Wales ‘a devolved sports model for Kurdistan’
UNDER economic embargo for years, a victim of severe hardship and racked with conflict and warfare, the Iraqi region of Kurdistan is only now gradually recovering.
Like that of many such regions, its government feels that sport can play a key role in bringing its communities together and healing old wounds.
And next month representatives will travel to a nation they feel offers an “example in building a strong and successful sporting culture across Kurdistan for the future”: Wales.
Senior members of both the Iraqi and Kurdistani governments are to attend a conference in Cardiff in December organised in collaboration with the Sports Council for Wales looking at ways sporting activity can be encouraged in “devolved regions”.
Kurdistan and Wales earned their devolved statuses in very different manners – Kurdish parties joined forces against the Iraqi government in Operation Iraqi Freedom in Spring 2003, while Wales had a narrowly-won referendum but the Kurdistanis feel they have much to learn from Wales.
“The Kurdistan Region, an autonomous region in federal Iraq, is recovering from a long period of conflict and oppression,” said Bayan Rahman, Kurdistan’s High Representative to the UK...
Full story: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/11/17/wales-a-devolved-sports-model-for-kurdistan-91466-22271870/
