Empire of the Ring

Just as Christianity and Islam, which believed in the same monotheistic god and have the same ancestor, Abraham, Sunnis, and Shiites within the religion of Islam have been endlessly confronting each other.

They argued for legitimacy because of their doctrines and religious leaders. The Kurds were the people who were strangely related between the ethnic groups of Sunnis and Shiites. The Kurds, who resided in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, were oppressed by the Sunni Muslims in Turkey, despite the fact that the majority of the Kurds were Sunni as well, and they were oppressed by the Shiites in Iraq.

After World War II, they were divided and had been ruled by Turkey, Iraq, and Iran without their own nation. Twenty million people which were 55 percent of the ethnic group and the majority of their original territory belonged to Turkey and had been fighting for independence.

Kurds living in Iraq were vying with Iraq to make the region of Erbil an independent state. Even though the Kurds were the people who drove IS out of Iraq to Syria but they were not being appreciated by the nation at all.

The 3.5 million Kurds living in the mountains of northern Iraq were demanding an independent state, but the Iraq government wanted to keep it in the form of a coalition government.

In the past, South Korea’s Zaytun unit was stationed in Erbil, where there was Kurdistan Regional Area, so Kurdish people were quite friendly to South Korea. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Zaytun unit members, Korea was regarded as a grateful country for its help in the postwar restoration.

In that place, Youngho and Jong-il had shown up.

It was to survey the market since the railroad that connected Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran-the gulf was passing through Iraq’s Kurdish state.

Before coming here, Youngho had to make an excuse to Michael, that he had to travel here to survey the local area since Michael was not fond of Russia’s southward policy.

Youngho personally liked Russia’s land transport and distribution business, but the U.S. was uncomfortable with the fact that Russia was moving through the Gulf to the Indian Ocean.

The Kurds here and Azerbaijanis in northern Iran maintained a friendly relationship despite the religious differences. Although it was near the border, the two countries did not really pay attention to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in Erbil.

The majority of Azerbaijani people in the region of northern Iran were Shiite but they were not sensitive toward religious differences since a secular view of religion and politics was universal.

Especially because the Kurds fought against the IS, the image of the Kurds was good in Azerbaijani people’s view. If they did not protect the nation, the IS would soon take over the regions of Iraq and Iran, and there would be terrible ethnic and religious conflicts.

Youngho saw female guerrillas who were passing by Youngho’s Hummer.

“Man. They’re about Zeynep’s age and they’re carrying guns. How can they carry heavy weapons? It’s hard to watch.”

Jong-il was sorry to see the young female guerrillas who had to fight at such young ages but despite Jong-il’s sigh, a female guerrilla who looked about twenty was smiling.

Youngho wanted to pay deep respect to them since they had chosen to pick up guns to protect their people and fight for their nation’s independence.

It was quite impressive to see how they could still smile in a situation where they were not sure when they were going to lose their lives.

Those women were young combat personnel of the PKK women’s army, a Kurdish armed independence fighting group. They were called Kurdish women warriors.

***

“Youngho, I told you why I got into MMA after graduating from high school, right?”

Youngho faintly remembered that Jong-il liked it because there were no strict rules.

“You said you liked fighting with people.”

“Well, that’s an interesting way to say it. I liked the fact that it didn’t have rules. Mixing boxing and wrestling and taking out useless rules. Man, it’s just wild.”

“Was it because you wanted to hug men since you couldn’t hug girls?”

“Dude, please.”

“Why are you talking about MMA suddenly?”

“Just look at those female guerrillas. I guess people here like to fight aggressively without rules too. I wonder who’d be willing to fight with those guerrillas. I’d like to see their faces. That’s just sick.”

“You want to do something about it?”

“I can’t be that nosy like you. Don’t worry but if I find one, I’ll do anything to stop him.”

Just like Jong-il, Youngho also felt sorry to see the women warriors.

As if God had known their hearts, a bus that had a touching phrase on it just passed by the two. On the side of the bus, there was a poster that had a Korean flag and Kurdish flag on it with a phrase, ‘We are Your Friend.’ Through the word of ‘friend’ Youngho could feel their desperation. It was an appreciation for Korea’s Zaytun unit but it was also a cry for help.

Because there had been Iraq’s political movement to get rid of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. So the Kurdish armed independence group was in the situation to fight against both Iraq and IS. That must be why the women had to pick up arms as well.

