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Executive of the PUK political bureau Darbaz Kosrat Rasul, head of the Kurdistan Region Parastin and Zanyary Agency Jalal Sheikh Naji, director general of the Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG) Wahab Halabjay attended the meeting and discussed the latest political developments in the region and cooperation between the Kurdistan region forces, Iraqi forces and American forces.
The meeting stressed the importance of continued coordination between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the international coalition forces to fight the remnants of ISIS and maintain security and stability in the region.
President Bafel Jalal Talabani mentioned the Kurdistan region and Iraq and said, "efforts to bring the Kurdish house together are continuous. Improving the situation in the region's various sectors and continuing reforms will be our priority," President Bafel said.
"Our goal is to compromise and draw up a new program so that we can all serve our people together," President Bafel added.
Regarding the stalemate in the political situation in Iraq and the PUK's efforts to overcome the challenges, President Bafel said all our steps are towards dialogue and understanding between the political forces and parties. Compliance with the constitution, genuine partnership, and protection of the rights of groups and communities are the guarantees of overcoming the problems. We have called on everyone to take responsibility for the situation's sensitivity and account for Iraq's future, President Bafel explained to the American delegation.
The PUK president also discussed with the American delegation the political and security issues in Syria and Rojava; both parties emphasized the political solution to the problems and unity of efforts to fight terrorism and maintain peace in the region.
The woman walking down a street was confronted by a man and later took out a pistol and shot her 11 times, killing the woman instantly, KurdSat English reporter said.
A car parked inside the garage of a nearby park was damaged from the shooting, the housekeeper told KurdSat English. I went out and saw a shot woman. She was lying dead, the housekeeper noted.
The woman was Nagahan Akarser. She was shot dead near her house in Bakhtiari neighborhood of Sulaimani this morning, KurdSat English reporter said. She was over 45 years old, and her body was taken for mortuary for further examination, according to the local police.
Following her murder, the killer fled and is still at large. Sulaimani security forces are looking for him.
Nagahan Akarser is a women’s rights activist, editorial board member of the Jinology journal and a member of the Academic Center for ynecology. He was from Konya in Turkey but she is ethnically Kurdish. The Jinlogy Journal is run and owned by the PKK.
The site where Akarser was shot
The vehicle nearby shot by the shooter
In a condolence message released by the Iranian General Consulate in Sulaimani, Iran's top diplomat remembers the fifth anniversary of President Jalal Talabani's eventual passing and writes, "his country will commemorate the death of President Mam Jalal.
He added that President Mam Jalal was a vigorous figure who fought for the freedom of the Iraqi people from Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Yazidis for nearly six decades, a man who truly deserved the title "Mam" A figure who repeatedly put himself on the battlefield to defend the Iraqi people.
The Iranian Foreign Minister said President Mam Jalal was one of the most influential and prominent figures of the Iraqi people and the region who spent his life for the sake of freedom, authenticity and independence of his people and country.
The general director added that the hospital housekeepers that number 163 and other health staff refuse to receive their wages in protest of the unpaid hospital housekeepers.
"Other health staff refused their salaries in support of the unpaid workers for the last six months," Azad Mustafa explained. The hospital housekeepers have been working without interruption for six months, yet their wages remain unpaid.
The employees need 70 million dinars monthly for their wages, which is about 400,000 dinars monthly per housekeeper. The recently established governorate of Halabja has a small public health service, yet its frequently ignored by the KRG.
"This civil attitude of health workers is an expression of support for this beloved sector and a message to the Kurdistan Regional Government to solve their problem and respond to our letters to pay their salaries," the general director told KurdSat English.
The governorate is home to many injuries from the 1988 Halabja Chemical Bombardment that such patients usually ail with severe respiratory diseases and the health sector. Unofficial figures put the number of wounded from the chemical attack at around 2000 still living in the city and need immediate medical care.
Sharbazher district mayor Shaho Osman told Kurdsat English that a drone bombed a car on the Sheikhal Maren bridge near the Zalan area in Sharbazher district.
Following a strike on the vehicle, one of the passengers left the car and hid. Villager could not save the other injured passenger, fearing another strike as a drone hovered over the vehicle, KurdSat English report explained. A group of Iraqi border guards were searching for the drone in the sky using binoculars.
After half an hour, medical teams arrived and took care of the injured, KurdSat English reporter added.
