Tribal reconciliation

Najat Amin, chief of KDP's 16th branch in Erbil. GLOBE PHOTO/ Wahid Ismael

By Ako Muhammed
The Kurdish Globe

A report of August 2007

New "social committees" will attempt to settle rivalries.

Rivalries between families and tribes still exist, leading to murder as a form of revenge. Courts cannot always end disputes, and this is where tribal reconciliation is most important.

Khanaqin dries up

Khanaqin dries up

Two men fish the Alwan River in Khanaqin, which is almost completely dry due to Iranian dams. GLOBE PHOTO/Qassim Khidhir

The Globe - Khanaqin
Ako Muhammed and
Qassim Khidhir

A report of July 2008

Iranian dams produce a major crisis and result in the loss of farms and drinking water.

The Alwan River, which crosses through Khanaqin town north of Diyala province, is completely dry due to the construction of dams by Iran on the Iranian side. The people are suffering a vital shortage of drinking water, their farms are dying, and they have lost a river, which is the symbol of their town.

Fayli Kurds prepare genocide case

Hadi Ali's family is shown here in 1980. Ali and three of his brothers were lost after they were imprisoned near Baghdad in the early 1980s. GLOBE PHOTO

Two years passes since this report was published. the aim of republishing it is for raising a question, What Happened to the Fayli Case?

Fayli Kurds prepare genocide case

By Ako Muhammed
The Kurdish Globe

A report conducted in June 2008

KRG supports victims' families in their search for traces of lost youths and with legal compensation.

Crimes against Fayli Kurds from as far back as the '70s and '80s are now ready to be heard by the Iraqi High Crimes Tribunal.

Jalawla is "kingdom of orphans"

Kurds evacuate Jalawla

A man in traditional Arab dress walks through the central market of Jalawla town on February 9, 2010. GLOBE PHOTO/Ako Muhammed

The Kurdish Globe

Arabs from other provinces are replacing Kurds in disputed town of Jalawla.

Hundreds of Kurdish families escaped threats and shortage of services in the disputed town of Jalawla, and Arabs from other provinces are replacing them, according to Kurdish sources.

More than 450 Kurdish families left Jalawla, a district in northern Diala province, because of bad security and other difficult conditions, said Amir Raf'at, a Kurdish former member of Diala provincial council in an interview with Erbil-based Payamner news agency. He added that a large number of Kurdish families also left nearby Sadiya and Qaratapa districts. These districts, which belong to Khanaqin town, are considered a part of the disputed areas covered by constitutional Article 140.

Donkeys’ utopia to be established in Kurdistan

Association forms to defend donkeys’ rights and educate people

Saving donkeys and ensuring they are treated in a humane manner becomes the main task of the Kurdistan Donkeys Association.

Argument renewed on case of murdered Sardash Osman

Interrogation committee claims victim had ties to Ansarul-Islam

Organization calls for further investigation as KRG publishes information on murder of Sardasht Osman.

Nechirvan Barzani: Oil is not smuggled in Kurdistan

“Awene” runs in-depth interview with former PM Nechirvan Barzani

Among other issues discussed, the former PM responded frankly to a question about smuggled oil: “We have to act transparently in the oil issue or it will trouble the KRG.”

PUK, an idea born at a café

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan began in Syria in 1975

By Ako Muhammed

At Tolaitala, a café in Damascus, Syria, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) became a Kurdish revolutionary name for the first time. To revive the Kurdish struggle against the Iraqi Baath system, President Jalal Talabani met with Dr. Fuad Masum, Abdul-Razaq Aziz, and Adil Murad to discuss the future of a nation, above and beyond drinking coffee.

Anfal leaves survivor infertile

After-effects of 1988 Anfal tactics produce misery to this dayMore than 20 years later, an injection given to an imprisoned Kurdish man during the Anfal Operation still haunts him.
After 13 years of marriage, Ibrahim Amin still has not become father. Medical reports recently revealed that his infertility is because of an injection he was given while in jail.

