Category Archives: Barzani

Barzani calls for international aid

By Freeyad Ibrahim: President Barzani calls on the international community to help the Syrian Kurdish refugees. Finally, and under the internal and external pressure, Barzani has opened the border between the Kurdish region and the west Syrian Kurd region. The refugees who are in very bad conditions are non-stop storming into Kurdistan. They lack everything…

Kurds must focus on Kurdistan, not Egypt!

Osamah Golpy

By Osamah Golpy: It has been quite a long time since the unrest began in Egypt and, ever since, politicians, TV channels and Facebook users – whoever has ears to hear, eyes to see and mouths to speak – has got involved in Egyptian politics. Every single move has had a rainbow of analysis; thanks…

Opponent of Barzani assaulted by KDP security forces in Erbil

KT News and Comment: Independent presidential candidate Kamal Said Kadir was assaulted in Erbil yesterday by security forces attached to the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). This happened when he tried to hold a public rally in protest against the two-year extension to Masud Barzani’s presidential term. Kamal, who went to hospital following the attack,…

Masoud Barzani remains as President, no matter how

Osamah Golpy

By Osamah Golpy: Masoud Barzani, the current president of Kurdistan, whose second term should expire by August, 2013, has accepted a law that gives him the “right” to remain in power for more two years without election. The law was passed by the parliament on June 30th, 2013, although it does not have the right…

Barzani clings on to power

Masud Barzani

KT News and Comment: President Barzani currently looks set to stay in power for at least another two years, despite his previous promise that there would be presidential elections this year. For what seems like tactical reasons he did not formally accept the two-year extension which MPs from the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and…

Barzani ‘didn’t know’ about presidential extension, claims KDP leader

Masud Barzani

KT News and Comment: Peshtwan Sadeq, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) politburo, has told the pro-KDP Rudaw news agency that Masud Barzani did not know in advance about the proposal to extend his presidency. Last month MPs from the ruling KDP and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) voted to extend his term…

Barzani: Kurdistan’s George Washington or common despot?

By Dr. M. Koohzad: I am following the fist fights and political bickering in the Kurdish Parliament. I hope that President Barzani will step aside peacefully-honorably by the end of his second term. I hope he understands every word in his written contract – that he has been democratically elected for a well-defined period of…

Barzani, the unlawful president, cannot fulfill our hopes for a nation state

By Mufid Abdulla: The unlawful Kurdish president came back to Erbil and straightaway yesterday had a meeting with the leadership of the two ruling parties. Beforehand, various KDP figures anonymously told the media that Barzani was not involved in Sunday’s irregular decision by KDP and PUK MPs in parliament to extend his expired presidency by…

Gorran looking like the winner in presidential-term extension crisis

By Harem Karem: KT Exclusive Ever since the announcement of election dates in the Kurdistan Region several months ago, politicians have been kept on their toes, ready to anticipate any abrupt eventualities that might arise. Indeed an atmosphere of political crisis currently prevails: The coalition government is in tatters; the president has completed his eight…

Barzani back to the KRG

KT News and Comment: Masud Barzani today returned to Erbil from his international travels to face fall-out from Sunday’s decision by the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) MPs to extend his presidency by two years. A leading KDP member (who insisted on anonymity) told Awene that Barzani was not involved in…

KDP’s cheap politics will not prevail

By Mufid Abdulla: For those who prefer a new, cheap-speaking brand of leader who promises something and does the opposite, look no further than Masud Barzani, the illegal president of Kurdistan who promised major reforms when he returned from Italy in 2011 and, just a few weeks ago, clearly indicated that he wanted a presidential…

Barzani’s latest move to dictatorship

By Mufid Abdulla: For the last few months the dispute over the expiration of Masud Barzani’s presidential term has put the Kurdistan region though a major political crisis with much wrestling between the three main parties: between the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Gorran on one side, and the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party…

PUK leaders back opposition on ‘no third term for Barzani’

KT News and Comment: A meeting of the PUK’s (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) Central Council in Erbil today potentially put it on a collision course with the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) and President Barzani – in the run up to presidential and parliamentary elections – and aligned the party closer to the opposition. In a…

Ocalan v. Barzani: Two contradictory worlds

Kamal Chomani

By Kamal Chomani: The Changes in the PKK’s Policies towards the KRG The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its legendary leader, Abdulla Ocalan, pose a strong challenge to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and its leader, Masoud Barzani. The PKK is no longer a party just for northern Kurdistan: Today it also impacts significantly on…

Death of President’s sister fuels Barzani family feud

KT News and Comment: Masud Barzani’s older sister Jahida has passed away in a Tehran hospital and her husband, Ayoub Barzani, has been barred from her funeral because of his political differences with the president. Jahida’s remains have been brought back to Kurdistan and she is being buried in the town of Barzan. Ayoub Barzani…