Category Archives: Kurd news

AKP Party and Kurdish Issue in Turkey

By Arian Mufid: During Erdogan’s recent US visit he addressed Turkish media outlets stating that there isn’t any problem in Turkey regarding the Kurds; “I’ve said this dozens of times before and will say it again: There is no Kurdish issue in Turkey. We are here to defeat terrorism in all forms.” Expanding upon the…

HDP MP Gergerlioğlu Still Detained, Despite Constitutional Court Ruling – Now His Son Arrested Too

KT News: Despite the 1 July ruling by the Constitutional Court of Turkey that HDP MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu should be released from jail, the MP is still being detained and today his son was arrested when police attacked a Justice Watch vigil outside the Ankara Sincan Prison where his father is being held. HDP…

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…

Kamal Mazhar Ahmad, 1937-2021

KT News: Kurdish historian Professor Kamal Mazhar Ahmad has passed away today at a hospital in Bonn, Germany. Professor Ahmad was born in Sulaymani province in 1937 and completed his education in the Soviet Union before returning to Iraq. He had studied Kurdish history since 1959. During the Kurdish uprising in 1974 he joined the…

Pope’s Visit Puts KRG in World Spotlight

KT News: Pope Francis during his visit to Erbil the capital of Kurdistan for the last few days expressed his gratitude to Pershmarga forces for protection of displaced Christians and other minorities. This was during a brief meeting at Erbil international airport on the third day of his official visit to Iraq and the Kurdistan…

Significant Rise in Suicide Rate in South of Kurdistan

KT News: According to a local hospital in the City of Sulaymani, south of Kurdistan, on Friday 12 February a 28-year-old young woman committed suicide by strangling herself with a rope, apparently after news of her parent’s separation. On Monday 15 February, another suicide was reported in the village of Bardarash, near Erbil, after a…

Joe Biden and the Kurds

By Ahmed Hawarami: Biden is the US President closest to and most knowledgeable of the Kurds. He is the most sympathetic political character to the cause of the Kurdish people. Eighteen years ago, when he was an American Senator, he visited Kurdistan in 2002, before the fall of Saddam and the US invasion. He stated…

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…

Kurdistan Region: The Scope of Electoral Reforms and its Implications – Report

  By the Kurdish Institute for Elections (KIE): The scope of electoral reforms and its implications: Kurdistan Region political parties’ share in the upcoming elections (2021) Aram Jamal, Executive Director of KIE Dana Jamil, Elections Expert Review – Dr Harem Karem, Researcher in Democracy Executive summary This report examines the Kurdistan Region’s 2018 parliamentary elections…

KRG Compliance with Turkish Invasion

By Arian Mufid: It is under Erdogan’s rule that Turkey is at risk of MSCI downgrade to ‘frontier’ market status, despite ranking as the world’s 20th largest economy, due to the devaluation of the lira and overall bad economic situation. This means that the MSCI index is registering increasingly large outflows of capital and Turkey…

We Mourn the Loss of Lord Rea, an Exceptional Friend of the Kurds

By Peace in Kurdistan Campaign: We salute the memory of Lord Rea, who died on 1st June age 91. Lord Rea was a staunch friend of the Kurds, patron of Peace in Kurdistan since it was founded in 1994 and respected around the world as a human rights defender. He will be much missed. Human…

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…

Open Letter From Women To Kurdish Leaders

Open Letter from Women to: – Mr. Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) – Ms. Bese Hozat and Mr. Cemil Bayik, Co-Chairs of the Executive Council of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) – Mr. Lahur Talabani and Mr. Bafel Talabani, Co-Presidents of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) “Kurdistan should not become a battleground…

Kamaran Said Majeed, The Veteran Kurdish Fighter

By Friends of Kamaran: Kamaran Said Majeed, who died of Coronavirus complications on 9th April, was a Kurdish activist, humanist and dedicated family man. He held British citizenship, but he remained at heart a Kurd, through and through. He was born to a large family of 9 in 1959, in Sulemani (officially called Al-Sulaymaniyah) in…

Prevention of Spread of Covid 19 in North East Syria: Open Letter to UK Foreign Secretary

By Margaret Owen OBE, on behalf of Patrons of Peace in Kurdistan: Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab MP Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Foreign and Commonwealth Office 15 April 2020 Dear Foreign Secretary Ref. Prevention of the Spread of Covid 19 in North East Syria We are writing to you in extreme urgency…