Kurds rebury massacred children

“My Hajar was quite a lady…like an angel.”
Anfal’s 22nd anniversary observed at a funeral of 104 children and two women

One day 22 years ago, Maryam Faqe Ali was separated from her family—she never saw them again. Seeking to start a routine rural life, they were interrupted by an army attack on their village of Askar, southwest of Suleimaniya.
Her husband, Hassan Mohammad, was shot dead. She and other women from the village smelled toxic gas. But the women were able to escape the army and the gas as they hid in a pool of water. Her three children and a daughter-in-law were captured and they disappeared.
“My eldest son was dear Sabir, and my Talib was like that boy,” she pointed to a child nearly 8 years old as she mentioned her lost children. “My Hajar was quite a lady…like an angel,” she said, then burst into tears. “The Baath government…only because we were Kurds,” Ali said in reply to why they were targeted.

Children starved to death in a Baath jail

Witnesses tell of burying Anfaled children in Dubis

Children who died of starvation will be memorialized and remembered for their suffering.

Underground, in a space twice as large as a basketball court, Karwan, Hiwa, and many others of their age—less than 12 years old—who endured starvation and imprisonment, were buried by volunteers in Dubis, a multiethnic town northwest of Kirkuk.
"This grave is of Hiwa. I remember very well the day the prison guards brought him," said Hassan Ahmed, a water project worker who had dug many graves for children taken out dead from a military prison in his town in 1988. That time, Ahmed was an 18-year-old student; his home was located close to the children’s cemetery next to the Old Mosque of Dubis.

KRG criticizes UNAMI report

UNAMI accuses the KRG of having “secret jails” in Kurdistan Region; KRG denies the charge

Report welcomes KRG attempts to “improve prison situations,” but claims it violates detainees’ rights at the same time.

DTP ban elicits demonstrations in Iraqi Kurdistan

Iraqi Kurds say they are worried, but continue to hope for wise solutions in Turkey
Demonstrators seek to “break the silence of the Iraqi Kurds toward their problems in Turkey.”
Nearly 300 people throughout Iraqi Kurdistan gathered Tuesday in front of the Region’s Parliament in Erbil, demanding that Iraqi Kurdish leaders take a stance on recent developments concerning Kurds in Turkey. The Region’s leaders consider the Kurdish question there a Turkish internal problem, but they hope for the continuation of democratic improvements launched recently by the Turkish government, said an official in Erbil.

Parliament to legislate security agencies

Iraqi Parliament analyzes security situation of the country following questioning top officials. It will make recommendations on improving cooperation between police and the army, and raise the reward money for informers who reveal information about explosions, stated a lawmaker.

Kurdish MP says Kurds’ crucial mistake was rescuing Maliki government

Iraqi Parliament member from Kurdistan Coalition list Mahmud Osman analyzes the current political process in a phone interview.

Osman says Kurds should unite for the January parliamentary elections and that Erbil-Baghdad negotiations are likely to resume after the elections. He added that Kurds should reject any special case for elections in Kirkuk, and the United States wants to delay any settlement of disputed areas. He also expects more seats for Kurds.

KRG worried about delaying general census

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) immediately expressed concern after the declaration of an Iraqi government decree delaying the process of counting the population for one year.

“The KRG is concerned that the decree has been issued. The census process is a national right for all Iraq, including Kurdistan Region. By holding the census, all of us would have benefited from the great information that would have been gained,” said Osman Shwani, KRG Minister of Planning. Shwani explained that the delay had political backgrounds.

Barzani asserts Article 140 only solution for Kirkuk

Kurdistan Parliament speaker complains UN is only wasting time

New UN Representative to Iraq faces daunting challenges, most of which were left unresolved by the previous UN Representative, Staffan de Mistura.

Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani assured Ad Melkert, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), during a meeting that the Kurdish insistence on implementing Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution is the only and key solution for Kirkuk and disputed areas. Melkert ended his two-day visit to Kurdistan on Wednesday.

Melkert also met with other high-ranking Kurdish officials including Region Parliament Speaker Kamal Kirkuki and Barham Salih, leader of the Kurdistani List in Parliament.

The UN’s official website in Iraq described Melkert’s meetings with Kurdish officials as “productive,” but no further details were released. Local media reported that the UN delegation came to Kurdistan to closely watch the political process of the region and to observe UN humanitarian and economic aid.

Melkert acknowledged Kurdish leaders’ will to cooperate in developing relations between Erbil and Baghdad.

“We want to advance cooperation with both the Iraq and Kurdistan Regional governments. We would like to listen to your [President Barzani's] suggestions and guidance,” the Kurdistan presidency’s official website conveyed from Melkert.

The issue of Kirkuk and disputed areas was a focal point of discussion during the meetings.

The UN mission to Iraq mediated during the presence of former SRSG Staffan de Mistura in offering technical suggestions to help terminate long-lasting disputes between Iraqi Kurds and the Baghdad federal government on which side should have the direct right of places--including oil-rich Kirkuk city--that are claimed by Kurdish leaders as part of their autonomous region in the north of the country.

“We appreciate the role of the UN on this issue, and hope that the UN will work with all sides to find a resolution,” President Barzani said.

UN involvement came as Baghdad halted fulfilling constitutional Article 140, which calls for returning displaced families home in the disputed areas, deporting brought-in people from those areas, and allowing the original people of those places to decide in a referendum whether to be governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government or directly by the federal government.

“We insist on the resolution of this issue in accordance with the implementation of Article 140 of the Constitution, because we do not want to see our people go through hardships and tragedies again.”

Barzani also assured of their readiness to cooperate with the UN, “but this issue concerns a whole nation and we will not make any concessions on this issue in any way whatsoever.

“I believe in this issue. I once defended this issue in battle and now I will defend it in peacetime,” added the President, noting that the Kurds have showed enough “flexibility” on the issue of the disputed areas. He warned that further delays on this issue would only serve in complicating it.

“Evading the implementation of this article [140] will only complicate the issue further. If the UN is for an alternative to Article 140, then there will be no progress on this issue.”

Meanwhile, during the meeting with the Kurdistan Region Parliament Speaker, the UN delegation heard a clear complaint from the Kurdish side regarding UN involvement in the Kirkuk issue.

“With our respect for De Mistura, he spent a lot of time but left no consequences,” explained Parliament speaker Kirkuki.

He also assured that Kurdistan Region leaders highly regard fulfilling Article 140, and that this issue is to be settled via dialogue between the federal and regional governments of Baghdad and Erbil. “Also, opportunities must be allowed to components of Kirkuk and of other disputed areas so they can decide on the destiny of their origins through a referendum,” Kirkuki added.

During the meeting, Kirkuki offered to the UN delegation historical and geographical documents to prove the Kurdistan identity of the disputed areas. These places were exposed to demographic changes in favor of increasing numbers of Arab inhabitants on the count of Kurds, according to a statement published from Kirkuki’s office on Wednesday.

Kurds divide but hope to unite in Baghdad

Kurds divide but hope to unite in Baghdad

Kurdistan elections paint Kurdish participation in Iraqi Parliament

“If the Kurdistan parties don’t go into the field with one voice, we will be defeated…”—Sadi Barzinji of the KDP

Kurdish ruling parties are keeping open the possibility of forming a large alliance including political powers in Kurdistan Region preparing to run for the Iraqi parliamentary elections scheduled for mid January. However, the second and third big powers in the Region are willing to run as separate lists. All assure preserving their unity on national issues in Baghdad.

The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has opened the door for Iraqi political parties to register until the end of August, after which the time comes to announce electoral alliances.

