Facts, News, Trends, Analysis
It is not unusual to read about, at least once a week, the turmoil going on in the South East region of Turkey. I also do not think it is unusual for many other places. The SE region has been a place of major conflict since the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the intentions [...]
In a follow up ruling after an initial conviction last year, the mastermind of the Kurdish massacres of the late 1980’s has been sentenced to death by an Iraqi court. In a decision sure to ignite controversy, Saddam’s relative, Ali Hassan al-Majid, has finally met the justice so many have longed for. Formally charged for [...]
Yet another conflict has arisen between the Kurds and the Iraqi government, this time stemming from rights to the country’s most important natural resource, oil. The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq recently signed oil contracts with foreign oil companies, promising them rights to crude oil from the Kurdish region.
Iraqi oil minister, Hussain Shihristani, [...]
Liberals are “fed up” with the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, because they claim he is not living up to campaign promises and is using discouraging rhetoric regarding the Kurdish population. They feel that when Erdogan was elected, he was promising reform and the most pivotal point was changing relations between the government and [...]
Amidst an already tense situation in Iraq, three planeloads of small arms, delivered in September to the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq, are at the center of an expanding controversy. In Kurd-controlled Sulaymaniyah, officials are discussing the implications of the imported arms in terms of regional autonomy and the long held Kurdish aspiration for an [...]
Recently the Prime Minister of Turkey, has been lobbying in Van, an eastern region in Turkey. Van, being a city with prominent Kurdish population, has not greeted Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a hospitable manner. He was advised to wear a bullet proof vest and have a convoy of four cars, which is an unusual number [...]
Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, deputy leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Democratic Society Party (DTP) leader Ahmet Türk met in the Yildiz district of Ankara, Turkey to discuss the Kurdish people and recent terrorist attacks on Turkey. Other deputies of both parties were also present. The most prominent issue discussed was the [...]
As reported by CNN on Tuesday October 14, 2008, representatives from Turkey, Iraq, and Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government met in Northern Iraq to discuss future diplomacy. The objective of the meeting was to begin a peaceful discourse between the two nations regarding the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), which is based on the Turkey-Iraq border. The [...]
Two weeks ago, it was uncertain whether the Iraqi Parliament would pass a crucial law addressing some serious flaws with the nation’s election process. According to the Los Angeles Times, the political stalemate has begun to ease and the law was passed yesterday.
This new legislation will result in more representation for Sunni Arabs, who were [...]
After being out of session for a month, Iraqi Parliament reconvened Tuesday to revisit some crucial issues, one in specific relating to a provincial election law. According to a New York Times article, the United Nations, the United States and Britain have all pressured Iraqi politicians to reach a decision on this election law, which [...]
