Coffin Taxi

"I am hoping to have a role in presenting the struggle of Kurdish people through writing books."
Abdulamer Waly wearing a traditional Kurdish outfit. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
Abdulamer Waly wearing a traditional Kurdish outfit. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Coffin Taxi is a book written and published in 2019 by Abdulameer Waly, a Kirkuk Kurdish-American born in the Daquq district of Kirkuk province who now lives in the state of Nebraska in the United States. 

The title of Waly's book will likely resonate with older Iraqis who lived through the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. 

Throughout that decade, people would see a 'coffin taxi' almost daily, if not on their street, then on the street of a nearby neighborhood. Iraqi soldiers killed on the front line of the Iran-Iraq were put in a coffin covered with an Iraqi flag and sent back home on top of a taxi, hence the term 'coffin taxi'.

"My book Coffin Taxi is an educational story to explain to the American youth the ceremony of receiving and burying a deceased member of the community according to the traditions of the Kirkuk countryside in modern Iraq," Waly told Kurdistan 24. 

"The catastrophic Iraq-Iran War lasted for eight years and claimed countless lives from both sides," he said. "Through this book, I wanted to tell these dramatic stories of my nation to my fellow Americans." 

"The scene of dead soldiers in coffins covered by Iraqi flag was common at the time."

The cover of the book 'Coffin Taxi' by Abdulameer Waly. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
The cover of the book 'Coffin Taxi' by Abdulameer Waly. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

In another section of his book, Waly also writes about the systematic Arabization of Kirkuk province perpetrated by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's tyrannical Ba'ath regime. 

"Coffin Taxi also highlights another process that was taking place at the same time," he said. "The Iraqi government was systematically Arabizing Kirkuk province." 

"The ultimate goal of this process was to make the Arabs the majority in Kirkuk by deporting Kurds from the province and settling Arabs in their place." 

Waly's book is about the experiences of Sameer, a young Kurdish boy from Kirkuk province who finds himself in the middle of war and Arabization and lives in constant fear of being deported from the land of his ancestors. 

Sameer was also not allowed to be with the girl of his dreams because Kurds were not allowed to marry Arab girls in those days. He feels that he is a stranger in his own country and looks for a new homeland where he can freely be himself. 

Sameer also witnesses the pains and tragedies of the Kurdish nation including the Arabization of the Kirkuk Province, the chemical attack on Halabja, and the Anfal Campaign that killed 182,000 Kurds.

"The Ba'ath regime was systematically turning a free Kurdish nation into a dependent submissive nation that should always serve the Ba'ath regime's ambitions," Waly said. 

Abdulameer Waly in the United States. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
Abdulameer Waly in the United States. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

Waly has also written two novels in French called 'Colonization, Identity and Ambition in Two Novels' about the French colonization of Africa. 

"The reason I wrote these two novels is because the case of the occupied nations during the colonization era is very similar to the Kurdish case," he said. 

Waly said that living and assimilating into the United States was not easy for him. 

"Moving to the US and getting used to the system and the culture is not an easy process for a Kurdish family," Waly said. "It needs some time to get used to it."

Waly had a difficult time socializing and making new friends in the US. He was always looking forward to when he was able to visit Kurdistan and meet his family and friends there. 

"Making friends in the US is not easy as it is in Kurdistan because work and family responsibilities take most of people's time, and there is not much time left for socializing," Waly said. "Although traveling back to Kurdistan and Kirkuk from the US takes some time and needs advanced planning and preparations, we were still able to visit Kurdistan three times since 2008, to return to the land where we were born." 

"My wife and I want our three children to meet our family and be aware of our Kurdish culture and traditions," he added. "Personally, I miss friends and relatives and the taste and the smell of traditional Kurdish food cooked during weddings and other occasions." 

Waly intends to write more books about Kurds and Kirkuk. 

"I am planning to write more books, focusing on the time of war, things I had witnessed as a local translator working for the US Army in Kirkuk, as well as the events that took place in Kirkuk in October 2017," Waly said. 

"I am hoping to have a role in presenting the struggle of Kurdish people through writing books."

Waly intends to work in politics eventually. 

"It will be a great opportunity in the future to work for a research center or US foreign diplomacy focusing on Middle Eastern affairs," he said. 

Waly was born in Daquq District, Kirkuk Province in 1978. He completed his elementary school, middle school, and high school education in Daquq and went on to get a bachelor's degree in French Literature at the Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. In 2003 he started working for the US Army in Iraq as a local translator. 

After emigrating to the United States in November 2008 with his wife and daughter, he completed his MA in French Literature at the University of Nebraska in 2016. 

Waly lives in Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska, and currently works for Nebraska Interpretation Service as an Arabic, Kurdish and French Interpreter. 

Abdulameer Waly at his graduation ceremony in Nebraska University in 2016. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
Abdulameer Waly at his graduation ceremony in Nebraska University in 2016. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)