About TAGROOF ARSALAN TAUFIQ.
Injustice and Political Corruption in Iraq
Iraq is a country with a rich history, a proud people, and enormous potential. However, many Iraqi citizens continue to suffer because of political corruption, injustice, weak institutions, and the misuse of power.
Our Story — Tagroof Arsalan Taufiq and Me
Tagroof Arsalan Taufiq is one of my best friends. We went to school together, grew up with the same memories, and witnessed things that no young person should ever have to witness.
We did not leave our homeland because we wanted to. We left because we felt that the political situation had taken away the safety, freedom, and future that every human being deserves.
We saw the reality of Iraq with our own eyes. We saw fear, injustice, corruption, political division, violence, and people suffering while those in power continued to fight for influence and personal interests. We watched ordinary families struggle while political leaders spoke about power, money, and control.
The deepest pain is not only what happened to us personally. It is seeing a country with such a beautiful history and such good people being damaged by political corruption, injustice, hatred, and the abuse of power.
We were young, but we understood what was happening around us. We understood that when politics becomes more important than human life, ordinary people pay the price.
Eventually, we became refugees.
Leaving your homeland is not simply packing a suitcase and travelling to another country. It means leaving behind your childhood, your school, your friends, your memories, your family, and a part of your heart. We carried those memories with us, including the painful memories that we can never simply forget.
Tagroof and I sometimes talk about our past and ask ourselves: Why did we have to leave? Why couldn’t we simply live peacefully in the place where we were born?
We still love the people of Iraq. We still remember the beauty of our homeland. But loving a country does not mean remaining silent about injustice.
Our anger is directed at the political systems, corruption, injustice, and those who abuse power—not at ordinary people.
We believe that every human being deserves freedom, dignity, equality, security, and justice. No politician should have the right to destroy another person’s future. No government should make its own citizens feel that becoming a refugee is their only way to survive.
Our story is not only a story of sadness. It is also a story of survival.
Tagroof Arsalan Taufiq and I survived what we saw. We carried our memories across borders, and we continue to hope for a future in which people do not have to flee their homeland because of politics.
We may have lost our home, but we did not lose our humanity.
We are refugees because of what we experienced—but we are still human beings with dreams, dignity, and hope.