Amude, Syria // At seven every morning, a cheerful voice crackles over the airwaves of northern Syria. As people stumble out of bed, or rub the sleep from their eyes on their way to work, they tune in as Avin Shekhmous launches into her two-hour programme about health issues.
The content of the show ranges from dispelling urban myths to providing more serious medical advice, a valuable service in a country where the war has put an acute strain on health care.
At 9am, the 28-year-old Ms Shekhmous bids her listeners good bye, takes off her headphones and steps out of the studio into the office space of Arta FM – the only independent radio station in the Kurdish-dominated north of the country.
“I like working in the media, and I want to change the mentality of the people here,” she says before settling down to prepare for her next show.
After four years of civil war, news in Syria is dominated by the fighting. Broadcasting has not remained immune, as the various factions try to control the flow of information.
Arta has bucked this trend since it went on air two years ago in the town of Amude located on the border with Turkey. The station strives to remain impartial, and focuses its reporting not on the war, but on the everyday lives of people living in Rojava, as the autonomous region in northern Syria is known.
“We want to enable people to hear about other issues than war, violence and guns. So that they learn about tolerance, and respect and acceptance of others,” says Siruan Hadsch Hossein, Arta’s founder.
Mr Hossein’s family left Syria for Germany in 1990 when he was 13. He became a radio journalist after graduating from university, and spent time in the Middle East teaching media training courses. When the civil war in his native Syria broke out, he saw a gap in the market and an opportunity to make a difference.
Funded by the US government-backed organisation Creative, the station has grown rapidly. It now employs 75 people spread over five offices, all located in the autonomous region. Its broadcasts cover topics ranging from the dire state of Rojava’s roads to the education system, where Kurdish is being introduced for the first time by the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD).
To emphasise its non-partisan approach and to reflect the ethnic diversity of northern Syria, it transmits in Kurdish, Arabic, Aramaic and Armenian.
Syria’s religious and ethnic pluralism has come under threat from ISIL and other extremist groups. This diversity was skilfully manipulated by the Assad regime to create divisions within society and so prevent effective opposition to its rule.
The consequences of this divide and conquer approach linger on, and Arta is working to break these barriers.
“There is still a lot of mistrust between the communities. We are trying to promote unity. From the start, our team consisted of Kurds, Arabs and Christians,” says Mr Hossein.
Arta’s philosophy centres around promoting civil society, which can serve as the basis for a functioning democracy in northern Syria. It also tries to instil hope in a population which has lived through years of war. During this time, many families have lost relatives on the frontlines.
With work scarce, and basic services like electricity intermittent, many residents of Rojava have joined the millions of Syrians who have fled the country in the hope of a better life in Europe.
Arta is trying to convince people to stay, and to work towards a better future in Syria. Mr Hossein, who came to Germany as an asylum-seeker, says that the expectations of refugees are vastly inflated. Integration is far more complicated than anticipated, the job market hard to enter, and those who make the dangerous journey to Europe end up with a lower quality of life than at home, he believes.
“We tell them that it is better to live here with difficulty than to move abroad,” says Mr Hossein.
Immigration is not the only issue on which Arta sets itself apart. Its refusal to act as a government mouthpiece, and its habit of posing tough questions about the moribund infrastructure, struggling health system and a dire economy sometimes puts it on a collision course with the authorities.
The PYD, an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), officially ascribes to a form of grassroots democracy it calls “democratic confederalism”, in which power is devolved to local councils. In practice, decision making is often top down, and an authoritarian style of governance is hard to shake in a country that has been ruled by the autocratic Assad regime for decades.
“Some officials can act very arbitrarily at times,” says Mr Hossein.
Arta’s journalists can struggle to obtain the requisite government permissions, and on a few isolated occasions have been threatened by an irate official.
But while the authorities eye the station warily, they have not shut it down, and Mr Hossein believes that acceptance of Arta’s independent reporting is growing.
The station and the government share some common goals. The PYD is keen to promote gender equality, which has led to thousands of women joining the ranks of the party and its armed wing. Arta is equally serious about improving women’s rights, which is reflected in the high proportion of female employees and its programming.
For all its idealism, the government has yet to deliver on its promises, according to Ms Shekhmous.
“Women now have the same right as men to and pick up a gun and fight. But we still don’t have real equality,” she says.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Company%C2%A0profile
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
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The%20specs
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 275hp at 6,600rpm
Torque: 353Nm from 1,450-4,700rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Top speed: 250kph
Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km
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Price: Dh146,999
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
