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By Arian Mufid: Nawshirwan Mustafa, politician, warrior, writer and historian has died aged 73 after a long battle with chronic illness. He was one of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) six original founders in 1975 and the founder of Gorran in 2009. Born in 1944 in the city of Sulaymani to an intellectual family,…
By Dr. Rashid Karadaghi: What happened in Kerkuk this week has helped restore my faith in the ability of our people to build the future that they so deserve. We must all salute the bravery of Dr. Najmaldeen Karim, the Kerkuk Governor, and his supporters for doing the right thing, which is raising the Kurdistan…
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: Human rights advocate and author of forthcoming book “The Last Yezidi Genocide”; Founder and Executive Director, AAJ humanitarian organization in Kurdistan, Iraq The Yezidis are a non-Muslim religious minority who were brutally attacked in Shengal, Iraq, by the Islamic State (ISIS or Daesh) on August 3 and 15, 2014. The…
By Abdul-Qahar Mustafa: Iraqi Kurdish politicians from different political parties have recently negotiated with one another to work out their differences over the inactive parliament and presidential issues, with the hope to put an end to the political crisis in Kurdistan. However, the results of their meetings were not made public in detail and all…
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…
By Ramiar Bilbas: In the aftermath of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) between the European powers, through the Treaty of Westphalia it was multilaterally contracted that no state would be allowed to intervene in the internal affairs of another. This is regarded as one of the most important elements of that treaty. When it comes…
By Amy L. Beam: CONUNDRUM: a dilemma without a solution. Since the genocidal attack by Daesh (Islamic State) upon Yezidis in August 2014, I have asked every Yezidi whom I meet what he or she thinks is the solution for their future in Shengal. Their demoralized answer is unanimous: “There is no solution. Shengal can’t…
By Abdul-Qahar Mustafa: The rivalry between Turkey and Iran over dominating the Middle East is not something new. It is in fact the legacy of the historical conflict between two empires, the Persians and Turks who dominated Middle East several times and under different names and ideologies in history. However, these two ethnicities have developed…
By Arian Mufid: In light of what is happening in the Middle East generally and in the city of Mosul especially, the whole world’s attention is now focused on events in these areas and, indeed, if there is insufficiently serious consideration by advisors and supervisors in Europe this will result in severe consequences. The events…
By Arian Mufid: n July 2009 Nawshirwan Mustafa decided to convert his Washa company into a political movement which he called Gorran, which means ‘Change’. The Party’s main slogans were against corruption and for an independent judicial system and more equality. During a short period of political rallies the movement managed to attract lots of…
By Abdul-Qahar Mustafa: Salary delays are a breach of employment contract and illegal. All governments are obliged by law to pay their public service employees on time and accurately. The government is responsible if public servants suffer pay delay. No excuse can justify a government not paying public service workers for the work they do,…
By Aras Ahmed Mhamad: When Hujam Surchi was beheaded in January 2015 by an Islamic State member and the photos of the atrocity circulated in the media, the entire Kurdish population felt outraged. Kurds all over the world felt disgraced and degraded when it became known that the IS member was speaking Kurdish. Hujam Surchi’s head embodied…
By Aras Ahmed Mhamad: Ever since the 2011 17 Shubat (17 February) Demonstrations, which lasted for 62 days, ended, there has not been a month or even a week without rallies, protests and demonstrations in the Kurdistan region, especially in Slemani province. In September 2014, I wrote an article entitled “Does Demonstrating Have Any Value…
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: Nadia Murad’s mother and six of her brothers were shot and killed in mass executions when ISIS attacked her village of Kocho, Shingal, Iraq, August 15, 2014. The wife and child of her brother who survived six bullet wounds are still missing. Twenty-four-year-old Nadia Murad escaped her torturers. Between 9,000…
