Syrian Olive Trees Put Down Roots in Kurdish Iraq

Suleiman Sheikho, from Syria's Kurdish Afrin region, is believed to be the first person to introduce the olive oil business to Iraqi Kurdish farmers. AFP
Suleiman Sheikho, from Syria's Kurdish Afrin region, is believed to be the first person to introduce the olive oil business to Iraqi Kurdish farmers. AFP
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Syrian Olive Trees Put Down Roots in Kurdish Iraq

Suleiman Sheikho, from Syria's Kurdish Afrin region, is believed to be the first person to introduce the olive oil business to Iraqi Kurdish farmers. AFP
Suleiman Sheikho, from Syria's Kurdish Afrin region, is believed to be the first person to introduce the olive oil business to Iraqi Kurdish farmers. AFP

Tucked away in the rolling hills of Iraqi Kurdistan is a hidden treasure: tens of thousands of olive trees, thriving in a new homeland after being smuggled from neighboring Syria.

Their branches are heaving with bright purple-black olives ready to be picked.

Their caretaker, Syrian Kurdish businessman Suleiman Sheikho, is proud to have brought the olive oil business to Iraq's autonomous north, AFP reported.

"This year was a good year," said 58-year-old Sheikho, who has been transporting trees from his native Afrin in northwest Syria into Kurdish Iraq since 2007.

"On this farm I have 42,000 olive trees, all of which I brought from Afrin when they were three years old," he told AFP, gesturing to neat rows reaching the horizon.

In early 2018, his mission took on a new urgency.

Turkey, which saw the semi-autonomous Kurdish zone of Afrin on its border as a threat, backed an offensive by Syrian opposition groups to take control of the canton.

The operation, dubbed "Olive Branch," displaced tens of thousands, many of whom had made their living for decades by producing olive oil in the area's mild climate.

Sheikho himself is a fourth-generation olive farmer and had 4,000 trees in Afrin that are older than a century.

The slender businessman, who once served as the head of Afrin Union for Olive Production, sprung into action.

He transported some of his trees legally, but smuggled others across the border, managed on both sides by autonomous Kurdish authorities.

Some of the new transplants joined his orchard, located among luxurious summer villas near the regional capital Arbil. He sold others to farmers across Kurdish Iraq.

Raw olives are a staple on Levantine lunch tables, while their oil is both used in cooking and drizzled on top of favorite appetizers like hummus.

The oil can also be used to make soap, while the dark, sawdust-like residue from olives pressed in the autumn is often burned to heat houses in winter.

- Fertile ground ahead -

Olive trees struggle in the blistering heat and desert landscapes of Iraq, so the yellowish-green oil was long imported at great expense from Lebanon, Syria or Turkey.

A domestic oil industry could change all that.

Sheikho was relieved to find the soil near Arbil as rich as in his hometown, but the warmer temperatures meant his trees required more robust irrigation networks.

According to AFP, there are two harvests a year, in February and November.

He built a press, where the olives are separated from twigs and leaves, pitted, then squeezed to produce thick, aromatic oil.

Dressed in a charcoal grey blazer during AFP's visit, Sheikho tested the quality by drinking it raw from the press, before the viscous fluid was poured into plastic jugs.

"For every 100 kilos of olives, I produced 23 kilos of olive oil," he told AFP.

Olive oil production had not taken root when Sheikho began working there, but has thrived since Syrians displaced by their country's nearly decade-long war began moving there.

According to the Kurdish regional government's (KRG) agriculture ministry, there were just over 169,000 olive trees in the Kurdish region in 2008.

Since then, the ministry invested some $23 million in planting and importing the trees, which now number around four million, it estimates.

There are around a half-dozen olive presses, employing many Syrian Kurds from Afrin.

Sheikho sees more fertile ground ahead.

"The farmers here have great ideas and they are extremely ambitious," he told AFP.

"With the hard work and experience of Afrin's farmers, they are going to create a very bright future for olive business."



What Happens Now, after the Death of Pope Francis

Pope Francis waves to the crowd during his weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in Vatican on May 18, 2016. (AFP)
Pope Francis waves to the crowd during his weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in Vatican on May 18, 2016. (AFP)
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What Happens Now, after the Death of Pope Francis

Pope Francis waves to the crowd during his weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in Vatican on May 18, 2016. (AFP)
Pope Francis waves to the crowd during his weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in Vatican on May 18, 2016. (AFP)

Here is what happens next in the Roman Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis, which was announced by the Vatican on Monday. The rituals mark the end of one papacy and the start of the next:

* The pope's camerlengo (chamberlain), Cardinal Kevin Farrell, officially confirms the death. He then seals the pope's private apartment and prepares the funeral.

* The camerlengo and three assistants decide when the pope's coffin will be taken into St. Peter's Basilica for public viewing. They also make sure the pope's "Fisherman's Ring" and his lead seal are broken so they cannot be used by anyone else. No autopsy is performed.

* Mourning rites last nine days, with the date of the funeral and burial to be decided by the cardinals. The funeral would normally be held four to six days after the death, in St. Peter's Square. Francis had said that unlike many predecessors, he would not be laid to rest in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica, but in Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica. He also asked to be buried in a simple wooden casket.

* The College of Cardinals oversees day-to-day business during the interregnum. They have limited power and much of the central Church administration grinds to a halt.

* The conclave to elect a new pope starts in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel between 15 and 20 days after the death. The cardinals, who are confined to the Vatican for the duration of the conclave, decide the exact day.

* All cardinals under the age of 80 can take part in the secret ballot. They need a majority of at least two-thirds plus one to elect the new pope, so the voting can take several rounds spread over numerous days. When the election is concluded, the new pope is asked if he accepts and what name he wishes to take.

* The world learns a pope has been elected when an official burns the paper ballots with special chemicals to make white smoke pour from the chapel's chimney. They use other chemicals to make black smoke indicating an inconclusive vote.

* The dean of the College of Cardinals steps onto the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to announce "Habemus Papam" (We have a pope). The new pope then appears and gives the crowd in the square his blessing.