“The diversity here makes the university a fertile environment for the cultivation of peaceful coexistence,” Mahmoud Azzo, a professor of political science at the University of Mosul, told NIQASH. “Universities should never reflect one specific social identity or political ideology. It makes me very happy when I see representatives of the minorities of Ninawa – such as the Yazidis or the Christians – returning to the university. It even seems as though there are more of them now than before.”
Azzo has been putting his philosophy into action. He was one of the university lecturers who took part in a convoy of Mosul men who travelled to Baghdad and Najaf after the IS group was pushed out of his city. The convoy was meant to acknowledge the sacrifices of those who had fought the IS group and to show that not all of the people who lived in the IS-held city were supporters of the extremists.
Azzo has also written a series of articles and given lectures on how to encourage peaceful coexistence in Mosul. There is an increasing amount of these kinds of activities, Azzo adds. “It’s the natural consequence of a post-war period.”
There have been a number of other events, that have included conferences, art exhibitions and seminars and almost all of them have been held in, or on, ruins. While this reporter was visiting the university, another convoy of Mosul locals arrived in the city of Samarra in southern Iraq where the members of the convoy – around 50 students and professors – will take part in celebrations of the victory of the Iraqi army over the IS group and the liberation of Mosul.
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