Kurdistan
He noted that the decision also covers officers of the two military colleges in the Kurdistan region that fall under the jurisdiction of the Defense Ministry. The Kurdistan region is home to two military colleges, one in Sulaimani’s Qalachwalan region and the other in Zakho in Duhok.
Ministry of Defense will send several other military trainers to the colleges to train the students of the military courses to replace the college’s trainers as they would have to go on weight tests and probably weight-loss training. It helps the military colleges in the Kurdistan region to continue their classes. The weight loss regulation would not cover recruits as they have filled the criteria before admission.
Obesity among the military ranks in the Kurdistan region and Iraq has become one of the defining features of Iraqi defense forces.
The mall is located on the Erbil-Kasnazan thoroughfare and was just opened last week, a KurdSat English reporter in Erbil said. The reporter mirrored the mayor's words and said the song was played unintentionally. "He is not from the Kurdistan region but a Kurd from Turkey," the reporter added. Most Kurds from Turkey do not speak Arabic, as education in the country does not include Arabic. The mall has been closed for the last three days and is closed for a week, per officials familiar with the matter. The lyrics to the song praise the former dictator and praise him as a benevolent leader rather than a tyrant.
Mayor Abdulhamid noted, "the owner of the mall is not an Arab, but from Turkey, and investigation had revealed that the song was played on YouTube and unintentionally played the song [apparently the mall had Autoplay on], the music was complimenting Saddam Hussein.
In July 2021, a hotel also played a song complimenting the late Baathist dictator Saddam Hussein has been; the hotel was shut for playing a piece of music flattering about Saddam Hussein.
A directive signed by Sulaimani's top doctor asks the governor's office to seize the lasers in the medals, pencils and children's toys.
Citing health reasons, the top doctor says that if such lasers are pointed at the eye, they can burn the visual center and sometimes cause loss of sight.
Hawrami advised the Sulaimani administration to take legal action against negligence and violators. Many markets in the city sell such products as children find them amusing and entertaining.
A member of the high committee of the Sulaimani mayorship told KurdSat English that, following the Sulaimani health department's advice, they had started a campaign of joint committees to search shops, markets and places that sell lasers.
Lasers are not as widely used as they once were, but recently, many laser pointers have entered the market. Health experts warn that exposure to laser light could cause permanent vision loss or damage sensitive eye parts.
Penjwen Mayor Zana Abdulrahman told Kurdsat English that they had refused to receive fuel at 103,000 Iraqi Dinars (IQD) and asked [government] to reduce the price, but they were told that the price would not be reduced." Many people in the mountainous regions of the Kurdistan region complain of the high prices for one barrel of oil and have resorted to firewood to heat their homes in the winter.
Despite the high price, the mayor noted that they have requested to be supplied with fuel and may receive loads in the next 20 days. The mayor said it is up to the people to decide whether to buy the fuel. Abdulrahman explained that Penjwen needs 2.6 million to 3 million liters of white kerosene.
People of the neighboring Saidsadiq district also refused to accept the government-subsidized fuel at 103,000 IQD. Despite the people’s frustration with the pricing, they have asked the Sulaimani Oil and Minerals Directorate to provide them with oil for the winter, per Said Sadiq mayor Diyari Rafiq. The Saidsaqid mayor told KurdSat English that trucks of white kerosene might reach the district next week and have eligible 22,000 families to receive the subsided fuel.
Only one barrel is provided to families, while most families burn over four barrels of kerosene in winter, according to unofficial figures.
The fuel price has increased almost fourfold since previous years. In 2020 one barrel of government-subsidized white kerosine was 30,000 IQD, while now it stands at 103,000 IQD. Although the fuel is subsidized, its prices make it unattractive as people in rural regions of the Kurdistan region live primarily on agriculture and have less per capita income compared to the urban areas.
“PUK is also worried about freedom of expression in the Kurdistan region and made it clear to the foreign envoys that people should be safe when expressing their opinions,” the report said. The KDP usually has a vague policy towards freedom of expression as it publicly supports it. It has put tens of journalists and activists behind bars on various charges; journalists were charged with conspiring with foreign powers, including the US and Germany. Badinan Detainees is a case in point; several journalists and activists were detained by Erbil security forces in 2020 in their homes and kept in custody for a year without trial. Some of them were sentenced to over five years in prison.
Erbil and Duhok have developed better than Sulaimani. Because Erbil discriminates against the PUK Stronghold Sulaimani, PUK supporters and people of Sulaimani say on social media.
