This is wild: K24 TV, owned by Masrour Barzani, is now running a social media campaign in support of Harda Karim, a fighter who admitted in that same interview to having deliberately concealed the Iraqi flag, while publicly framing the episode as an ethnic grievance and stoking Kurdish-Arab tensions. In the interview, he explicitly claims that everyone present wanted him to lose because “I am Kurdish���.
Here is why that framing is not just wrong but dangerous, and why it matters:
The issue is not the Kurdistan flag. The issue is the deliberate disrespect of the Iraqi flag. A campaign for Kurdistan flag recognition would be entirely legitimate, before the event or through a boycott. But entering the tournament under the existing framework, accepting the national listing, competing under Iraq's country designation, and then concealing the Iraqi flag is not a campaign for recognition.
The real political problem runs deeper. Displaying the Kurdistan flag and disrespecting the Iraqi flag are not the same act. Conflating them is precisely what makes this episode toxic: The first builds a political case while the second insults a national symbol and then reframes the inevitable reaction as proof of oppression. Those are categorically different arguments, and mixing them poisons the legitimate one.
That is why Kurdistan24's campaign is reckless, performative nationalism that does more harm than good. It takes a defensible issue, Kurdish visibility in sport, and attaches it to a bad example. It may excite an internal nationalist audience, but externally it makes the Kurdish case look immature, hostile, and unreasonable.
The grievance framing becomes even weaker when Karim discusses the fight itself. In the same interview, he claimed he was treated unfairly “because I am Kurdish” and argued that his opponent was much larger than him: “Everyone knows that my opponent was much larger than me. He weighed more, he was taller, and you can see that in the video where we are standing next to each other. In no way did I lose that fight.”
But PFL’s official weigh-in results cut against that claim. Ahmed El Sisy weighed in at 154.4 lbs, while Harda Karim weighed in at 155.6 lbs. Karim may have faced a taller opponent with a longer frame, but the official weigh-in does not support the claim that El Sisy weighed more.
This matters because fabricating grievances to construct an ethnic victimhood narrative does not strengthen the Kurdish cause, it corrodes it. There are real, well-documented Kurdish grievances that deserve serious attention. Inflating a personal sporting dispute into an ethnic conflict, using claims that are demonstrably false, undermines the credibility of those legitimate arguments. The Kurdish cause does not need manufactured grievances when plenty of real ones already exist.
Assyrians are Assyrians but why you using Persians as slur ? They got real history and one that isn’t based on speculation history like some people. You are Iraqi Kurd now that’s real insult
Typical behaviour... answer, they reply and block so u cant reply back.
Deep psychological trauma, leads to lack of accountability within their brains and possibly the entire culture.
If you govern any area its simply your responsibility to keep it safe and secure for all in it
Assyrian Christian Women at Baqubah Refugee Camp near Baghdad, 1919.
British-built refugee camp for Assyrian and Armenian Christians fleeing massacres and deportations during the Ottoman genocide of Christians under its rule (1914–1923).
After surviving massacres, forced marches, starvation, and exile, thousands of refugees reached Baqubah in British-controlled Mesopotamia. 🕊️
The camp became one of the largest refugee camps in the Middle East in the early 20th century. ⛺
Families arrived exhausted from Hakkari, Urmia, and Anatolia.
Many had lost relatives, homes, churches, and entire villages. 💔
Despite terrible conditions, survivors rebuilt community life inside the camp.
Women played a major role in preserving faith, language, and traditions for future generations. ✝️
British authorities organized food supplies, sanitation, medical care, and protection.
Assyrian leaders also helped maintain order and support displaced families.
Baqubah became a temporary sanctuary for Christians escaping persecution and genocide.
Historical photographs from the camp remain powerful testimonies of survival and endurance. 📜
The camp symbolized both tragedy and resilience.
Many refugees later resettled across Iraq, Syria, Europe, Russia, and the Americas. 🌍
The memory of Baqubah remains deeply important in Assyrian history today.
Their story is part of the Ottoman genocide against Christians under its rule between 1914 and 1923. 🕯️
May the victims and survivors never be forgotten.
#Assyrian #Assyrians #Sayfo #Baqubah #Armenian #ChristianHistory #MiddleEastHistory #Genocide #OttomanEmpire #AssyrianGenocide #AssyrianHistory #ArmenianGenocide #Refugees #Mesopotamia #NeverForget
Typical behaviour... answer, they reply and block so u cant reply back.
Deep psychological trauma, leads to lack of accountability within their brains and possibly the entire culture.
If you govern any area its simply your responsibility to keep it safe and secure for all in it
تخيل عزيزي المتابع لو ان هالشخص لم يكن كردي عراقي وكان كردي سوري او تركي او ايراني شنو حيصير بي!!!
يلا ابن مصر مقصر وعرفه بحجمه الحقيقي
لكن الى متى تبقى الدوله العراقيه باقصى درجات ضعفها للاسف لذلك هالهمج الانفصاليين مستغلينها بعد 23 سنه من الحكم وماتزال هالدوله محط سخريه الجميع
Nationalist Kurds are so bad at history.
Not only do all genocide scholars, Assyrians and otherwise, no longer assert the 750,000 figure for Assyrians killed in the genocide, but Simko was responsible for only 3000-5000 Assyrian deaths at most.
He was, however, responsible for more Kurdish deaths and led more massacres against his fellow Kurds than he did against Assyrians.
@katooZafarani@sousou5456 And degeneracy, or allowing it to spread so the Christians of Ankawa get out 😂 or its typical lazy kurds that dont wanna govern anything and probably have asked america to help elect a descent mayor for the city
@katooZafarani@sousou5456 Idgaf what they cry lol. That might be the stupidest thing uttered ever.
That doesnt mean to allow Brothels and Prostitution within anywhere in the city. Matter fact, knowing that we are Christian, is significantly leaning towards indirect ethnic cleansing. Spreading filth
@YPG_KURD2023@AramaicWire What security? Like the one during th akitu festival where the policemen with their bellies hanging out were laughing while a kurdish islamist lunatic with an axes is hitting people with it?? That security?
@nibardoski@AramaicWire Isn't Erbil under the KRG? Whos to truly blame? If the government itself cant maintain safety in a neighbourhood because its Christian/Non Kurdish? Lmao, just a failed state truly
@6rrray@AramaicWire Stop lying, these places are spread across all of erbil, no one is doing shit, ankawa being christian with a little more freedom, the government allowed degeneracy in it because it isnt muslim, or kurdish lmao
@PozeBaroze@AramaicWire We welcomed them? Arent you the same wanna be nationalists that brag about arabs needing visas? Youre the ones that allowed them in, and they are certainly making a mess out of your entire brittle region
Ankawa has been transformed from the final enclave for Christians in Iraq into a hellscape of degeneracy, harassment & abuse.
The Assyrian town is overrun by outsiders who abuse the Christian quarter as their playground.
It’s time for the KRG to clean this up.