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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….
HDP Statement: Turkish government’s ongoing assault on local democracy has shifted to another field in the run up to the local elections scheduled for late March 2019. This time the target is “mukhtars” in Kurdish provinces (elected headmen of villages and neighborhoods). After President Erdoğan had pointed at them as the next target by saying,…
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…
By Dr Amir Sharifi: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Palais Wilson 52 rue des Pâquis CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland. June 29, 2018 Dear Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein: On behalf of the Kurdish human rights organizations and associations in Southern California, I express my grave concerns, disquietude and distress over…
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 Dr. Amir Sharifi: In the last week of April, Armenian communities in Los Angeles held their annual Armenian commemorative events throughout the city. Members of the Kurdish communities participated in remembrance and protest activities including the Cycle Against Denial, a bike rally through Santa Monica that raised awareness against all genocides. On April 24,…
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…
Permanent People’s Tribunal – Press Statement: One month before the presidential election in Turkey, an international Tribunal has issued a stinging condemnation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, charging him with war crimes against Kurds in Turkey and saying that he has been “tormenting” and “causing incalculable suffering” to the Kurdish people in Southeast Turkey….
By Dr Ibrahim Yahli: Re: Kurds Are Not Terrorists – Press Conference, Wednesday 23rd May, 11.00-11.45, House of Commons, Committee Room 14 Dear Right Honourable Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn, On behalf of Kurdish People’s Democratic Assembly in Britain, Kurdish Community Centre and Halkevi, I write to you to express my deepest concern and distress about the…
By Dr Amir Sharifi: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Palais Wilson 52 rue des Pâquis CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland cedaw@ohchr.org Dear Mr. Wilson: Yet another Kurdish human rights activist, Ramin Hossein Panahai is in imminent danger of execution in Iran. According to Hossein Ahmadiniaz, Mr. Panahai’s lawyer the supreme court…
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…
Dear Miss Michaela Lagronová: We, members of the Kurdish Communities in California express our utmost outrage at the illegal arrest of the prominent Kurdish leader, Mr. Saleh Muslim by your police in Prague on Feb 24, 2018. Mr. Muslim is a veteran human rights activist, a leading Kurdish intellectual, and a strategist whose diplomatic endeavors…
Monday 26th February, 18:00-21:00 hrs Committee Room 2, City Hall, London SE1 2AA SPEAKERS: Julie Ward MEP, North West England Jennette Arnold OBE AM, London Assembly member for North East London Margaret Owen OBE, human rights lawyer who has attended many trials of Kurdish politicians Representative from the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) John Hunt, journalist,…
By Dr Amir Sharifi: Letter to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres Dear Mr. Guterres I am ouraged by the Turkish government’s war propaganda and impending attack against Kurds in Syria, particularly, Afrin, and a city of about one million residents. I am certain that you are aware of the grave situation; however, I am alarmed…