The PUK has made its position clear to the public and foreign consulates and ambassadors about its disapproval of how the Kurdistan region is governed. To protest Ebril’s discrimination against Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani has boycotted the Kurdistan region council of minister meetings twice and continues to do so.
Today, Tuesday, the Turkish army opened fire on the villages of Khalifan and Siran in Kurdistan region;s Bradost area, killing several animals, KurdSat English reporter said.
Head of Khalifan village Mukhtar Jalal told Kurdsat English, “the Turkish army is opening fire on our villages every day and randomly, and Turkish army's firing in the past few days had killed a number of goats and cows of the villagers.
Mukhtar Jalal added that the Turkish army disrupts normal life in the area and averts villagers from doing their daily work. The Turkish army has been stationed in the Bradost region for five years, the reporter noted. Turkey’s deliberate killing of animals aims to encourage villagers to leave the area as their loverhoods depend on it.
Ankara has set up tens of military bases inside the Kurdistan region. The bases have made lives of villagers difficult, and have displaced hundreds.
Ali Jamal Qaduri, a spokesperson f Garmian police, told Kurdsat English, "A man born in 1996 was arrested on three charges."
Garmian police noted that the 26-year-old man had admitted to going bankrupt. The spokesperson added, “the young man took $180,000 from citizens and told them he would invest it in cryptocurrency and then pay them back.” According to complainers, he did not pay them back and failed to make any profit when he invested the money he collected from people.
"Others might sue him, because so far only three victims have taken to the police, and many others have given him money, according to the people engaged with him, he has collected close to a million US dollars," KurdSat English reporter noted.
In the past few years, many people claiming to raise funds have convinced the masses to grant them their money in exchange for a significant profit in the short term. Notably, Sleman Halsho from Raparin district raised over US $15 million from the people of the region and two years later admitted going bankrupt.
Bashar Fayeq, 21, was a sophomore medical student at a university in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province, a KurdSat English reporter said. On November 3, four bullies stabbed him near his university, the reporter said. He was from the Kurdistan region, and had left for Iran to follow his studies.
Bashar's father, Fayeq Ahmad, said, "his son was hospitalized for four days and died at 6:00 am today after four major surgeries." Fayeq added that he was beaten by two men in a park in Ahvaz four days ago, and then five others came and stabbed him seven times."
According to his brother, "Bashar left his dorm for the market and was confronted by a bunch of thieves who asked him to hand over his phone and wallet but he refused and was stabbed by the thieves."
Bashar's family has asked the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) to help them return his body to his hometown in Duhok's Bardarash district.
PUK President Talabani met with the deputy commander and regiment commanders of the KCF. President Talabani praised the role of KCF commander Akam Omar and wished him full and soon recovery. Commander Omar was severely injured in an explosion Sulaimani’s Garmian district and is in hospital since then.
President Talabani also said that building a strong and organized force such as commandos that have played a significant role in the fight against ISIS terrorists and stability of the Kurdistan region. “Now they [KCF] continues to fight corruption and corrupt people and defend the rights of the people and public property, which we all take pride in.”
In a meeting with many KCF commanders and peshmerga President Talabani advised them to continue their military duty with a responsibly.
The PUK politburo congratulated its counterpart body, the newly elected KDP central committee. "On behalf of the PUK, we commend you on the success of the Fourth Congress of your party and the election of the new leadership for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
In its fourth Congress, around a thousand KDP members elected 41 party officials to the central committee.
"We hope that the recommendations and decisions of the congress have been in the interest of the success of our people's unity and better governance and worthy of the Kurdish region citizens."
The members of the KDP's Politburo and Leadership will also join the Congress without a vote. Moreover, 25 percent of the members of Congress must be women.
Around a thousand people are expected to participate in the 14th Congress of the KDP.
The last KDP Congress was held in 2010. According to internal rules of the KDP, the Congress must be held every four years, but the 14th Congress was postponed due to the war against ISIS.
Moreover, the KDP Politburo Secretary Fadhil Mirani announced in February 2021 that his party would hold its 14th Congress the following May.
KDP congress elected Masoud Barzani as president of the KDP, and his son Masrour Barzani and his nephew Nechirvan Barzani as his deputies.
Kurdish revolutionaries in Iran founded the KDP on August 16, 1946, in Mahabad. Soon after its establishment, the party began to engage in armed struggle with various oppressive regimes over Kurdish rights for autonomy.
In a clash with the Sulaimani’s western security forces (Asaysh), two ISIS terrorists were killed and women with them injured in Kichan village in Sangaw subdistrict in Sulaimani, Sulaimani Western Security Directorate said in a statement. The two terrorists were killed after a 30-minute clash, per security officials.