“Man instead of doing a survey of the market, we’d be giving away all of our money here.”

Jong-il murmured to himself.

It was because there were so many Syrian refugees who were forced to leave their country because of IS. They had taken up the outskirt of the city.

The refugee camp was not in a bad shape. Since there had been many supports from various international organizations, the faces of kids were still bright.

However, one scene attracted Youngho’s eyes.

He saw kids gathered up in a huge tent. After getting permission from a relief organization looking out for the section of the camp, he approached near the tent.

The kids were bickering at each other. Not being able to withhold his curiosity, Youngho directly went inside.

The kids turned their eyes toward him in unison. They obviously looked like war orphans.

Their eyes were lifeless and focus-less.

‘What on earth had they witnessed with their eyes, that their eyes had turned dark?’ Youngho wondered.

Their bottomless eyes were calm and ignorant.

Youngho could not help but cry.

***

“Man! Why are you making a fuss? I’m the one who cried.”

Although Youngho was the one who cried, Jong-il was the one who was outrageous for the orphans.

“Don’t hold me back. Those rotten b*st*rds. I’ll only be able to sleep tonight after avenging them.”

“You lunatic! It’s not going to resolve anything even if we fight for them. This has been going around for hundreds of years and this is not the only place that has problems. If you get upset with everything, you’ll die early.”

Youngho did not understand why people killed each other to take over such small land. It would be great if they could stop fighting and move to somewhere like Kazakhstan since it was the place where 120 ethnicities lived together in peace.

“You’re being emotional these days. Is it because you’ve been playing the Middle Ages lately?”

“Jong-il. We should help out some of the kids here. It’d be hard to survive without parents. I can’t eat food thinking about them.”

“Man, you’re nosiness is getting worse. Okay. Let’s try for once. We’ll at least save some kids.”

The two discussed what they could do to help the orphans.

Youngho was not a philanthropist but he just could not turn his back after seeing the kids’ lost eyes. He already had a foundation to help out people in need. There was no rule that he should only help people in Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan. The people who need his help the most were right before his eyes.

As Jong-il said, they came to survey the market to make money but the two were rather giving away what they had. However, he did not feel bad.

Youngho tried talking with each kid one by one but many did not even try to converse with him. Some might have lost words because of traumas.

Little children were already taken care of by other refugee adults and what was left were twenty-four children from age seven to eleven.

Wondering why there were no older kids, Youngho asked one of the camp staffs and the answer was suffocating.

“Kids who are old enough to carry guns were all dragged by IS. Those kids were only here because the adult refugees were merciful enough to take care of them along the way. How could they take care of themselves?”

Youngho had guessed it already but as he listened to the different stories about the refugees from the camp staff, he was lost for words. What IS was doing was unspeakable. It had taken kids to train them and use them as cannon fodder in battles.

The place called Southern Azerbaijan was actually Iran’s northern region. It was named that way since it was occupied mostly by Azerbaijanis.

Because of the Azerbaijani population there, the Iranian government did not bother them if it was unnecessary. Since the Azerbaijani people might request to be independent if they did not like the government’s policy and treatment, the government was using appeasement policy.

Youngho’s group was passing the region now and was about to reach the Azerbaijani border inspection point.

One might think that it would be a long trip from Erbil in northern Iraq to pass through northern Iran and to reach the border of Azerbaijan but the territories were not too big that it only took about six hours.

Behind the Hummer vehicle that Youngho was driving, a mini-bus was following it.

Youngho had finally brought twenty-four war orphans.

He had to go through the trouble to bring the kids but because he was able to get help from a CIA agent in Erbil, so he managed to get permission to take the orphans. Passing the Azerbaijani border was also easy because of Youngho’s influence in the nation.

Before leaving the refugee camp, Youngho had explained to the kids that they were going to a great place. However, they did not seem to be moved by the fact.

They did not show any emotion on their face but went inside the bus and leaned their heads against windows. Feeling sorry for their life-less behaviors, the staffs of the refugee camp, who had been taking care of them, sent them with tears.

Youngho worried about how to take care of the traumatized kids from war who had lost their families. It was unclear if they would be able to laugh again but he was hopeful since kids usually were fast to adapt to new environments. His heart was less-burdened to think that he managed to save at least some kids with his own hands.