‘I’M EMBARRASSED WHEN ASKED ABOUT OUR ETHNIC BACKGROUND’
AyªE Karabat Ankara

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 8 2007

The Iraqi Ambassador to Turkey, Sabah Omran, who has been a career
diplomat for 44 years, and his wife, Kailaniya Omran, say that
whenever someone inquires about their ethnic or religious background,
they feel offended.

They say that when they were children, Baghdad was a wonderful city:
people had a simple but happy life there. They hope that the future
for their grandchildren will be as happy as their own childhood. The
Omrans are collectors: Ambassador Omran collects books and his wife
collects ornaments. Despite all the problems and pessimism they have
sometimes, they know how to laugh. Over an excellent Iraqi lunch,
we talked about past and future, but not that much on today since
it hurts.

"I remember so many nice things. It was simple, but people were happy
and satisfied with this simple life," says the ambassador. When they
are asked about their childhood, both he and his wife, Kailaniya
Omran, become very emotional, just as a classical Turkish song says:
"Don’t question lovers about Baghdad, they vanish on the horizon."The
ambassador says they lived on Abu Nawass Street, named after the
famous medieval poet: "It is on the bank of the Tigris River. It is
a very long street; entertainment, restaurants, mezguf." Mezguf is
a big fish, native to the Tigris River, cooked over charcoal, and
one of the most-loved dishes of Baghdad. While Ambassador Omran is
talking about the Baghdad of his childhood, his voice sounds almost
like that of a narrator of "1001 Nights."

"People were having fun at night; they would enjoy the view of the
river. During the day Baghdad is something else. There are many
sacred places, historical sites, religious sites," he says. When
he recalls these days, he notes: "You should keep in mind that our
society is an agricultural one, and always liked simplicity. We are
not complicated people; even the poor people had a smile on their
face. But this has all changed: we are losing everything, even the
smiles now." Mrs. Omran intervenes and adds: "Satisfaction. We were
simple, but satisfied people."

She lived in the same neighborhood of Baghdad as her husbands’
family. When she recalls those days she takes a deep sigh: "It was
quiet and very nice. We were very close to each other, as neighbors.

We lived in the same area, we met each other and we loved each
other." She refers to Ambassador Omran and laughs.

Even before we officially started the interview, we spoke with Mrs.

Omran about staying young. (She is not willing to mention her age,
and I do not ask anyway.) She says that she cares about herself,
but the most important thing is to be young at heart. She says that
she tries to be positive.

When they are questioned if they were aware of the existence of
other groups, ethnic or religious, Mrs. Omran reacts like she heard
something unbelievable. "N*****o, nooo, no," she repeats with an
astonished face. Mr. Ambassador supports his wife: "No, not at all."

Then he goes into more detail: "In our street, I remember very well,
five of our neighbors were Turkmen, three were Kurdish families and
the majority was Arab. One of our neighbors, he is an important man
now, did not know my first name, but used to call me ‘Abu Hassan.’ I
never asked the name of my neighbors, yet we had good relations:
exchanging presents, food, visiting each other frequently."

Mrs. Omran adds: "Especially at Ramadan. We enjoyed it a lot."

Her husband, before starting to talk about "the good old days,"
laughs, maybe because of the joy of remembering his childhood: "We
were naughty boys when we were children. We used to play football
in the street. Sometimes we would tease the priest of the Armenian
church on our street."

Mrs. Omran says: "Nobody would ask me then if I was Shia or Sunni. I
feel something… I feel shy when I’m asked that. When we lived
together, we married each other. There is a mosque, church, Huseyni
— a Shia shrine — in the same area, Now it is… it is…." she
stops thinks for a while and with a very decisive voice adds, "It is
from outside."

"Some politicians created that," Ambassador Omran adds. The ambassador
says that being an Iraqi is an identity. The differences between
ethnic or religious groups are not something new. According to him
the basis of these differences is an unwelcome innovation.

"People are being provoked into it," he says. Mrs. Omran adds: "On
the TV, when there is news, they mention the neighborhood and add
who lives there. How come? How can a neighborhood be totally one or
another group, they are lying."

When it comes to celebrating each others’ religious holidays they say
"Yes, of course." Ambassador Omran continues: "We used to ride donkeys,
swings and we would play with the Christian kids. We knew that they
were celebrating something special and religiously important when
we saw them dressed up very well, holding their parents’ hands and
going to the church. But there was also always someone to remind us
that we should congratulate our friends, we should give presents to
them. This is what I remember."

Mrs. Omran continues: "In every Muslim house, there was a Christmas
tree, believe me. Children would ask about it, because they would
see it in their neighbors’ house and then would like to have one.
Wallahi!"

Book and ornament collectors

Maybe because of this tradition of tolerance which they barely disguise
their nostalgia for, Omran couple insisted on having the interview
over lunch. Mrs. Omran enjoys having guests over and preparing Iraqi
dishes for them. The table and the food she serves, with different
meats, appetizers, several kinds of rice, vegetables and chicken, are
actually very close to Turkish cuisine, but also with different spices,
an Iraqi touch. Their residence smells very nice, with incense, which
is relaxing. There are flowers all over the place, with ornaments,
calligraphy and huge and lovely paintings on the wall. Mrs. Omran
is a collector; she has several collections. One of ancient Middle
Eastern jewelry, she displays some of on the wall.

There are small items, again with an Arabic touch: coffee holders,
bangles, copper trays, china and so on. She says that the attention
that she pays to her environment keeps her young and happy. She tells
me a story.