Recently, a group of terrorists had sneaked into Chamchamal’s Sangaw subdistrict that had planned to commit terrorist acts in the region; following intelligence gathered by Asaysh and after receiving a court warranty for their arrest, an Asaysh unit was dispatched to arrest the terrorist, but the terrorists resisted and were killed in action, Sulaimani Western Security Directorate explained in the statement.
A woman married to one of the terrorists was killed in the fighting and was transferred to the hospital.
Many ISIS terrorists hiding in the Kurdistan region have been either captured or neutralized since the defeat of ISIS in late 2018. However, many of their remnants have moved into the cities of the Kurdistan region with hopes of terrorizing its population.
On September 21, Sulaimani security forces arrested an ISIS leader in Sulaimani who had been hiding in the city since 2020.
In spite of the State Duma's denials earlier today, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a famous Russian businessman and member of Putin's inner circle, confirmed Kremlin meddling in American elections.
CBC reports that Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted on Monday that he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to do so in the future. This is the first admission from a figure formally implicated by Washington in Russia's efforts to influence American politics.
According to comments posted by his press office Concord catering firm on Russia's Facebook equivalent VKontakte, Prigozhin said: "We have interfered (in the U.S. elections), we are interfering, and we will continue to interfere. We have mastered it, so we will do it carefully, accurately, surgically, and in our own style.."
The comment of Prigozhin, who has been subjected to US and European sanctions, and has been accused for several years of interfering in US elections, particularly the 2016 presidential elections, came on the eve of the midterm elections, which will take place tomorrow. In addition to electing 30 state governors out of 50, Americans will elect members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate.
Earlier today, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin denied these rumors altogether, saying his country does not interfere in US elections or allow outside interference.
The charges are also being used as a preemptive justification by the Democratic Party for its defeat tomorrow in the Senate and House elections, after the mistakes of Joe Biden's administration.
US papers reported yesterday that fake accounts started a campaign to influence the results of the elections, indicating that a Russian agency that interfered in the 2016 and 2020 elections is now repeating its practices, per the New York Times.
It also stated that those accounts launched a massive smear campaign against US President Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats in a flagrant manner.
Last month, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned of disinformation spreading through "web media, online magazines, messaging apps, scam websites, and emails", promoting false allegations of data breaches or voting results.
The US midterm elections will probably give the Republicans both the senate and the house, as many analysts suggest, giving the Biden administration a heavy headache in passing their bills and its foreign policy, both in Ukraine and the Middle East, as they strive to survive Trump's cancellation of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal.
"Our forces followed the terrorists' activities and were placed under close surveillance. After confirmation and obtaining the judge's approval, the arrest operation began. In a thirty-minute clash, both terrorists (K. S. M.) and (M. A. M.) were killed, and (S. N. A) was wounded, SWAD explained. SWAD disclosed the identity of the slain terrorists.
"Neutralized terrorist (K. S. M.) was born in 1975, a resident of the Raperin neighborhood in Chamchamal. He was married with three children," Sulaimani security said. KSM is one of the few elderly ISIS members in the Kurdistan region, as an overwhelming majority of those joining ISIS are below 20 years of age.
The SWAD also added that the injured woman, identified by her initials as (S. N. A), was married to 23-year-old (M. A. M.) from Chamchamal's Raperin neighborhood. He was killed on November 3 in an armed clash with Asaysh. Both terrorists planned to commit terrorism in the region, Asaysh noted. According to the statement, the terrorist had pledged allegiance to ISIS but did not explain when and how.
Last week, two ISIS terrorists were killed and one injured in a fight with SWAD in Sulaimani's Sangaw subdistrict. Many ISIS terrorists hiding in the Kurdistan region have been either captured or neutralized since the defeat of ISIS in late 2018. Though, many of their remnants have moved into the cities of the Kurdistan region with hopes of terrorizing its population. On September 21, Sulaimani security forces arrested an ISIS leader in Sulaimani who had been hiding in the city since 2020.
Today, Sunday, in a televised press conference in the Kurdistan Parliament in Erbil, twelve lawmakers of the Kurdistan Parliament, MPs from all parties except the KDP and PUK announced their resignation. Abdulstar Majid, a Justice Group lawmaker, spoke on behalf of the leaving MPs to protest the extension of the parliament.
On October, 9 the Kurdistan Parliament voted to extend its life by a year, as the parties had not agreed on a date to hold election, which would have left the parliament in legal vacuum.
