Category Archives: KDP

Family Demand News On Photographer Karman Shukri, Detained By KDP

KT News: The professional photographer Karman Shukri from the city of Duhok has been arrested since 27th January 2021 by KDP security services. His family have had no news about him. His brother Zeravan Shukri has asked human rights lawyers to pressurise the authorities in Duhok for information about where Karman is being held. Bookmark…

Congress of Opposition Voices in the South of Kurdistan Issues New Statement

KT News: The Congress of Opposition Voices movement in the South of Kurdistan has issued a statement addressed to the President of Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Parliament and the Iraqi Parliament and to all foreign embassies in Erbil, calling on them to intervene to stop the brutal repression by KDP and PUK forces of peaceful demonstrations…

Attempt to Murder Kurdish Activist in Erbil Has Failed

KT News: Kurdish activist Hawre Kurdi was brutally attacked on the night of 19th January by unknown assailants and is in hospital in a serious condition. During a press conference with local reporters his lawyer, Harem Rafat, confirmed that the aim of the attack was to kill Hawre Kurdi, and it had been well prepared…

KRG: Release the unlawfully detained journalists and human rights activists immediately

  The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) recent violations of fundamental human rights and freedom of expression is of grave concern to us, human rights defenders and activists. The KRG’s blatant disregards for the rule of law and violations of international treaties under PM Masrour Barzani leadership have reached a new level following the kidnapping of…

Unity Talks Among Syrian Kurds; A Way Forward

By Junaid Jamali: Over the course of the nine-year Syrian civil war, the Kurds in Syria have paid exorbitant prices in military and social terms. In 2018 and 2019, they lost the regions of Afrin, Ras al-Ain/Sari Kani and Gire Spi/Tell Abyad to Turkey and Turkish-backed militias, resulting in the displacement of most Kurdish residents…

KRG’s Failure to Form Government as the Two Parties Fight for Posts

  By Ismael Aziz: A couple of years ago Kurdish politics in the south of Kurdistan was awash with nice predictions. However, since then, with an end to the terrorist attacks of ISIS, but also the referendum disaster, political shocks and economic crisis and uncertainty, Kurdish politics today is at its lowest ebb among the…

Kurdistan Became a Paradise – for the KDP and PUK

By Ismael Aziz: After ISIS attacked the south of Kurdistan in August 2014, 1,700 Peshmergas were killed and 12,000 injured in the ensuing conflict. While the leaders of the two dominant Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) parties, the KDP and PUK, made visits to the battlefields to take selfies and show their presence for the sake…

As The New Year Opens, Politics is Dying: KRG Politicians Must Go

By Arian Mufid: A year ago Kurdish politics in the south of Kurdistan was awash with nice predictions. It is safe to say that 2017 — which brought the terrorist attacks of ISIS to an end, but also the referendum disaster, political shocks and economic uncertainty, the death of Nawshirwan Mustafa the leader of Goran,…

Barzani vs. PKK: Recipe for Kurdistan’s Second Civil War?

By Diliman Abdulkader: The first modern Kurdish civil war took place in southern Kurdistan, in what is now the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) territory, between Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Masoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The conflict took the lives of nearly 5,000 Kurdish fighters and civilians, dividing the autonomous region between…

Dear President Barzani – When Will Be the Date Of Our Independence Referendum?

By Arian Mufid: When President Barzani recently told a UK newspaper that there was going to be a referendum on the independence of Kurdistan, it left me wondering how he had calculated his proposal. For the last four years he has been telling his own people that the day of the declaration of independence is…

How The Gorran Movement Fell Out Of Love With Change

By Arian Mufid: In 2009 when the Gorran movement gained 25 seats, a fresh chapter in Kurdish politics began with the promise of an era driven by the aspirations of young people seeking to build a new type of party unprecedented in the south of Kurdistan. The man behind this movement was Nawshirwan Mustafa, the…

Do We Need Laws and Lawyers in Kurdistan?

By Jegr Nathim: “Congratulations on an outstanding result”, said the gracious lady from the assessment and awards unit at the University of South Wales in the UK. “You will be awarded the Clark’s legal prize for the best performing LLM student!” she continued as she handed me out my Masters in Law certificate. But contrary…

Barzani’s Controversial Position

Issa Chomani

By Issa Chomani: The Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP], led by Massoud Barzani has reached the realisation that, they alone are not the decision makers unilaterally, on crucial matters concerning the political system, economy, oil and gas files, constitution amendments, foreign affairs, etc.  Just a few days are now left until the end of Barzani’s presidency…

Physical Assault in Kurdistan Parliament over Barzani’s Term Extension

By Sabir Hasan: Wednesday, 25 March 2015, we were all shocked as two MPs from Barzani’s KDP party physically assaulted MP Ali Hamasaleh from the Gorran Movement. As MP witnesses have described the assault it seems to have been well planned. The assaults happened soon after the two KDP MPs threatened Mr Hamasaleh that discussion about Barzani’s term…

The Crisis of Leadership: Qubad Talabani as an Example

By Kamal Chomani: In a recent interview televised by NRT, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani listed four items as main issues facing his government: Being at war with Daesh (IS), Financial Crisis, Internally Displaced People (IDP), and disunity among political parties. What he failed to acknowledge is, of course, the…