At 86, retired Denver psychiatrist David Kazzaz still misses his native Baghdad — sleeping out on a rooftop during summer, strolling along a cafe-lined lane by the Tigris River, savoring freshly grilled fish.
He also remembers the persecution of Jews by pro-Nazi Iraqis who in 1950 drove his family away. While he yearns to return to his Baghdad neighborhood, he doesn’t dare because of regular suicide bomb blasts.
But Kazzaz is doing what he can to create an opportunity by addressing the Arab-Kurdish tensions that analysts see as a main threat to stability after U.S. forces depart Iraq.
Kazzaz recently flew from Denver to Irbil, in relatively calm northern Iraq, leading a delegation of 22 women who launched a “World’s Women for Life” cultural campaign to help Kurdish women.
His idea: Women in conflict-ridden countries can, by embracing a life-affirming approach to conflict, counterbalance the celebration of martyrdom that terrorists exploit.
“Women are the movers,” Kazzaz said. “They can recruit their men.”
Kurdish regional government officials hosted Kazzaz and his group. A retired psychiatrist associated with University of Denver’s Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East, Kazzaz left Iraq in 1950 and, after time in Israel, moved to Denver in 1954.
Last month in northern Iraq, several hundred Kurds showed up at the initial “World’s Women For Life” gatherings.
A board was set up that includes Kazzaz and several Christians from Colorado Springs. It plans to open a community center, offer therapy for widows, pursue two-way education exchanges, and advocate “culture of life” ideals of nurturing and regeneration.
Kurdish leaders Kazzaz met have chafed against central Iraqi government control. He says he urged them to work for autonomy but “stay part of Iraq.”
“I’m interested in stability in the region — peace and democracy. That’s what motivates me,” Kazzaz said. That and a chance to visit his old neighborhood.
When Kazzaz was a student, British forces still held sway over radio broadcasts of war in Europe. Persecution that began with taunting in the streets eventually led to an exodus of 120,000 Jews as Iraq led an Arab boycott of Israel.
Today Kurdish women appear inclined to campaign for peace, Kazzaz said.
Kurds suffered confiscation of property by Arabs and poison gas attacks under Saddam Hussein. In 2003, after U.S. forces toppled Hussein’s regime, “they had reason to do some ethnic cleansing” of Arabs, he said.
“But they didn’t do that. … They are really honest, life-loving people,” Kazzaz said. “They can be seen as an example — for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com
