Kurdistan
Ali Qazi, son of Kurdish leader Qazi Mohammed, who founded the short-lived Republic of Mahabad in 1946 in present-day Iran, passed away at 89 in Germany’s Bonn city, on June 8.
According to reports, the body of Ali Qazi will be temporarily buried next to his sister's grave in Kalar district.
Ali Qazi was born in 1933 in Mahabad, East Kurdistan. He settled in Germany after the collapse of the Mahabad Republic. He was the former leader of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (KFP).
Ali was 13 when his father was hanged by the Pahlavi dynasty on March 31, 1947, after the republic's creation.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that through the law, foreign workers would be treated in a more organized and better way, and their rights would be protected, while the rights of local workers in providing job opportunities for local workers get.
Qubad Talabani stressed that in the new labor bill, the rights of children and women would be more protected.
The labor force in the Kurdistan region is largely unregulated, with consequences on the region's economy.
Unofficial figures put the number of foreign workers in the Kurdistan region at 22 thousand. They come mostly from Bangladesh, the Philippines and the regions, and most of them work in the service industry.
"The federal government is putting undue and illegitimate pressure to prevent the revenue that the region receives from oil and domestic revenues," the statement added.
He added that they will not give up the constitutional rights of the people of the Kurdistan Region and will defend their rights, and will not submit to any pressure and threats from the federal government that wants to violate the rights of the Kurdish people.
A dispute between the KRG and Baghdad emerged after the passing of charismatic Kurdish leader and former Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. In late 2013 the then Iraqi premier, Nouri al-Malki, adopted an anti-KRG policy, essentially a financial blockade on the Kurdistan federal region.
The Kurdistan region could not pay its massive payroll, and it cut almost 70 percent of salaries and paid them once each 60 or 70 days. It led to KRG-wide protests and massive suffering for the Iraqi Kurds.
After years of negotiation between Erbil and Baghdad, the federal government not only continued its policies, but the federal supreme court decided to strip the KRG from all its revenues and takeover its energy sector.
He said the projects will be carried out on a budget of more than 91 billion dinars. One hundred twenty-eight of the projects are newly designed, while 34 are those that remained unbuilt for lack of funding in the previous years.
The governor revealed that the projects include roads, paving, water, sewerage, health, education, and several other projects. In addition to these projects, several strategic projects will be constructed.
For the past 8 years building new projects in the Kurdistan region has diminished by less than 90 percent due to the war against ISIS and Baghdad’s holding of the region’s share of the budget.
Hakim highlighted the position and efforts of President Bafel Jalal Talabani in bringing the parties closer together and forming the government, saying that the PUK is an important and influential force, and history has proved that. The PUK had a significant role in resisting dictatorship [Saddam Hussein's rule] and has always been present in political incidents.
"The late leader, President Mam Jalal, brought everyone together under his wise shadow and took Iraq to a new stage of unity and coexistence, so now we need the same view of politics and we are sure the PUK will continue this path," he said.
Hakim was referring to the former Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. He was known for uniting different Iraqi political parties all his life. In the 70s and 80s, he united the Iraqi opposition against Saddam Hussein and gave them refugees in the regions controlled by the PUK in the Kurdistan region. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, he worked as a uniting force and kept everyone in line. He came to be known for his efforts as "the peacekeeper."
Negotiations for the next Iraqi government have dragged on for almost a year, yet the prospect of forming a government is unclear. After the Sadrist bloc withdrew from the parliament, other parties replacing Sadrist MPs now command the majority in the Iraqi council of representatives and talks for forming the next cabinet are underway.
On Monday, June 4, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Kwestan Mohammed Abdullah and President of SEED Foundation Sheri Kraham Talabani signed a memorandum of understanding in a ceremony at the Ministry's office, strengthening their joint commitment to serve children, women and men.
Sherry Kraham Talabani said that through this partnership, they will work to address the immediate need for services for vulnerable people in shelters and throughout the Kurdistan region.
"I am pleased that SEED Foundation and the Ministry of Labor share a joint mission to uphold children's rights, women's rights and human rights and we welcome SEED's support for life-saving support services be more available, and spread awareness of important issues affecting Kurdish society," minister of labor and social affairs said.
SEED is a Kurdistan region-based NGO. SEED’s works to protect, empower, and support the recovery of survivors of violence and vulnerable persons. SEED is committed to delivering quality and holistic approaches, combining international expertise and local know-how to achieve results for the people of Iraq and Kurdistan.
Turkish drones have again bombed a refugee camp in Makhmur in the Kurdistan region. The attack targeted a house in the Martyr Rostam Judi refugee camp in Makhmur and caused only material damage.
The refugee camp houses refugees from north Kurdistan or Kurds from Turkey that have fled Turkish rule. Turkey calls the camp a PKK base.
Before the strike, the Iraqi high command visited Makhmour. A high-level military delegation, including the chief of staff of the army, the chief of staff of the Joint Operations Command, the assistant operations commander, the commander of the infantry and several commanders of army operations arrived in Makhmur and met with the Chief of Staff of the Peshmerga Forces and discussed the security situation in areas of mutual interest and intelligence sharing.
On April 15, 2020, Turkish drones bombed the camp and killed two civilians. Turkey’s incursions into the region have caused great concern among the people of the Kurdistan region as its drones only hit mountainous areas but now pound residential areas.
"Despite threats on my life because I am a business, but I was ready to give up my weapon to the authorities, but the government must protect me after I have given up my protection, and I hope that I become an example for others to follow," Amlak told KurdSat.
Amlak is the only citizen in the Kurdistan region to give up his weapon willingly. The spokesperson for the Sulaimani police department told KurdSat that "no one has brought their weapons in, but anyone who does will be given a receipt [of compensation] and his name registered."
