KT News: UNICEF will work with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to carry out a mass vaccination campaign to prevent the spread of polio and other diseases among children displaced to Kurdistan by the Iraq conflict. About 300,000 refugees crossed into south Kurdistan territories last week to escape the fighting around Mosul after ISIS jihadists…
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Category Archives: Iraq
US tells Nuri Maliki, ‘You’re on your own’
By Mufid Abdulla: Since the 6th June when ISIS stormed Mosul, and then captured Tekrit, the whole world has been shaken by their ferocity and capability in seizing ground so quickly. The political and military power of Nuri Maliki has collapsed before the eyes of all the Iraqi people, who are left wondering how it…
Nechirvan Barzani backs Sunni autonomy
KT News: Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) prime minister Nechirvan Barzani told the BBC today that it will be difficult to resolve the Iraq conflict while Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is in power. He also expressed support for an autonomous region for Sunnis but said he thinks Iraq can avoid falling apart. “Now we have to…
The advancing storm and Kurdish opportunities
By Rauf Naqishbendi: Iraq is in the news headlines; a fool’s surprise, for it was expected. This writer has cautioned in dozens of articles and foretold today’s event for many years. (Please read the book of my collected articles). Now, this banana republic is spiraling to ruin and bringing ominous desolation to its people, neighbors,…
Game or golden opportunity?
By Evin Cheikosman: As I write this article, the citizens of Iraq are going through the worst build-up of an ethno-sectarian war since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Right now Iraq’s citizens are witnesses to looting, bombing, fighting, killing, they are witness to new faces, languages, laws, and rules. As of today, Iraq will never be the…
At last, Iraq falls apart
By Mufid Abdulla: With the unfolding tragedy of Syria and the undermining of the opposition to the Assad regime by Islamist groups, it became plain that it was wishful thinking to think that ISIS, the strongest of the Islamist groups, would just fade away. In the past few days ISIS has made extraordinary advances within…
No matter how hard the wind howls at the mountain, the mountain never bows
By Evin Cheikosman: As per my previous blog post, If you control the oil, you control the country, South Kurdistan has decided to push forward with independent petrol exports to the international community through Turkey’s port, Ceyhan. This decision hit a nerve for the Baghdadi government which has threatened to take legal action against Turkey…
Is South Kurdistan ready for Independence? Global debate, 22nd June
By Karam Kurda & Hawzheen Babataher: We invite you to a forum, open to all the Kurdish community, asking the question, ‘Is South Kurdistan ready for independence?’ The export of Kurdish oil is the most recent act of defiance by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), largely applauded by the Kurdish people, in reaction to the…
In-State Conflicts Threaten Iraq’s Existence
By Mohammed Hussein: The Iraqi political situation is a proper case to show the challenges and problems of post-colonial states; problems that have not let these states create normal citizenship, strong economies and real sovereignty. Consequently, many of these states have faced civil wars, economic collapse and strong deadlock that have stopped their development and…
If you control the oil, you control the country
By Evin Cheikosman: If you control the oil, you control the country. This is Iraq’s motto and rightly so. It has the fourth largest reserves on the planet with some 143.1 billion barrels, and sales account for ninety-five percent of the national budget. Therefore after the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) made the decision on Thursday…
Iraq ‘to sue’ KRG and Turkey over Kurd oil sales
KT News: The Iraq central government has announced plans to take legal action against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Turkish government over yesterday’s shipment of Kurd oil from the Turkish port of Ceyhan. In a statement today, Iraq’s oil ministry accused the KRG of “illegally” exporting the crude oil. Iraq oil ministry spokesman…
The curse of Iraqism and the Iraqi Airways
By Yasin Aziz: We Kurds from South Kurdistan who live abroad have often dreamed of a direct flight to the Kurdistan Region. I was going back to Slemani in April and discovered that the newly-established Iraqi Airways was going straight from Gatwick, England to Slemani. I felt this was a unique occasion, as it was…
Bloodshed again in Irbil: ‘Blood is Blood’!
By Momen Zellmi: Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 30th April 2014. The elections were to decide the 328 members of the Council of Representatives, who will in turn elect the Iraqi President and Prime Minister. Meanwhile in the Kurdistan Region, there were also Provincial elections to elect the 90 provincial members from Irbil, Sulaimaniyah…
Race to the Finish
By Evin Cheikosman: Iraqi Kurdish politics have pretty much taken over Kurdish political news these past few weeks. Given so, it is critical to actually understand and be familiar with the goals of Iraqi Kurdish political parties and why there exists the friction between them. I mean, is it not a given that Kurds have…
Will the people vote for another Dictator or their first Savior? Will the winner take it all?
By Evin Cheikosman: General elections in Iraq start on April 30th, the first since the United States withdrew their troops from Iraq in 2011. A positive step but one that is crowded by the insecurities and doubts of civilians, the sectarian conflict raging throughout the country, and the debilitating state of the economy. According to sources,…
