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By Mufid Abdulla: During my recent visit to the south of Kurdistan, all I kept hearing from people inside the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) was about greed and patronage, and how the political culture inside that party has to change. The culture inside that party at the moment is gang culture. Talabani’s absence from…
KT News: Sadi Ahmed Pira, a PUK politburo member, has told the SNN new agency that his supporters are under a lot of pressure in Erbil during the current parliamentary election campaign. He claimed that their posters are being destroyed everywhere and, moreover, that PUK campaigners are facing threats and intimidation from the authorities. “We…
By Mufid Abdulla: The political campaign for seats in the Kurdistan parliament has begun. For the second time since 2009, Kurdistan will go thorough the most intense competition between three main rivals – the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and Gorran (a breakaway from the PUK). But this election…
Interview with Pshtiwan Faraj*: Interviewed by Aras Ahmed Mhamad AA: Why do you think that the secular parties accuse the religious parties of being unpatriotic in national matters – and the religious parties accuse the secular parties of being enemies of God? PF: Last year I read ‘Iraq, The Borrowed Kettle’, a book by the…
By Mufid Abdulla: In any country the parliament is the house of privilege, but in Kurdistan we have 110 MPs who cannot decide when the election days will be. And we have the case of the council elections that have not being held for the last twelve years. This amounts to a fraudulent attempt…
By Kirmanj: The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) have agreed to settle their rekindling disputes over a “team deathmatch” game of Counter Strike, scheduled on August 31. Sources confirmed that version 1.6 of the tactical shooter game will be played, and that the winning team will indeed “take…
By Rahi Rahber: Yet again, history is repeating itself. Two lifelong friends are once more split apart by politics. Back in 1800, Thomas Jefferson challenged John Adams for the presidential seat. That campaign is labelled as one of the dirtiest presidential campaigns ever. Jefferson, being the former vice-president, used convincing media tactics that led him…
KT News and Comment: Over the last two days, Gorran leader Nawshirwan Mustafa has published new documents on the history of the early days of negotiations leading to the establishment of a Presidency for Kurdistan. These memoirs go back to early 2004, after the collapse of the Iraqi government. The papers reveal the extent of…
By Kirmanj Gundi: The purpose of writing this letter to President Obama is not play a role of the Kurdish Ambassador. I have written to him before. However, this time is about the US policy towards the Kurdistan Democratic party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The US government still has blacklisted the KDP and…
By Kamal Chomani: Twitter @KamalChomani On June 13, while Premier Nechirvan Barzani was visiting Amedi, the people of Shiladze blocked the way and didn’t let him pass unless he sent a delegate to listen to their demands. Why was this small demonstration extremely important? Because it was not people of Slemani, where demonstrations have become…
KT News and Comment: With presidential and parliamentary elections looming, the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) has recently sought to distance itself from south Kurdistan’s other ruling party, the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party), on two key issues. It has claimed to be opposed to Masud Barzani running for a third presidential term, because the law…
KT News and Comment: Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) prime minister Nechirvan Barzani came to Suli yesterday to officially open a new hospital. But ‘new’ is probably not the best adjective because, although this project has taken ten years, it is still unclear when the hospital will be fully functioning. Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook…
By Aziz Sheikhani: Southern Kurdistan is one part of Kurdistan, which has been ruled by the Iraqi state since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. This part of Kurdistan, compared to the three other parts – North (part of Turkey), East (part of Iran) and West (part of Syria) – since the creation of an…