KurdSat English learned that two people were in the vehicle, one was injured, and local authorities dispatched a medical team to the attacked site.
Image of the destroyed vehicle. A hole on the car's roof is a possible point of entry for the missile targeted at the vehicle.
Executive of the PUK political bureau Darbaz Kosrat Rasul accompanied President Talabani in the meeting and discussed the latest developments and political shifts and a way to overcome the political deadlock in Iraq.
President Bafel Jalal Talabani touched on the political developments in the Kurdistan region and said that a favorable environment for dialogue and understanding is set. "Let us go to Baghdad with a united national discourse and as a team to defend and protect our constitutional rights," President Bafel said,
"Everyone knows the position of the PUK, and we have openly said that dialogue and understanding is the basis for resolving the issues. All our efforts are aimed at bringing together different positions for the sake of stability in the country and building a brighter future," the president declared.
Senior Iraqi leaders and international figures gathered in Erbil to honor President Talabani's legacy on the fifth anniversary of his passing.
PUK president Bafel Jalal Talabani, Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani attended the event, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, and Iraq and Kurdistan Region Presidents Barham Salih and Nechirvan Barzani were also present.
The participants mentioned President Talabani's historic achievements for the people of Iraq and the Kurdistan region and his peaceful and harmonious methods that brought Iraqis together and prevented violence.
In a video message displayed at the event, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said, "Mam Jalal made it a priority to bring people together, and he was hugely admired across the international community."
Born in November 1932, President Talabani was a crucial figure in the history of Iraq and the Kurdistan region. he was the first Iraqi leader that worked for democracy as a remedy to the sectarian nature of Iraq without letting the country fall apart and devolve into chaos, long before the US collapsed Saddam Hussein to democratize Iraq.
He engineered forming a pan-nationalist alliance between different Kurdish political parties that eventually led to the creation of the Kurdistan region in the early 2000s. As the first democratically elected president of Iraq in 2006, Talabani brought together the different Iraqi political forces and, at times, avoided flashpoints between these groups. His unity efforts were more visible after he departed from politics in 2012 due to a stroke that embedded him.
President Jalal Talabani's heart stopped beating on October 3, 2017. Millions attended his funeral. The streets of Sulaimani, where he is buried, were emptied, and bazaars and shops closed as people flocked to his tomb.
The statement reads:
Five years ago, President Mam Jalal's big heart stopped beat. Iraq and all freedom fighters and peacemakers lost a unique historical leader who devoted more than six decades to achieving freedom, peace and democracy in Iraq and the region.
The death of President Mam Jalal shocked all communities in Iraq, the region and freedom fighters and became an important global event.
From his youth until he became the first democratically elected president of the Federal Republic of Iraq, President Mam Jalal worked tirelessly to achieve democracy in Iraq and peacefully resolve the legitimate cause of the Kurdish people. The Ba'ath regime's brutality could not weaken its will until it was finally liberated in 1991 in much of Kurdistan and later in 2003 in Iraq.
President Mam Jalal was not only a great and influential leader of the Iraqi opposition, but also the backbone of all Iraqi freedom fighters, opposition and patriots. After the liberation of Iraq and the establishment of a federal Iraq, President Mam Jalal stood at the same distance with all political communities and forces and was always the umbrella of bringing together conflicting parties and he was the foundation of peace and coexistence.
Now that we are commemorating the fifth anniversary of the death of President Mam Jalal, we need his views, thoughts and experience more than ever to end the deep political conflicts, consolidate unity and coexistence and serve the oppressed peoples of Iraq.
We in the PUK fraction, as students and followers of President Mam Jalal, promise to continue his path, thought and experience, national dialogue, peace and coexistence and protect the interests of the Iraqi peoples and put aside narrow party and personal interests and continue our parliamentary struggle.
The message noted that President Mam Jalal devoted his entire life to the realization of the national and democratic rights of the Kurdish people, justice and coexistence in Iraq.
The Kurds need the rich policies of President Mam Jalal more than ever, the party said.
They KNP hoped that all political parties will continue the peaceful struggle in the manner of the late president.
Kurdistan Region Parliament Speaker Rewaz Fayeq said, “We consider it an opportunity to remind the Iraqi and Kurdish public opinion of the President's vision for courageous initiatives in solving problems and the wisdom of coordination in bringing different and opposing political movements and parties closer together. In this regard, we reiterate our commitment to the moderate path and philosophy of President Mam Jalal and draw inspiration from his wisdom and skill in opening the complex knots of political and public life.
