[2008.06.21] Music and mountains 音乐与群山

Iraqi Kurdistan
伊拉克库尔德斯坦

Music and mountains
音乐与群山

Jun 19th 2008 | ERBIL
From The Economist print edition

Can the Kurds offer a tourist haven?
库尔德人能提供一个旅游天堂吗？

FOR the Kurds of Iraq, Zakaria Abdulla is the nearest thing to the Beatles, rolled into one man. He claims that one of his more recent albums, “Telinaz”, meaning “lovely”, has sold more than 3m copies across the region and in Europe. But mere musical success is no longer enough. These days he has a political vision-and a business nose to match.

对伊拉克的库尔德人来说，扎卡里亚•阿卜杜勒（Zakaria Abdulla）是最接近披头士的东西了，在他身上集中了多种品质。他声称自己最近一张专辑”Telinaz”（意即”可爱的”）已经在该地区和欧洲销出 3百多万份拷贝。但是仅有音乐上的成功是不够的。这些天他有了一个政治构想–其中也有商业考虑。

As a budding property magnate, he is the driving force behind Naz City, a burgeoning housing development on the edge of Erbil, the Iraqi Kurds’ capital, with some 700 Western-style flats designed to “bring something beautiful to Kurdistan”. Such projects, he hopes, may lure back some of the thousands of professionals who fled from Saddam Hussein and are now used to European and American living standards; Mr Abdulla spent some years in Sweden. So far, he says, seven ministers in the Kurdish regional government, more than 100 assembly members and at least 50 academics have taken flats in Naz City.

作为一名地产新贵，他是”纳兹城”背后的驱动力量。”纳兹城”是在伊拉克库尔德人首都Erbil的边缘上迅猛发展起来的一个房产开发项目，大约有700座西方风格公寓，用来”将某些美丽的东西带给库尔德斯坦”。他希望这些项目将那些逃离了萨达姆•侯赛因、现已习惯欧洲和美国生活条件的专业人士吸引回来；阿卜杜勒先生在瑞典呆过几年。他说，至今已有七名库尔德地方政府部长，超过100名议会成员和至少50名学者在纳兹城拥有公寓。

Mr Abdulla’s cosy relations with the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), one of the two main ones in the region, have helped him along. The prime minister, Nechirvan Barzani, a KDP man, has arranged for several of his leading officials to take flats there. Mr Abdulla says he is also planning to build a “medical city”.

阿卜杜勒先生与库尔德人民主党（KDP）–该地区两个主要政党之一–的亲密关系帮助他开展这项事业。总理巴扎尼（Nechirvan Barzani，一位KDP成员）已安排他的几名主要官员住进那儿的公寓。阿卜杜勒先生说他也在计划建造一个”医疗城”。

Other housing developments include an “English village”, an “Italian village” and “Dream City”, all meant to lure back investors and professional Kurds. Last week the Kurdish prime minister signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates said to be worth $4.5 billion to build a hotel, shops and resort complex in Erbil.

其它房屋开发项目包括一个”英语村”，一个”意大利村”和”梦幻城”，都是为了将投资者和库尔德专业人士吸引回来。上周库尔德总理跟阿拉伯联合酋长国签署了一份据说价值45亿美元的协议，在Erbil建一个酒店、商店和度假中心。

With its peaceful gardens, tennis courts and swimming pools, Naz City is a far cry from battered Baghdad and other cities in the non-Kurdish parts of Iraq. The only hint of nearby strife is the heavy presence of watchful security guards. The Kurdish government loves to stress the difference between the quiet Kurdish north and the rest of Iraq: this week the most lethal bomb in months killed at least 63 Baghdadis.

拥有平静的花园、网球场和游泳池，纳兹城与战斗中的巴格达和其它伊拉克非库尔德人地区城市大不一样。唯一能使人联想到附近战斗的是大批警惕的保安人员。库尔德政府喜欢强调安静的库尔德人北部地区和伊拉克其它地区的不同：本周，几个月来最为严重的一次炸弹袭击杀死了至少63名巴格达人。

The regional government has also launched a campaign to tout Iraqi Kurdistan as a tourist destination, describing it as “the Other Iraq”. The Pank Resort near Sulaymaniyah, the region’s second city, is popular with locals-as is its mountainside roller coaster. Farther north, a spring day at the waterfalls near Rawanduz, another resort, draws hundreds of visitors to picnic at the water’s edge. Most of them are Kurds. But the government thinks that Kurdistan’s lush mountains, peaceful cities and easy-going attitude to alcohol should attract Westerners and Gulf Arabs too.

地方政府也发起了一场运动，旨在宣扬库尔德斯坦是一个好的旅游目的地，他们将它描述为”不一样的伊拉克”。苏莱曼尼亚（该地区第二大城市）附近的Pank Resort度假村，很受当地人的欢迎–就像其山地云霄飞车一样。再往北，在另一个度假胜地Rawanduz附近的瀑布边，春日吸引了几百名造访者在水边野餐。他们绝大多数是库尔德人。但是当地政府认为，库尔德斯坦繁茂的群山、宁静的城市和对酒精饮料的宽容态度也将吸引西方人和海湾阿拉伯人。

译者：7colorwolf    http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12307&extra=page%3D1