Kurdistan

United Nations begins investigation of Islamic State war crimes in Iraq

The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has launched an investigation into the war crimes of the Islamic State. The lead investigator will be Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, a British barrister (type of lawyer) born in Edinburgh who has a vast amount of experience in related fields. Khan will act as a special adviser as well as the investigation teams head […]

Control of Manbij is being discussed by the US and Turkey

The Manbij Military Council (MMC) will not be withdrawing its forces from the city of Manbij anytime soon according to its representatives. Presently,  the MMC are standing shoulder to shoulder with U.S. led coalition troops as the Turkish military continues to threaten an advance. However, the U.S. and Turkey are also pursuing a diplomatic solution […]

Russian oil company Rosneft signs deal with Kurdistan Regional Government

The petroleum company Rosneft, a Russian government owned company, has confirmed that last week it signed an agreement between itself and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The agreement will be for the future development of infrastructure pertaining to gas and oil production. Rosneft will also be responsible for designing Kurdistan’s new gas pipeline. The deal […]

Turkish military truck runs over elderly Kurdish woman walking to post office

This week CCTV footage was released of a Turkish military Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle crushing an elderly female who was on her way to the post office in the province of Diyarbakir Lice, a Kurdish populated area. The victim has been identified as 85-year-old Pakize Hazar who was going to collect her senior citizen […]

Imprisoned Turkish presidential candidate accuses state media of biased reporting

Imprisoned pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas has accused The Turkish media of not covering his campaign. He claims that they are only coving pro-government interests. Demiritas is running a campaign from prison, a bold move — to say the least. Selahattin was arrested in November 2016 along with 11 other HDP […]

Convicted terrorists attempt a prison escape in Kurdistan

Yesterday an attempted prison break in a Duhok — in a prison that contained convicted terrorists — led to seven inmates being killed and several others injured. The deaths and injuries occurred when the would-be escapees set fire to their cell block. Zirka prison houses around 1,500 convicted terrorists, most of which were members of the […]

Peshmerga to receive $290 million from the US in 2019

The 2019 U.S. defense budget was approved on Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives, $290 million of which will be allocated to Kurdistan’s Peshmerga military forces — under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The U.S. budget for Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) is $560 out of $850 million, the rest will be allocated to […]

Kurdish political parties demand Iraq do away with electronic voting

After a long and heated debate between various political parties throughout Kurdistan, the election commission has decided they will not be using the electronic voting machines for during the next election; which is in September. All votes will be counted manually again due to widespread criticism and accusations of fraudulent voting practices. The electoral body of […]

Kurdish political parties meet with Iranian ambassador in Iraq

Iranian Ambassador Iraj Masjedi and a delegation of Kurdish politicians met in Baghdad this week to discuss future plans for the new government with Iraqi parliamentary representatives. A group of Kurdistan Diplomatic Party (KDP) officials lead by Secretary General Fazil Mirani met Ambassador Masjedi to ensure that the formation of the newly elected government will not […]

Syrian Democratic Forces capture Turkish militant sleeper cells

The Manbij Military Council (MMC) announced that they have captured several “sleeper cells” composed of pro-Turkish militants this week. The captured men were supposedly part of the Turkish military’s Operation Euphrates Shield and were attempting to “destabilize” the region. The MMC’s commander, Mohammed Abu Adel told local media that, “The Euphrates Shield forces wanted to […]

One of Kurdistan’s largest dams is in desperate need of repairs

Iraqi Kurdistan’s infrastructure has suffered drastically over the last few years. Everything from the Islamic State, construction failure, and natural disasters have caused considerable amounts of damage. Overall, everything has put a strain on the economy and that in turn has made upkeep very difficult as well. A particularly bad example of this (or good […]