Recently, the Kurdish nation has been making strides on the international scene disproportionate to its relatively small population and land area. In Iraq, the Autonomous Region has maintained a degree of control over the Kirkuk oil fields, even as they’ve opened them for export. In Turkish Kurdistan, the PKK has continued to stand against Ankara. Most significantly, though, Rojava has… Read more »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq will unify customs procedures in all of its border areas, including within semi-autonomous Kurdistan, the prime minister said on Wednesday, signaling a further thaw in ties between Baghdad and Erbil after a resumption of Kirkuk oil flows. The decision will be implemented after the federal government in Baghdad reaches an agreement on the move with the… Read more »
WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran, Andrew Peek, explained on Wednesday that the US was strongly urging the Iraqi government to resume the export of oil from Kirkuk to Turkey. Those exports were cut off last year after Iraqi forces, in a military operation engineered by Qasim Soleimani, head of the Quds… Read more »
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdish semi-autonomous region will abide by decisions made by the federal government of Iraq regarding US sanctions on neighboring Iran, a Kurdish official affirmed on Sunday. “The Kurdistan Region is part of Iraq,” the spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Safeen Dizayee, told Kurdistan 24. “Whatever the federal government of Iraq decides, the Kurdistan… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets at thousands of supporters of an influential Shia leader demonstrating near Baghdad’s Green Zone to press for electoral reform. Four protesters and one police officer were killed during Saturday’s protests, Baghdad’s governor told Al Jazeera. Police and hospital officials said hundreds of protesers and seven other policemen were also injured… Read more »