KT News and Comment: At least 35 people were killed and up to 200 injured in Tuz Khurmatu, Iraq, yesterday when a car driven by a suicide bomber exploded in the vicinity of a Shia Turkmen funeral. Tuz Khurmatu, 56 miles south of the city of Kirkuk, is mainly populated by Kurds and Turkmen. Local…
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Category Archives: Iraq
Support Rzhwan Amin, detained Iraqi journalist
By NUJ (Manchester & Salford Branch): The UK National Union of Journalists’ Manchester and Salford branch has launched a campaign in support of a political journalist who fled Iraq in 2010 after being threatened as a result of newspaper articles he wrote at the time of the elections. Rzhwan Amin (Jaf), who has been living…
Sunni Iraq engulfed in protests against Maliki
KT News: Mass protests against the Iraq government are continuing across the country, including in Mosul, Anbar and Ramadi. Ayad Allawi, leader of the Sunni opposition Iraqiya list, has called on the Iraqi parliament to dismiss the Shia-dominated government and set up a provisional government which would hold early elections. Ibrahim Jaafary, leader of the National…
What we might wish for on the eve of 2013
By Mufid Abdulla: For some people on the outside it might have looked like an easy time but, for ordinary Kurds in the south of Kurdistan, 2012 was a challenging year. Nonetheless (and despite the problems we have sometimes had in getting at the real truth), we can still see that our people are ‘up…
US Ambassador cautions Barzani
KT News and Comment: The US Ambassador to Iraq has warned Kurdistan Regional President Masud Barzani to tone down his campaign over the Kurdish areas that are not controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). In a meeting yesterday at President Barzani’s Salahaddin headquarters, US Ambassador Robert Beecroft told Barzani that the dispute over the…
Post Talabani
By Kamal Chomani: President Jalal Talabani’s uncertain health is suggestive of some crucial changes ahead in the political landscape of both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. ‘Post Talabani’ is a very sensitive issue within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). It affects the PUK’s policies and its relations towards other Kurdish political forces – in particular,…
Maliki moves against another Sunni minister
KT News and Comment: On Wednesday Iraqi federal government forces arrested ten of finance minister Rafei al-Essawi’s bodyguards on the pretext of their alleged involvement in terrorism and other illegal activities. According to Alsumaria News this action against a leading Sunni politician has exacerbated Iraq’s sharp internal discord. There have been demonstrations across southern Iraq…
KRG halts oil exports
KT News: The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has once again halted the export of oil through the pipelines to Turkey. This is due to the ongoing dispute between Baghdad and Erbil. Baghdad was supposed to make a second round of payments of liabilities to foreign oil companies by the middle of this month. However, it…
Open Letter to the UN Secretary General on the Iraqi Prime Minister’s discourse of ethnic discord
By Dr.Amir Sharifi: Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary-General 760 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017 Dear Secretary-General As you are aware there is worrisome and alarming news of looming ethnic strife between Arabs and Kurds in Iraq. Troublingly it is Nur al din al Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister who in his statements…
Jalal Talabani in a coma
KT News and Comment: Jalal Talabani, the Iraq president and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), is seriously ill in a Baghdad hospital. It is reported that he had a stroke at around 3am local time and is now in a coma. Talabani, 79, has suffered from major health problems in recent years…
Anger at Barzani’s ‘$900K land gift to Maliki’
KT News and Comment: According to Hawlati newspaper, in 2005 Kurdistan Regional president Masud Barzani and his party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, handed the incoming Iraqi prime minister Nuri al Maliki a gift of 600 square metres of Erbil land. A few days later Maliki sold this piece of land for $900,000. Bookmark on Delicious Recommend…
Kurdish areas not controlled by the KRG – no disputing
KT News and Comment: The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has agreed to describe the areas formerly known as ‘disputed territories’ as ‘Kurdish areas not controlled by the KRG’. The idea was first suggested by Arif Qurbani, editor-in-chief of Xandan website. In response, Kurdistan Regional president Masud Barazani phoned him to accept his proposal. Bookmark on…
Maliki and Barzani halt war of words
KT News: Iraq prime minister Nuri al Maliki and Kurdistan Regional president Masud Barzani have agreed to stop their media campaigns against each other. This follows efforts by Iraq president Jalal Talabani to persuade the Maliki government to stop stirring the cauldron of conflict. Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Tweet about…
Jordanian business delegation visits Kurdistan Region and Iraq
Press release by ‘Activate Iraq’: Chairman of Kurdistan’s Investment Board Expresses Willingness to Establish an Industrial Zone in Erbil for Jordanian Factories Erbil, December 11th, 2012 – A high level business delegation of 42 Jordanian business leaders met in Irbil earlier this week with their Iraqi counterparts in an effort to promote trade and boost Jordanian…
Talabani lambasts Maliki
KT News: President of Iraq Jalal Talabani was sharply critical of Iraq prime minister Nuri Al-Maliki today. Talabani told Al-Arabiya TV that: “Nuri Maliki either has to change himself or else his list has to change him”. Referring to the stand-off in the disputed territories between Kurdish peshmerga and Iraqi troops, Talabani said that he…
