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By Michael Rubin: On September 30, 2018, Iraqi Kurds once again went to the polls to choose a regional parliament. Because citizens and officials lodged more than 1,000 complaints with regard to fraud, the Independent High Elections and Referendum Commission took three weeks to certify the results. Neither the results nor their certification surprised observers….
By Gaziza Kadr Darwish: According to the leading Kurdish media outlet Rudaw, regarding the latest women’s issues data in the south of Kurdistan, during the last six months 109 women committed suicide, including 39 who shot or hanged themselves and 62 who set themselves on fire. Hawler city was listed as the main area for…
By Aras Ahmed Mhamad: Voting to elect a new Kurdistan region parliament will begin at 8am on September 30, 2018 and it will end at 6pm the same day. There are 3,085,461 eligible voters in the four cities of Hewlêr (Erbil), Slêmanî, Duhok, and Halabja distributed among 1260 polling stations, according to The Independent…
Kurdistan National Kongress (KNK) Statement: The Kurds in Iraq and Syria have been engaged in an epic battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, an organisation that stands in opposition not only to the Kurds, but also to the region as a whole, in its attempts to create a Salafist system. This…
By Payraw Anwar: Introduction The nuclear deal between Iran and P5+1 (the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — the United states, United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China — plus Germany) and the European Union was signed in the summer of 2015. On 8 May 2018 Donald Trump the president of the United…
By Michael Rubin: BAGHDAD—Political jockeying is well underway in Baghdad, as Iraqi political leaders seek the magic political formula which will enable formation of the Iraqi government. While a Shi’ite will take the premiership, Iraq’s most powerful post, the jockeying is on for other plum positions. Beyond key ministries—Foreign Affairs, Oil, and Defense, for example—two…
By Rauf Naqishbendi: The Kurdish revolution in Iraq commenced in June 1961. Fifty-seven years in the making, it is one of the most protracted revolutions in the history of humankind, with tragic outcomes. This revolution was initially led by the Kurdish Democratic Party under the leadership of Mustafa Barzani. Ironically, Barzani didn’t believe in a…
Statement supported by 200 organisations and individuals: To: Kurdistan Parliament Presidency All parliamentary blocs Head of Council of Ministers All political parties Independent High Electoral and Referendum Commission Consular representatives of all countries in KRG Your Excellencies: it is the duty of all sides we should select a date for the election; please stop this…
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,…
By Stop Organization for Anti-Corruption: More than 2000 people have arrests warrant in the Kurdistan region but none of them have been arrested yet. An official from the Ministry of the Interior reveals that some of these people have immunity, and the addresses of some of them are not known and some other have left Kurdistan….
By Arian Mufid: On 25th September the referendum took place and 92% voted “yes” to a Kurdish state and separation from Iraq. As a result the Iraqi government started their attack on Kurdistan with the help of Iran and, within a few hours, Iraqi and Iranian Shia militia troops captured the most strategic city of…
By Aras Ahmed Mhamad: Since Nawshirwan Mustafa’s (1944-2017) death on May 19th, the political landscape in Sulaimani province is going through a haphazard situation. The passing away of Nawshirwan Mustafa has left Sulaimani with no charismatic leader to challenge Massoud Barzani’s policies and put the affairs of the city in order. Nawshirwan Mustafa’s death has…
By Rebwar Rashed: On the 25th of September 2017 the people of Southern Kurdistan (Iraq) went out and casted their vote into a ballot box. The result was a 93 % yes for national independence. Back in 2005 the Kurdish people in Iraq got an opportunity for the first time to hold a referendum on…
By Dr. Rashid Karadaghi: The people of Kurdistan have spoken and they have spoken loud and clear. On September 25, they voted overwhelmingly to start the process of separating from Iraq and building their own democratic, pluralistic, independent country. In one of the most civilized, violence-free exercises of a people’s right anywhere in the world,…
By Arian Mufid: Iraq is stumbling into its worst constitutional crisis since the end of the dictatorship of Saddam in 2003. The KRG’s headlong rush towards independence challenges the very roots of Iraq’s existence as a unitary state. The Iraqi prime minister Hayder Abadi and his government are trying to head off a Kurdistan breakaway,…
