by Toby Bell
Our plane from Istanbul descends, banking to the right. Through the window, I catch glimpses of a built-up city with brightly lit tower blocks and roads lined with Bentleys and Land Cruisers.
On the ground, I found upscale restaurants bordering ornamental fountains and landscaped ponds and five lane highways. In winter, there’s skiing with cable cars; in summer, millions of tourists flock to gorges and picnic spots. The wealth is unmistakable.
The UK maintains close ties. The University of London offers accredited degrees through the British International University set in a striking modern campus. Among them: a fully GMC-recognised medical degree. We’re shown a touchscreen anatomy table that wouldn’t look out of place in a top London hospital.
A High Council for Women is in place, as is a 30% quota for women in its parliament and officials brief us on democratic reforms. Religious diversity is respected under a relatively liberal and pluralistic political system.
At this point, you might think I’m describing Amman or another gulf city. But I’m not. This is Erbil—the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). I visited recently as part of a parliamentary delegation, accompanying John Slinger MP, Chair of the APPG for the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, whom I work for.
