Shafaq Out of Shafaq Foundation concern for culture we had the following dialog…

with Fadhil Thamir President of the General Union of Iraqi Writers. Q-After the radical change in 09/04/2003 which covered all areas how did the Union of Iraqi Writers made its way? -  I must point out that the Union of Writers is an ancient organization, formed specifically after the revolution of the 14th of July, with immediate efforts of some literary figures like the great poet Mohammed Mahdi Aljawahiri who contacted Abdul-Karim Qassim then, and got the official approval for the founding the union with the contribution of a group of senior Iraqi Academics, including Dr. Mahdi Makhzoumi and Ali Jawad al-Tahir. After the fall of the dictatorial regime the Union had been re-formed on the initiative of some of the characters interested in this matter. A preparatory committee had been formed for comprehensive elections which were held in 25/07/2004 and I was among those chosen to lead the Union.
Q: How is the form of relationship of the General Union of Iraqi writers with the Union of writers of the Kurdistan Region?
- We can describe this relationship as being powerful and deep  because the Kurdish literary people have  made several contributions within  the activities of the  General Union of  Iraqi  Writers, despite the fact that the  two federations are independent from each other, but there is a share for the Kurdistani Union in our union and three  Kurdish representatives and there is an Office for the Kurdish literature  as well as an Office for the Syriac literature and another one for the Turkoman literature .
* Is it possible that culture enter into the militarization of the government?
-. Culture must be independent to express freely and we reject the writers who appear cheap because they use their culture to glorify a specific political party or leadership. We are cooperating with the State through the Ministry of Culture on the basis that the statesmen are possible to be changed while culture remains. Despite the importance of culture for the state, but the parliament did not allocate hours of parliamentary time to discuss the current status of Iraqi culture and the government had not allocated a budget to support it.
Q: Did some Faily Kurds receive your appreciations?

- I have had close relations with a wide range of Kurdish writers and I often can not distinguish between the Faily Kurdish writers and the Kurdish ones. Upon my visit to the Kurdistan Region in the late sixties of the last century, together with the great poet Mohammed Madhi al-Jawahiri for the Bekas and Permurd Festivals I met a respectable group of Kurdish writers who deserve high praise and appreciation

*One final word you like to say at the end of our dialogue?
- Thanks to Shafaq for hosting me and I hope more brilliance to this cultural Foundation.

Fa'iza Nasir