MOORHEAD — In a show of cooperation spanning more than 6,000 miles, the city of Moorhead has joined with Zakho, Kurdistan, pledging commitments to cultural exchange, educational opportunities and economic development.
Moorhead Mayor Shelly Carlson and Guhdar Sheekhoo, head of the Zakho Independent Administration, signed a friendship proclamation at Minnesota State University Moorhead’s Christianson Alumni Center on Wednesday, July 2.
The partnership also includes a new student and faculty exchange between MSUM and the University of Zakho.
A musician played the saz, a traditional Kurdish instrument, and Kurdish sweets were served to kick off the event attended by dozens from Moorhead’s Kurdish community, estimated to number about 3,500.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
“Today, more than 8% of our population is Kurdish, and it’s a number that continues to grow and strengthen our community. You’re our neighbors, our colleagues, our business owners,” Carlson said to the crowd.
Her counterpart from Zakho, with more than 25 years of public service to his city, also praised the partnership.
“This agreement shows the strong friendship between the Kurds and the American people as they share the same value and have worked together in culture, business and politics,” Sheekhoo said.
The two communities have their differences, with Zakho’s landscape being a mix of mountains, plains and rivers, and its population, at 360,000 plus, larger than Moorhead, home to 45,000 residents.
But a video played early in the presentation highlighted what can be seen as similarities between the two.
Like Moorhead, Zakho is an academic hub, fostering research and providing training in information technology, agriculture, business and health services.
MSUM President Tim Downs said there’s a lot of alignment in what each university is doing individually, but now they’ll work collectively.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
“As two universities and two regions in two different countries, we can move a lot of agendas forward. We can learn from each other, and we can lift each other up and have lots of cultural and global exchanges,” Downs said.
One example he used is the University of Zakho’s intention of improving its accreditation standards, a subject on which MSUM can provide guidance. He specifically referenced Ok-Hee Lee, interim provost at MSUM, as being a key player in that regard.
“We can show them what we do (and) it doesn’t mean it immediately 100% transforms to their institution. But they can use the parts that work best for them,” Downs said.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
The proclamation also listed possibilities for joint research projects and learning opportunities between the two universities.
From an economic development standpoint, the two cities hope to establish business partnerships and trade opportunities.
Zakho is located near the borders of Turkey and Syria and close to the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing, a critical hub for trade.
Sen. Rob Kupec, a DFLer who represents most of Becker and Clay counties, including Moorhead, sees the new partnership as a good economic opportunity for the city and state.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
“We’ve done a lot of really innovative things in agriculture, and I think they’re a potential export market for us and … there are things we could bring to them to help their agriculture industry,” Kupec said following the presentation.
Carlson thanked many people for helping to develop the partnership, including city and MSUM employees, and singled out Jihan Brifki, a Moorhead businesswoman and Kurdistani Diaspora Confederation Bureau Advisor, whom she described as “a tenacious woman.”
“She started talking to me about this about a year and a half ago, and she did not stop,” Carlson said, adding that the partnership was developed over numerous Zoom meetings between the two city offices, thousands of miles apart.