The speaker notes that Mam Jalal honestly implemented constructive dialogue as the most appropriate option and provided the factors of successful dialogue in practice. Through tolerance and embodying the principle of compromise for the sake of national interests and resolving decisive issues by compromise and the concept of the flower, [ the flower symbolizes unity and harmony and was frequently mentioned by President Jalal Talabani] while the courage to accept criticism and the need to review and protect public rights and freedoms. President Talabani’s life would not reoccur and his departure is a gap that will never be filled.
He believed the best way to destroy an enemy was to befriend them. His vision was revolutionary for the Middle East when the region needed a constructive and productive way forward. He conserved resources that were usually spent fighting enemies and deployed them for better causes. He was able to turn the enemies of the Kurdistan region and Iraq into friends.
In 1987, Kurdish novelist Muhammad Mukry wrote a derogatory novel on the PUK leaders and President Talabani. Angered by the book, many senior military leaders took the matter to President Talabani. They asked his permission to arrest and punish Mukry.
President Talabani told them, did Mukry shoot anyone?
No, they replied.
Did he hurt anyone? No, they replied again.
And said what did he do? President Talabani said again, he has written against us and the party, they replied.
Then President Talabani gave them his pen and said, write back!
This story sums up President Talabani's democratic and harmonious vision in politics. "Write back and don't fight back," was Talabani's way. It was revolutionary at the time and foreign to the geography, as every criticism was taken personal.
Born in 1932 in Kelkan, a village in the Sulaimani governorate, the young Talabani was destined for greatness. In the mid-1930s, his father became Koya Madrasa's supervisor. Their family moved to the city, and the young Talabani received his primary and secondary education there. As a prodigy, his peers began calling him Mam, which translates into "uncle," a word reserved for the distinguished members of the society, and Mam became his nickname.
Talabani usually attended elders' gatherings and listened carefully and, at times, participated in the topics that generally included the social life and politics of Iraq and the Kurdistan region. At 14, he did his first political activity when he recited a poem in school in Newroz and expressed his grievances about the political situation of the Kurds and Kurdistan. He graduates from high school in Kirkuk and Erbil.
Talabani joins the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) very young. In February 1953, he organized the first congress of the Kurdistan Students Union and was elected secretary general of the organization. In the same year, he co-founds the Kurdistan Democratic Youth Union. He fled into exile in Syria in 1956 to prevent an arrest charged with activities of the Kurdish Students Union. In Damascus, he was involved co-founded the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS). He later returned to Iraq and received his degree in 1959 from the College of Law in Baghdad.
Talabani's formative years were in a civilized Iraq where a depoliticized military and security establishment stayed out of politics. It set up Talabani for his grand diplomatic missions that eventually brought democracy to Iraq and liberated the Kurdistan region from decades of oppression and alienation.
Talabani resorted to all means necessary to achieve democracy. In March 1962, he led an offensive that liberated the district of Sharbazher from Iraqi government forces. When not engaged in fighting in the early and mid-1960s, Talabani went on many diplomatic missions, representing the Kurdish leadership at meetings in Europe and the Middle East.
After the March 1970 agreement between the Iraqi government and the Kurdish rebels, Talabani returned to Iraqi Kurdistan and rejoined the KDP, even though he wouldn't hold office then. The Kurdish separatist movement collapsed in the aftermath 1975 Algiers Agreement; in March 1975, Iran ended its support for the Kurdish revolution in Iraq in exchange for a border agreement with Iraq. The revolution leader, Mustafa Barzani, refused to continue fighting or allow others to lead the revolution. He self-exiled himself to the U.S.
In the 1975 Algiers Agreement, Iraq gave up claims to the Shatt al-Arab waterway and Khuzestan, which later became the basis for the Iran–Iraq War. Talabani did not give up, believing it was time to give a new direction to the Kurdish separatists and the Kurdish society, with a group of Kurdish intellectuals and activists founded the Kurdish Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). It was the first party that genuinely worked to unite all Iraqi Kurdish opposition groups. The PUK was an umbrella organization until 1991 when it successfully integrated its member organization into the PUK. When in 1976, the PUK resumed the armed struggle, the Kurdistan region of Iraq was cleaned of weapons. Coming by arms was extremely difficult, let alone purchasing one. Many Peshmerga revolutionaries were unarmed even though they fought the Baathist regime. This historical development sheds light on Talabani's vigorous efforts for national unity.
During the 1980s, Talabani went on many diplomatic missions and secured the support of many Middle Eastern, European countries and American support. The PUK was able to fight off the Iraqi army and liberate territory in the Kurdistan region. In 1983, Saddam Hussein gave in and agreed to negotiate with the PUK. An agreement was to be announced that included granting autonomous status to the Kurdistan region. However, it was shattered by regional countries that considered the autonomous Kurdistan region a threat to their country as it might spark Kurdish nationalist movements in those countries.
In 1991 he successfully led the Kurdistan region uprising against Saddam's forces in the region and expelled them, bringing the liberation of the Kurdistan region in centuries. He negotiated a ceasefire with the Iraqi Ba'athist government that saved the lives of many Kurds and worked closely with the United States, United Kingdom, France and other countries to set up the haven in Iraqi Kurdistan. In 1992 he facilitated the founding Kurdistan Regional Government when he previously designed the all-inclusive Kurdistani Front that included Kurdish, Marxist, socialist, Islamist and nationalist armed forces.
He played key roles in peace negotiations between the Kurdistan Workers' Party and Turkey and was also present as Abdullah Ocalan announced the ceasefire of the PKK on March 17 and prolonged it indefinitely on April 16 1993.
President Talabani played a vital role as a partner of the U.S.-led Coalition in the invasion of Iraq. His forces were the ones that found the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein in 2005, and P
President Talabani's understanding of the region was of paramount importance to the Americans and the international Coalition after the collapse of Saddam Hussein. Emma Sky, the political adviser to General Ray Odierno, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq from 2007 to 2010, said in an article, "Talabani was keen to help us understand the country and would go to lengths to explain its history to us. He spoke of how the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies, had offered the Kurds the hope of independence."
Talabani was elected President of Iraq on April 6, 2005, by the Iraqi National Assembly and sworn into office the following day.
On April 22 2006, President Talabani was elected under Iraq's new constitution and became Iraq's first democratically elected president.
President Talabani energetically worked towards building a democratic and inclusive political system in post-Saddam Iraq, for his efforts were known as Iraq's safety. He was called Iraq's safety button among the power circles. His endless meetings brought together rival Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political groups and helped them reach a compromise without letting the rivalries take a toll on Iraq's political process and economy. Economic growth in Iraq was double-digit during his presidency.
After he departed from Iraqi politics in 2012, the gap he left was felt more than ever. The current political stalemate could have never happened had they heeded President Talabani's advice. In a speech on the fifth anniversary of President Talabani's eventual passing, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi said we need President Talabani's creative politics to pass through the current political impasse.
President Talabani was working to represent the marginalized peoples and groups of Iraq. "He [President Talabani] expounded on how the Sunnis had never had political parties in exile and were not represented effectively after the dissolution of the Baath party following the overthrow of the Hussein regime," Sky explains.
In a video message on the fifth anniversary of President Talabani's eventual passing, Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair explained that President Talabani could unite all Iraqi political factions despite the difficulties and the difficult task he faced.
President Talabani's role was fundamental in helping Kurdish nationalist movements from Turkey, Iran, and Syria preserve their fights for their rights within their countries. In the 1990s, President Talabani helped Kurdish opposition armed groups of Iran and Turkey camp in the Kurdistan region. He helped these groups from their eventual disintegration and elimination.
At the same time, he maintained and forged closer ties with the respective countries and, through his relations better help the Kurds across the world.
President Talabani's vision for unity among the Kurds is based on the idea that unity should be territorial and humanitarian. He helped forge closer ties with the Kurdish political groups across the world. His vision is more suitable for today's world, where the world is through the internet and open borders. People could live in different places and hold other ideas but maintain close, productive relations.
His vision could steer Iraq peacefully and relatively harmoniously during a time when Iraq was recovering from war and years of dictatorship.
His answer to violence was unity, and stability that also comes from unity was his answer for corruption and development and a strong democratic and prosperous Iraq.
The leader of the Fatah coalition Hadi Amiri said in a message on the 5th anniversary of President Mam Jalal's eventual departure that "the passing of President Mam Jalal played a fatherly role for Iraqis, left his mark in Iraqi history. We met him during the days of struggle and revolution as a symbol of a nation and many years of misery brought us together. We had a solid relationship to liberate Iraq from dictatorship. Later, during his rule, we recognized him as an example of wisdom and simplicity and his skills in management and politics.
