{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Iraqi Christian town mulls future ahead of Kurdish referendum' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d5fad8eafeecae1ffe79' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d5fad8eafeecae1ffe79' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nIraqi Christian town mulls future ahead of Kurdish referendum\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eLEADIN:              Residents of an Iraqi Christian town are weighing up how to vote at the upcoming independence referendum in the country's northern Kurdish region.              They will go to the polls 25 September.             ...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eLEADIN:\u003cbr/\u003e              Residents of an Iraqi Christian town are weighing up how to vote at the upcoming independence referendum in the country's northern Kurdish region.\u003cbr/\u003e              They will go to the polls 25 September.\u003cbr/\u003e              STORYLINE:\u003cbr/\u003e              As the referendum edges ever closer, this small Christian town is considering its future.\u003cbr/\u003e              Alqosh is technically part of federal Iraq but it has been under Kurdish control since 2007. \u003cbr/\u003e              It never fell to the Islamic State group when it took much of the Nineveh plains in 2014 and remained under peshmerga control since. \u003cbr/\u003e              Now residents are being asked to vote in the independence referendum to decide whether they want the northern Kurdish region to secede from Iraq.\u003cbr/\u003e              Fruit seller Thaer Hormes already knows what his answer is.\u003cbr/\u003e              \"For sure we are now going to choose to live within Kurdistan. Because we have experienced living together peacefully and we have seen that all the ethnic groups live peacefully together here,\" he says.\u003cbr/\u003e              The issue has already kicked up a fuss: the mayor of Alqosh was removed from office in July and he was replaced by a Kurd, leading to demonstrations. \u003cbr/\u003e              No polls have been published and it's not possible to determine how residents really feel but a range of views are present in the town.\u003cbr/\u003e              Party members from the Assyrian Democratic Movement are sceptical of the benefits.\u003cbr/\u003e              \"If the rights of our people are not protected, we are not going to participate,\" says Saher Habib.\u003cbr/\u003e              \"Because for 26 years we have been asking the Kurdish Regional Government and they have not delivered. We have not got anything.\"\u003cbr/\u003e              Many local politicians view the referendum as a Kurdish power grab. They say their identity ties them to Iraq and that they have not been given much say in how the area is governed by the Kurdish politicians over the years.  \u003cbr/\u003e              Falah Alqas from the Iraqi Communist Party says most people from Alqosh do not want independence - but it's not because they are against the Kurds.\u003cbr/\u003e              \"They say, we are Iraqis as have been our fathers and grandfathers before us. And today we can't just swap our identity for another,\" he explains.\u003cbr/\u003e              And he believes it is the wrong time for a vote anyway.\u003cbr/\u003e              \"Most people in this area belong to a minority ethnic group. Christian, Yazidi, Turkmen, Shabak. And about half of them haven't returned yet, they are still displaced. To hold a referendum under these conditions, we think it's not right,\" he says.\u003cbr/\u003e              But many residents are grateful to the Kurds for providing security in this area, which has been calm for a long time, certainly compared with the tumult of northern Iraq. \u003cbr/\u003e              \"We haven't seen anything from the Arabs except wars, war with Kuwait, war with Iran, the fighting with Daesh (Islamic State group). Who brought Daesh on us?,\" asks locals woman Batul Rahim Yousef.\u003cbr/\u003e              \"Who protected us other than Kurdistan and the heroic peshmerga forces?\"\u003cbr/\u003e              The town is renowned for its quaint atmosphere and a monastery high up the rocks that was built in the 7th century.\u003cbr/\u003e            \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e              Alqosh - 18 September 2017\u003cbr/\u003e              1. Cross at entrance to town\u003cbr/\u003e              2. Iraqi Kurdish president Massoud Barzani's picture next to town entrance\u003cbr/\u003e              3. Various of town \u003cbr/\u003e              4. Man walking past car decorated with Kurdish flag \u003cbr/\u003e              5. Various of fruit seller \u003cbr/\u003e              6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Thaer Hormes, fruit seller: \u003cbr/\u003e              \"We have always gone from one war and one set of troubles to another, it was like that in the past. For sure we are now going to choose to live within Kurdistan. Because we have experienced living together peacefully and we have seen that all the ethnic groups live peacefully together here.\"\u003cbr/\u003e              7. Kurdish flags\u003cbr/\u003e              8. Office of Assyrian Democratic Movement local branch \u003cbr/\u003e              9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saher Habib, Assyrian Democratic Movement: \u003cbr/\u003e              \"If the rights of our people are not protected, we are not going to participate. Because for 26 years we have been asking the Kurdish Regional Government and they have not delivered. We have not got anything. We have had a lot of demands, in the government, in the sharing of power.\"\u003cbr/\u003e              10. Various of poster with Barzani's picture urging people to take part in referendum \u003cbr/\u003e              11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saher Habib, Assyrian Democratic Movement: \u003cbr/\u003e              \"About the Nineveh plains, we don't accept the referendum in this area because this area doesn't belong to the Kurdistan region, it is part of Nineveh governorate. The area still belongs to the central government.\"\u003cbr/\u003e              12. Various of street scenes\u003cbr/\u003e              13. Office of local branch of Iraqi Communist Party \u003cbr/\u003e              14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Falah Alqas, Iraqi Communist Party: \u003cbr/\u003e              \"I can tell you honestly that most people here do not want to be with the Kurdistan region. But it's not because they hate the Kurds, they have no enmity against them. But they say, we are Iraqis as have been our fathers and grandfathers before us. And today we can't just swap our identity for another.\"\u003cbr/\u003e              15. Wide of street\u003cbr/\u003e              16. Woman walking\u003cbr/\u003e              17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Falah Alqas, Iraqi Communist Party: \u003cbr/\u003e              \"There are many reasons. Most people in this area belong to a minority ethnic group. Christian, Yazidi, Turkmen, Shabak. And about half of them haven't returned yet, they are still displaced. To hold a referendum under these conditions, we think it's not right.\"\u003cbr/\u003e              18. Batul Rahim Yousef, Alqosh resident, in her family home\u003cbr/\u003e              19. Wedding picture and cross on wall\u003cbr/\u003e              20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Batul Rahim Yousef, Alqosh resident:\u003cbr/\u003e              \"We haven't seen anything from the Arabs except wars, war with Kuwait, war with Iran, the fighting with Daesh (Islamic State group). Who brought Daesh on us? Who protected us other than Kurdistan and the heroic peshmerga forces?\"\u003cbr/\u003e              21. 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