In the briefing Majid said, "we candidly expressed our opposition to the extension of the parliament’s expired term and have made our position clear before." The MPs vetoed the postponement during the assembly’s session to prolong its legal life.
"Just as the parliament’s term is over, the government, presidency, governorate councils, and electoral commission’s terms are over as well, and this makes all governing institutions illegitimate," Majid added in the statement.
Remaining parliament factions have planned to replace the outgoing MPs with the candidates that had less votes than the winning candidates in the previous election.
There are five extensions since the establishment of the Kurdistan Parliament in 1992, and a total of the Parliament has extended its life on more than one occasion. The second term of Parliament was supposed to end on June 4, 2009, but the political parties agreed to extend it for over two months. Parliament’s third term was to expire legally on August 20, 2013, but the political parties opened it for seventy days. The current term of the parliament would have ended on November 6, 2022.
Villagers in Penjwen, Kurdistan region, where in winters temperature drops to minus, with prolonged snowfall blocking traffic, find it difficult to heat their homes as energy prices has skyrocketed.
Khala Mustafa, a Penjwen villager logs trees to prepare for the coming winter said, “I don’t want to cut down trees, but I have no other option, because our country is beautiful with its trees.” Mustafa also complains, “We can’t pay for kerosene [Iraqi government’s subsidized kerosene priced at 100,000 Iraqi Dinars IQD] and that forces us out cut down our tress which we don’t want to, while we seat on large reserves of oil, and they know that Penjwen is a cold place but still they charge us very high, they only subsidize one barrel of kerosene [220 liters] which is not enough to get us through the winter.”
A barrel of government subsidized white kerosene costs 39,000 IQD in 2021, but now its upped to 103,000 IDQ a threefold increase.
Logging has become the most significant threat to Penjwen’s environment. Hundreds of villagers in the harsh geographies of Penjwen has took to the forests to heat their homes. Many say that the drive for turning to logging is high energy prices. “The reason is the price, a man cannot pay 103,000 IQD for a barrel, and you need at least four barrels until April, we also don’t want to cut down trees, but there is no other way,” a villager told KurdSat English.
Villagers storing logs to heat their homes in the winter
Penjwen inhabitants refused to purchase government subsidized Kerosene at 103,000 IQD, leading many to call for protecting Penjwen forests. “Some cut them down for their own use, while others log for business, because a load of logs costs around 700,00 IQD, and the tree are cut down randomly,” an activist told KurdSat English.
Penjwen Mayor explained that the government has not replied to their request to give Pnejwen, kerosene at a discount, and says that lack of energy is a big threat to the forests in Penjwen. “Our environment is a valuable national wealth, there are trees aged over hundreds of years but of course if there is no heat, people would be obliged to cut them down.” On protecting the forests, the mayor said, “we would not allow logging, only dead trees and branches of trees are up for grab, however if many people have no option we may not be able to prevent logging, as Penjwen is a large geography that not easy to cover.”
Government distribution of fuels prioritizes colder, mountainous areas like Penjwen, and according to instructions fuel subsidized for winter must be passed out in the previous summer but almost always its withheld until the beginning of winter, leading demand to outpace supply and increase its price. The government’s set price for kerosene is considered a large burden on most families, as per capita income is relatively lower in the agrarian based economies of places like Penjwen.
The Kurdistan region environment faces many challenges, among them water scarcity and degradation, the current high energy crisis adds up to the list, while nothing is done to protect the region’s vegetation.
A forest in Penjwen, Kurdistan region
Shakar Mardan, a lawyer defending Daquq land grabs, told KurdSat English, “through Iraqi legal and judicial means, and through Daquq district administration, plots of land were returned to their Kurdish owners.
He added that "a Daquq court gave back of close to 1,300 acres of land to the Kurds in the area, and Rusafa Court in Baghdad restored 837 acres to their owners."
The lawyer also noted that the Iraqi Supreme Court approved the rulings to return the lands were, and reversing the decision would be impossible.
Kurdish, Turkmen, and Arab farmers dispute over 300 hectares of farmlands in Kirkuk’s southern Laylan subdistrict. Most of which remain unsettled, and is a source of contention between the different minority groups.
The Iraqi security forces took over the disputed regions following the Kurdistan region 2017 independence referendum; Iraqi security forces have begun enacting policies that make the lives of the Kurdish people in the disputed territories more difficult. In Kirkuk and other towns of the disputed territories, the authorities have banned posters and billboards in Kurdish, and security forces stop farmers from watering their crops. They were denied working on their farms and told to leave.