"One of my friends told me that she did not want to come to my house
because she is suffering. She complains that she cannot find empty
place to put her belongings, but had to keep them in her hand," she
laughs, adding: "This is only a small part of my collection; most
of them are in Baghdad. I keep promising myself not to enlarge it,
but I can’t stop myself. Also, from the very beginning my husband
was encouraging me."

Ambassador Omran, who helps his wife collect ornaments, is also a
collector himself. He enjoys collecting books. He is proud to have
more than 10,000, with only a small part of them here, and the rest
in Baghdad in three different houses.

His wife says that even during the time of the US and UN-imposed
embargo, when everything was expensive, including books, Ambassador
Omran did not give up hunting for books. He says that one of his
friends used joke with him and say: "Baghdad was looted, what about
your books?"

The love story of these devoted collectors started at a very early
age; they knew each other from childhood and they are both from the
same tribe. While Mrs. Omran is telling their love story, Ambassador
Omran keep smiling and sometimes interrupts: "When I was returning from
school, (Ambassador Omran notes that his wife was a teacher) I saw him
with his black hair and black mustache. But now he is an old man. What
can I do?" Both of them look each other and laugh very loudly. Actually
throughout the interview they gave the impression that there are some
private jokes between them, as with couples or friends who have spent
their life together, which only they can understand fully.

They got married when Ambassador Omran finished university — in the
Political Science Department of Baghdad University — and entered
the Foreign Ministry. At that time Mrs. Omran was 26.

>>From there, our conversation subject became young marriages. We talk
about the fact that in traditional societies girls often get married
at an early age. Mrs. Omran says that it was not the case in Iraq,
at least among their social class, but it has changed now.

"I am really surprised now! They get married even when they are only
16!" Ambassador Omran becomes sad again. "Because of the situation,"
he says wistfully, and explains: "The families are thinking of
marriage, especially if the man is saying that he will take their
daughter abroad, they should get their daughter married at an early
age. But for me I cannot allow my daughter to marry before finishing
university. Suppose she divorces this guy while I am not with her. I
always told her to stand on her own feet. Be reliant on yourself.

Your husband is not an angel."

The Omrans say that the hard conditions in Iraq have made Iraqi women
strong. All these wars, the long-lasting embargo, have forced the Iraqi
women to find innovative ways to survive and take care of their family.

They have two children, one son and one daughter. As Mrs. Omran is
about to tell their ages, Ambassador Omran starts to laugh, and Mrs.

Omran after a second joins him. I am the last one to join in, realizing
that Mrs. Omran does not want to tell her age but that now we can guess
from the age of her children! Anyway she discloses the ages of their
children, but I will not reveal hers or theirs. The Omran couple’s
children are married and live in the United Arab Emirate. They Omrans
have three grandsons.

Ambassador Omran has been working for the Foreign Ministry for 44
years. He has served in Canada, Jordan, Tanzania, Oman, Greece,
Pakistan, Kenya, Mexico City and Nigeria. But his first foreign post
was in Ankara, 38 years ago.

"Turkey has changed a lot. It has made marvelous achievements in all
fields. But you cannot have everything the way you want it. Everybody
is busy and working, but there is no real social life any more. As
we say in Iraq, you cannot have winter and summer under the same roof.

When you want to be very advanced you have to pay for it. Yet I am
so happy to see the welfare of Turkish society," he says.

Ambassador Omran does not want go into detail when he is questioned
about the Saddam Hussein era. He says that there have always been
dictators and tyrannies in world history. "Tyranny is always bad,"
he says and mentions a movie he saw recently in which "Nero burnt
down Rome and enjoyed seeing the flames."

"You know, we have a word ‘ahmak’," he says. Ahmak is also a word in
Turkish, meaning a complete idiot. He continues: "We have a saying
that there are medicines available to treat all kinds of dise ases
except one, being an ahmak."

Ambassador Omran says there were some good things that Saddam did,
for example education. "At the beginning, he started marvelously,
but of course it collapsed," he says. "He liked blood, he liked war,"
his wife added.

Ambassador Omran gets sad again and starts to tell a story: He had a
friend in Iraq. A cook. He was taken by Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator,
as a cook. When he met someone who knows this friend, Ambassador Omran
questioned the destiny of his friend, the answer was: "He was killed
and cooked."

"This is not a joke, this sounds unbelievable, but it is true,"
he says. In order to defuse the silence on the table, I ask him if
he knows any jokes about Saddam. He thinks starts to smile and then
laughs. "In Iraq people’s hair went white at an early age. But Saddam
Hussein did not have white hair for a long time. Everybody was asking
whether he was dying his hair. No, he was not. Anyway once he met
with someone with white hair and asks him how come his hair is white.

The other cannot give an honest answer, how can he say ‘because
of the hard conditions created by Saddam Hussein’? So he answers,
‘having white hair is good for working at night’."

Ambassador Omran says that diplomats are like shock absorbers. When
there is a problem between two countries, their job is to absorb the
shock and defend their country’s interests in a civilized way. He
adds that his principle in life is "Be yourself."

"I mean, if you are tall, you cannot make yourself short. So be
yourself and be happy with yourself."

Another of his principles is to be honest. "Lies kill a diplomat. If
he lies his country will be misguided," he says. Mrs. Omran adds: "But
there are some white lies." Then they laugh again and explain to me:
"We have a friend. Every time comes late home he changes the clock
on the wall to give the impression that he came at the right time,
but his wife caught him," they say.

After finishing the excellent lunch and while we are having tea,
sipping one after another one as is Middle Eastern custom, I ask
them if they are hopeful for the future. They say, "With-out hope,
life does not exist."

–Boundary_(ID_+iMjgpu3BIFyI6hqMRnJu Q)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress