By Arian Mufid: The Sulaymani police announced yesterday that the young man who won the Rwanga Solo Musician Award just a few days earlier, on 8th December 2018, had committed suicide in his home in the district of Sarchya Sulaymani. Rehad Hama Aziz was 18 years old and in his fifth year at the music…
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The Ramifications of Latest KRG Voter Fraud Go Beyond the Election
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….
The Assault on Local Democracy Goes On: 259 Kurdish Mukhtars Suspended From Duty!
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,…
Why Are So Many Women Dying Violently in South Kurdistan?
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…
The Dirty, Dark Side of the Kurdistan Region Parliament Election
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…
Barham Salih Was On The Wrong Side of Politics for Twenty Five Years
By Arian Mufid: It was in the late 1980s that I met Dr Barham Salih, in London, during the demonstrations and seminars held against the former regime of Iraq as part of our national liberation movement. He devoted all his energies to organise and promote the Kurdish nation’s struggle for freedom to the whole world….
The Restoration of Syria
By Dr Jan Best de Vries: This is my last contribution to The Kurdistan Tribune. The political solution for the conflict in Syria will be a partition into three administrative zones with regional autonomy. A threefold partition, that is: in the East towards the Tigris the Sunnite Arab tribes, in the West the Sjiite Alawites…
Open Letter to UN High Commissioner on Human Rights: Case of Ramin Hussein Panahai
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…
Mufti Penjweni, The Awakening And Righteousness Poet
The faculty of Kurdish studies of the college of languages at the university of Sulaimaniyah in partnership with the District Directorate of Penjwen, is organising a conference about the great Kurdish poet of the locality of Penjwen, Mufti Penjweni, on 18th and 19th of August 2018.
Stop the Turkish Invasion of South Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan)
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…
General Najim al-Jubouri on Ezidi Disaster and Return to Shingal
By Amy L Beam: 42-minute Interview with Amy L Beam, May 20, 2018, Mosul, Iraq. (Interview conducted in English with no translation to Arabic. Sorry for poor sound quality.) Amy (A): General Najim, can you explain your position and responsibilities? Najim (N): I am Major General, Commander of Nineveh province. A: What responsibilities does that…
The Future of Iraq
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…
Solidarity of Kurdish and Armenian Voices on the Armenian Commemorative Events in Los Angeles
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,…
Has the Iraqi Presidency Become a PUK Slush Fund?
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…
Tribunal Rebukes Turkish President Erdogan For War Crimes Against His Own People
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….
