The president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Nechirvan Barzani, told an audience Tuesday that the Marxist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was responsible for Turkish violence against Kurds in Syria, encouraging Kurds to “criticize ourselves” as much as outsiders.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday paid an unscheduled visit to Baghdad and the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region in northern Iraq as part of his Middle East tour of several nations that began in Jordan this week.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has once again demanded that the Kurdish armed forces, the Peshmerga, allow him to take over as their commander-in-chief or significantly diminish in size, apparently taking advantage of Kurdish President Masoud Barzani’s announcement that he would step down from his role on November 1.
Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani announced this weekend that he would not seek an extension of his term after November, stepping down amid an invasion of his territory by the Iraqi army and the Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq announced it had signed a deal with the Russian state-owned oil corporation Rosneft that would allow the company to begin developing oil blocks worth a potential $400 million to the Kurds.
The Yazidi minority in Iraq finds itself in an uncomfortable position as the Kurds consider acting on their successful independence referendum, while Iraqi troops move against Kurdish positions to make such a bid for independence impossible.
Terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State have resurfaced in the Kirkuk region of Iraq, reportedly attacking two villages north of Kirkuk city mere hours after the Iraqi military and its Iran-backed militia allies began an invasion against the Kurdish government controlling the city.
Contents: Kurds flee Kirkuk after Iraq army defeats them in complete rout; Devastating defeat to Iraq in Kirkuk exposes major splits between Kurdish factions
Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has rejected calls from Baghdad to “cancel” the results of the September referendum on independence, asserting that the government cannot annul the will of its people.
Contents: Kirkuk becomes the flash point after the Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum; Significant differences in the three recent independence movements
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Twitter this week that Baghdad would seek full control of all airports, land crossings, and oil revenues under the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) by Friday, threatening to seize them if Erbil does not comply with the order.
Iraq’s prime minister on Tuesday ordered the Kurdish region to hand over control of its airports to federal authorities or face a flight ban, as the Kurds claimed victory for the “yes” vote in an independence referendum rejected by Baghdad and Iraq’s neighbors.
As the impending referendum on independence for the Kurdish region of Iraq draws closer, pro-government media outlets in Turkey – which remains bitterly opposed to Kurdish self-determination – are energetically promoting conspiracy theories centered on the alleged relations between Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani and the Israeli authorities.
The head of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) defined the independence referendum scheduled to be held in Iraqi Kurdistan in September as a “cause of war” in remarks Thursday. Turkey maintains a significant military presence in Syria and Iraq, opposed by the governments of both countries.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Kurdish diaspora in America has come out in support of the upcoming vote for Kurdish independence, scheduled to take place on September 25. However, some still believe the timing is not yet right for such an event to take place.
Kurdish officials are hitting back against Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has expressed “strong opposition” to a September referendum on establishing an independent Kurdistan in what is now Iraq.
The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet is reporting that supporters of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are organizing a political party to challenge the pro-Syrian Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), whose leadership is largely in prison.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued a statement Friday rejecting the call by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani for a national independence referendum, declaring that the Kurdish people cannot “decide its fate unilaterally.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the war against the Islamic State and a plan to curb Syrian Kurdish influence with the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) Masoud Barzani over the weekend.
Contents: Unrealistic expectations surround the battle to recapture Mosul from ISIS; Turkey views Iraq and Syria through the lens of World War I and the Ottoman Empire
Wednesday found the governments of Turkey and Iraq summoning each others’ ambassadors for acrimonious exchanges over Turkish troops stationed near Mosul, as the battle to liberate that city from ISIS approaches.
American officials have confirmed that Syrian Kurdish troops have agreed to stay east of Iraq’s Euphrates River, a demand imposed by the Turkish government. The Turks’ public concerns over Syrian Kurdish expansion come as the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, visits Ankara to reaffirm his solidarity with Erdogan.
The first rule to building a wartime alliance is not to lose the allies you already have. Sadly, that rule seems unknown or is being willfully ignored by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.
The president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, declared in an interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zuricher Zeitung that “Kurdistan is ripe for independence.”
President Masoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq echoed Turkey’s position and said the terrorist group known as the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and the U.S.-backed Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria “are exactly one and the same thing.”
The autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq is officially calling for the establishment of its own state in the region.
A delegation from the international coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), led by an Obama administration envoy, reportedly told Kurds in northern Syria that they have a “right” to an autonomous region during a recent visit to the country.
Iraqi Kurdish leaders have announced an independence referendum in November, a day after President Masoud Barzani recommended holding one before the U.S. election.
The brother of Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), claims Iraqi Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani turned down two opportunities to meet with the Kurdish guerrilla chief while visiting Ankara, Turkey to discuss the fight against the Islamic State.
Masoud Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq, is currently in Ankara holding bilateral talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The meeting will cover trade and the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), and follows growing tensions between Turkey and Baghdad.
Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani suggested in an interview this week that his forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga, could travel to Raqqa, Syria and participate in an assault to liberate it from the Islamic State (ISIS).
The Japanese government has announced that next year, it will open a representative office in Erbil, Iraq, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq. The office will serve to expand Japan’s role in the region, as well as develop its close relationship with Kurdish leaders.
Kurdish forces have liberated the strategically important northern Iraqi town of Sinjar from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) after two-days of fighting, a Kurdish leader claims.
Yazidi militias organized to fight the Islamic State in Sinjar, northern Iraq are protesting that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist terrorist group operating out of Syria and Turkey, have prevented them from launching a mission to recapture Sinjar City after the terrorists stormed the region in 2014.
The Turkish government is looking to increase its military cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq, particularly in the fight against ISIS.
U.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, traveled to Erbil and met with Masoud Barzani, president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, on Tuesday, to discuss the war against ISIS.
The Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, took to Twitter on Tuesday to condemn the Turkish government for participating in a “dangerous escalation” of violence against Kurdish targets in northern Iraq, after announcing they would limit their attacks to creating an “anti-ISIS” zone in the Syrian heartland.
The president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Masoud Barzani, blamed former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki for the turmoil in the country where the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has recently gained more territory.
