The bicycle is standing outside the door. I find myself looking for the lock. There is none. I know, and yet I am surprised. In Kurdistan you can leave things unlocked, and they will not be stolen. So why put a lock on a bicycle?
I lost a number of bikes in Amsterdam, even though they were tied with a chain to a lamppost. For us it is a second nature never to leave a bike unlocked, because then it will be gone. Who steals bicycles? Not those who need a bike, but usually people who need money, drug addicts for instance, or jobless youth. They sell the bike at the first possible opportunity for up to 100 euro’s.
I only know a couple of incidents with stolen goods in Kurdistan. A colleague left an I-phone on the table in a restaurant. It was gone by the time he realized where he left it. I lost some gold earrings in a hotel room in Sulaymaniya. But when I reported the theft, the owner saw reason to sack the cleaning staff, even though my earrings were never recovered.
It is great, to be able to say to guests who worry about theft and criminals when visiting Kurdistan: ,,Ah, that does not happen here!’’ I see people have a hard time believing me. Why not, they ask. Because of the rules of hospitality and feelings of honor, I try to explain. As a foreigner, you are a respected guest and nothing bad should happen to you. And in a society where honor is as important as it is in Kurdistan, nobody wants be caught stealing as it will rub off very badly even on his/her family.
I cannot explain that in any way to my foreign friends. We can only agree that we hope petty crime will not increase with the growing prosperity in Kurdistan, and that perhaps at the same time this prosperity will end the greedy corruption that is causing so much anger in the society, and a bad name for Kurdistan in the outside world too.
This column was published in Kurdish in the daily Kurdistani Nwe
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