a seat at the table and a voice in the federal parliament in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Parliament in Erbil, but never enough to make any real contribution to governance. In 2021, the KIU and the KJG won five total seats in the Iraqi parliament, four of which belong to the former. In last year’s Kurdistan Parliament election, the KIU won seven seats and the KJG won three. However, this represented a drop from the twelve combined seats in the 2018 election. In contrast, the two ruling parties — the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) — control 39 and 23 seats in the Kurdistan Parliament respectively, while the largest opposition party — the New Generation Movement — has 15 seats.

Instead, the Islamists main influence comes at a grassroots level and exploits the massive popular disappointment that many Iraqi Kurds have with governance by the KDP and the PUK. They present an alternative to the corruption and dysfunction of the ruling parties and offer disaffected people social inclusion, moral clarity, and religious purpose. The parties and individual preachers use practical works in the community, including charity, mass readings of the Quran, and assistance to young people seeking to get married, while also leveraging the power of traditional and social media to spread their message. One of the most popular Islamist figures, Mullah Hallo, presents himself as a kung-fu master as a way to reach young people, which by all accounts is a successful strategy.

The ruling parties are keen to harness this grassroots feeling. In recent years, Islamists’ critiques have directly undermined efforts to strengthen legislation related to violence against women and girls and made it all but impossible to discuss the LGBTQ community openly. As a result, they can have real social and political influence, while not enjoying electoral success.

To that end, the controversy over Hunergeha Welat’s dance performance at AUIS fits the Islamists’ populist, grassroots strategy well. It will rile up their base, but is unlikely to alter the fundamental calculus of many voters who know that the parties are unlikely to win enough seats to actually affect the direction of the government. However, that is hardly the point, as long as they can exert influence over discussions in society about the role of women, for example. It is clear that they were successful in this regard.

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