Return to Kirkuk

[bamerni]

Karzan Sherabayani is a Kurdish exile living in Britain, an activist and an actor. Twenty-five years ago, when he was 19, Sherabayani escaped from Iraq, where he had been imprisoned and tortured by Saddam Hussein's secret police. In January 2005, he returned to his hometown, Kirkuk, to vote in the first national elections since the overthrow of Saddam's regime. Swiss producer Claudio von Planta went with him to film the story for the BBC. His 16-minute film, "Return to Kirkuk," has never been shown in the United States.

With this story of a personal journey home, FRONTLINE/World launches "Rough Cut," our series of weekly videos on the Web. Though "Return to Kirkuk" is a polished piece, it is part of a work in progress, an hour-long documentary about Karzan and his homeland, raising the question: should Iraqi Kurdistan remain part of Iraq or become an independent nation?

The "Kurdish issue" -- after the Iraqi insurgency itself -- is the most volatile political situation facing Iraq's fledgling government. Many Kurds would like oil-rich Kurdistan in northern Iraq to become independent. That is certainly Karzan Sherabayani's hope as he sets out on his trip, intent on conducting his own poll. The future of the Kurds in Iraq is a subject we first explored in a FRONTLINE/World story, "The Road to Kirkuk," broadcast in May 2003. After Saddam's terror -- including his use of chemical weapons against the Kurdish population -- we wondered whether Kurds, Arabs, Turkomen and other minorities could ever find a way to live together peacefully in Iraq.

Since then the Kurds have asserted themselves politically. In the January 30, 2005 election that von Planta covers, Kurds -- who represent 15 to 20 percent of Iraq's population -- won more than a quarter of the seats in the 275-member National Assembly. In March, that assembly named Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani president of Iraq -- the first Kurd to serve as president of an Arab-majority country.

Though he is a passionate Kurdish nationalist, Karzan decides by the end of his emotional journey home to give a final chance to the newly elected Iraqi federal government with the hope that Kurds and Arabs can co-exist in the same country.