“Taking part together is a better choice; if they [Kurdistan parties] take part separately, we hope they will ally after the elections,” said Sadi Barzinji, a current member of Iraqi Parliament representing the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

Kurdistan political parties as one bloc, Kurdistan Coalition, and the Kurdistan Islam Union (KIU) bloc together hold 57 seats of Parliament’s 275 seats.

Working as one alliance “is very crucial because the situation is complicated there [in Baghdad] and we face a lot of challenges. If the Kurdistan parties don’t go into the field with one voice, we will be defeated, quite frankly,” Barzinji told the “Globe.” He also revealed that the KDP assures they will unite attitudes and work on bringing Kurdistan powers together and “ignore internal differences.”

The KDP, led by Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, share a strategic agreement are likely to keep in one list. In the meantime, the two parties that now run the local government in Kurdistan Region have not announced the way of their participation, only that they hope for a common list gathering all the powers.

Regardless, some Kurdish parties have shown a willingness to separately run in the elections.

A group known as the Four Parties—the KIU, Islamic Group in Kurdistan, Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party, and Kurdistan Tailors Party of Qadir Aziz--are now studying whether to compete individually or to keep their alliance the same as their participation for the July Kurdistan parliamentary election. The Four Parties under the name of the Service and Reform List placed third, winning 13 of Kurdistan Parliament’s 111 seats.

Muhammad Hakeem, politburo member of the Islamic Group in Kurdistan, told the “Globe” that they haven’t decided yet but that they will consult with their members and with allies in the Four Parties on how to prepare for the coming elections.

As for the choice to join the KDP and PUK, Hakeem said, “We have both experience of jointly and separately working with them. What’s important is that we keep unity in positions with every Kurd in Baghdad concerning the strategic issues in the service of the higher interests of the people of Kurdistan.” He thinks that the electoral competition will be strong due to multiple lists.

The Islamic Group does not intend to form any alliance with Iraqi entities outside the Region. “If any Kurdish group tries to form an alliance with Iraqi parties, we shouldn’t immediately accuse them of treason. The time has passed for such a statement like that in Iraq now. We have to keep together with Iraqi parties for four years,” remarked Hakeem, refereeing to media reports that revealed intensions of the Goran (Change) List--the second biggest bloc of Kurdistan Parliament--to ally with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Islamic Dawa Party.

Goran, with 25 seats in Kurdistan Parliament, has already declared their initial decision to run in the election alone--the same as they did for Kurdistan Parliament.

Osman Banimarani, a Goran leaderm reported that their group “has decided initially to run for the coming parliamentary election and for the provincial elections in Kurdistan Region as a separate list, but the door remains open for alliances with Kurdistan or Iraqi parties conditionally that the alliance falls in the interest of the Kurdish people.”

“Plurality of Kurdish lists in Iraqi Parliament services Kurds’ interests more than a unique list, because the bloc might be affected by external decrees,” Banimarani told Aswat al-Iraq News Agency. He opposed the idea Kurds would be defeated if they didn’t go along as one list.

“The Flowers of Kirkuk” tells about Iraq through romance

European crew interviewed on film project new to Kurdistan Region

The Region lends itself to European filmmakers as the world begins to take notice of its relative safety and astonishing beauty and culture.

Local and international crews gathered in Erbil to shoot “The Flowers of Kirkuk,” a movie conveying historical moments of the late 1980s through romance to a European audience. The project is the first of its kind, bringing foreign investment via a movie completely made in Kurdistan Region, according to the crew.

All Kirkuk citizens now have voting rights

“…The government has done what it has to do.”—Nuri al-Maliki

Nuri al-Maliki’s mission in Kirkuk is not over yet, says Kurdish member of Iraqi Parliament

The Iraqi government still has a lot of work to do to complete the implementation of Iraqi Constitution Article 140, said a Kurdish member of the Iraqi Parliament in reply to a statement of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.