Amiri explained that "President Mam Jalal had an excellent knowledge of all problems and how to solve them, all Iraqis loved him, because Mam Jalal loved all Iraqis, his house became a place to gather all parties and find solutions to problems and conflicts between parties.
Hadi Amiri noted that "President Mam Jalal's legacy does not only belong to his family and Kurdistan. Rather, it is a unique history and leadership of Iraqis and a political experience in which Iraqi politicians should benefit from his legacy.a
"A broad wave of sympathy and condolences from the people of Sulaimani, Halabja, Erbil, and Duhok provinces, especially in the areas where the headquarters of the eastern parties were located, was directed to the parties and showed their patriotic and national enthusiasm, the Center said.
"Especially in the areas where the headquarters of the eastern parties were located, they were directed to the parties, so that everyone opened a warm embrace to them and showed their readiness for any kind of assistance, thus showing their humane, patriotic and national feelings," the Center added.
The CCIKPP thanked the doctors and nurses who volunteered to rush to the scene and treat the injured and said "that the courageous position of the people of the south ( a term used to denote the Kurdistan region) proved once again that they support each other and this is the best answer to the enemies of the Kurds."
On September 28, in an unprecedented wave of attacks involving drones and missiles, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corpus (IRGC) targeted bases and headquarters of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, killing civilians and militia of the opposition groups and displacing over 600 families in the Kurdistan region.
Kurdsat correspondent reported that Iranian artillery fired 63 artillery shells at Barbzin, Ben, Parez, Katina, and Darhol villages in Bradost border area in just five minutes.
He added that the Turkish army also shelled the areas of Robi, Ruwal, Gali Rash, Tarsta, and Kam Kora in Bradost.
A Turkish army surveillance aircraft the village of Merstaki in Amedi district three times in a row last night, causing heavy damage to the houses of the villagers, but no casualties were reported, KurdSat reporter explained.
Turkey and Iran frequently bomb residential areas and mountains of Kurdistan, which cause severe humanitarian and environmental damage.
According to local media reports, demonstrations continued until late Friday night in Sanaa, Saqiz, Kermanshah, Ahvaz and several other Iranian cities, with security forces using tear gas and shooting to disperse the demonstrators. An intelligence commander of the Iranian army Ali Musawi was shot in the chest during clashes near Mekka mosque in Zahedan and died in hospital, IRGC reported.
At least 19 people, including security forces, were killed and 20 others injured in Friday's protests in Zahedan, Sistan, and Baluchestan Governor Hossein Modarres told IRNA.
The unrest in Iran's southern region of Sistan and Balochistan province took a violent turn. Clashes between the people and security forces resulted in many causalities when a group tried to take over the army's headquarters in Zahedan.
In an interview with "Baghdad Al-yom," Iraqi Air Force Commander Brigadier General Ma'an Saadi said the Iraqi army plans to deploy an air defense system in the Kurdistan Region to counter future Turkish and Iranian attacks.
"Turkey and Iran deploy drones and ballistic missiles to bombard the Kurdistan region and they (Baghdad) works to deploy air defense systems in the future to counter any attack on Iraqi sovereignty," Baghdad Al-Yom reported.
"Air defense system is to protect Iraq and by providing it could prevent any foreign attack in the future, quoted Saadi.
The recent Turkish and Iranian shelling and wave of attacks on the Kurdistan region have drawn the attention of policymakers in Baghdad.
The Iraqi air defense commander stressed that the issue of developing the air defense system had become a priority for the PM and defense minister. Equipping the army with advanced weapons could end the threat to the Kurdistan region, according to Baghdad Al-Yom.
Kurdistan region officials are yet to comment on the matter, which affects the Kurdistan region's autonomous status. Iran's recent wave of attacks on the Kurdistan region revealed the region's lack of air defenses. The Kurdistan region government asked the international community and Baghdad to end such attacks.
The Kurdistan region partially enjoys its autonomy due to the US-imposed Non-Fly-Zone that prevented Saddam Hussein's air force from Bombarding the Kurdistan region in the 1990s. Baghdad is largely absent from protecting its borders in the north. After three decades, such a decision could resort to Baghdad's control in the area.