"After council of minister's [ of the Kurdistan region] decision to ban weapons we have captured many weapons in our checkpoints," the spokesperson added.
Rekan Majeed, a Peshmerga, told KurdSat, "If there were a weapons depot, we would not have to take our weapons home." The Peshmerga forces do not possess weapons depo, and the Peshmerga troops take their weapons back home when they come back from duty and bring their guns into the cities and civilian areas in the Kurdistan region.
In the past month, 15 people were killed with weapons. In one incident, a former college student killed a college dean and professor with a firearm.
The security forces said they would continue their operations to seize illegal weapons to prevent unwanted incidents while ensuring that anyone who surrenders their gun will be given a receipt of compensation.
After a dramatic increase in crimes in the Kurdistan region, the prime minister of the Kurdistan region said that he had directed related ministries and agencies to seize unlicensed weapons and shut down gun stores.
According to the survey, 15-year-olds make up 64% of the population, and male and female genders each make up 50%.
Young people aged between 15 and 24 accounts for 21%, and those aged 24 and over account for 43% of the population, with the unemployment rate at 16.5%.
The Iraqi Planning Minister said that the general population census could not be conducted due to political and economic changes in recent years, so they needed a survey to know the reality of the labor market in order to establish appropriate mechanisms to solve unemployment problems.
The Kurdistan region can pay its employees' salaries without Baghdad sending the region's budget share. Since early 2014, the Kurdistan region has partially paid its employees. Lack of cash forced the Kurdistan regional government to pay civil servants once every two months or every 70 or 80 days, causing severe discontent among the region's people.
KurdSat found out that the Kurdistan Region government has spent 5.4 trillion dinars or 3.7 billion USD on the salaries of civil servants in the first six months of this year.
According to the investigation, only 7 per cent or four hundred trillion Iraqi dinars of the money came from Baghdad, while the rest came from the region's independent sale of its energy.
A spike in oil prices and increased domestic revenues have helped the government of the Kurdistan region to independently pay its employees without cash from Baghdad, which previously it could not.
In February 2022, the Iraqi supreme court ruled that the Kurdistan region's independent handling of its energy sector was unconstitutional. Since then, Baghdad has withheld the region's share of the Budget.
The region's government employees comprise the largest portion of the budget pie. In a region of 6 million people, 1.2 million people are employed by the government, making them a heavy burden on the region with immense political, economic and social complications.
The minister noted that the graduates of agricultural departments will take qualification courses for two months and are prepared to make employment contracts.
On June 28, the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Kurdistan region announced 5,000 job opportunities for agriculture graduates and veterinary departments. The ministry published forms for the graduates that could be filled online.
A decree by the acting governor of Kirkuk, Rakan Juburi, announced that citizens who were not living in Kirkuk would lose their food ration and Kirkuk residence cards, effectively excluding them from the Kirkuk governorate. The decision caused great concern among the Kurds, who comprise the majority of Kirkuk.
Chairman of the General Board for Kurdistani Areas Outside the Kurdistan Region, Fahmi Burhan, told KurdSat that the decision issued by the acting Kirkuk governor against the Kurds is entirely chauvinistic and contrary to all the principles of coexistence and legal and constitutional principles.
Fahmi Burhan, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government's board for settling disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad, explained that people had lived together in Kirkuk for ages, but the recent decision disturbs that coexistence.
"We will oppose it in any way. It should be worked on at the level of the streets and civil society organizations so that no one can disrupt social and political order and coexistence," he added.
The decree was condemned by the Kurdish officials in Baghdad as well. Gailan Qadir, a Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi council of representatives with the PUK, told KurdSat that "after hearing the decision, they promptly visited and talked the acting governor out of it and the acting governor decided to overturn the decision."
"Iraqi Minister of Justice had told the Iraqi premier and the premier contacted the acting governor of Kirkuk to abolish the decree," the lawmaker added.
After the 2017 Kurdistan region independence referendum the Popular Mobilization Forces took over Kirkuk from the Peshmerga forces, and a sizable Kurdish population of Kirkuk left the city for the Kurdistan region.
On March 7, Rakan Juburi, the acting governor of Kirkuk, asked the Iraqi operations commander to take measures to withdraw from citizens holding Kirkuk residence cards but living outside the province. Rakan Juburi's actions were called anti-Kurdish and an attempt to Arabize Kirkuk.
The most reliable and objective census was taken in 1957; others are unreliable as they were mended according to political ends. According to the 1957 Kirkuk census, Kurds made up 48 percent of the population in the city, followed by Arabs at 28 percent and Turkmen at 21 percent.
Five civilians have been killed in the Kurdistan region and four new military headquarters have been built in the past month in the face of Turkish military aggression in the Kurdistan region.
According to American Community Peace Makers report, five civilians, including three children, have been killed and 15 others injured in Turkey's attacks on the Kurdistan region’s northern areas in the past month.
According to the report, four new Turkish military headquarters have been built in the Kurdistan Region, and the Turkish army carries continuous shelling of villages in the region. Chamchamal’s Tutaqal village in Sulaimani was emptied due to Turkish raids.
The Turkish army has stepped up its military operations in the Kurdistan region to fight against the Turkish army. It has set up over 50 military bases and outposts, and Turkish UAVs carry out raids deep within the region’s territory.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced it had seized 2,228 pistols, 1,811 Kalashnikovs, 3,22 rifles and 26,523 bullets in the Kurdistan region, plus 9,524 Kalashnikov rounds and 748 pistol rounds.
The recent sharp increases in crime and homicide in the Kurdistan region sparked fierce reactions from the people to ban weapons. After the killing of a university dean and professor by a former college student on June 28, the Kurdistan region prime minister decided to seize all unlicensed firearms and shut down gun stores.
The Kurdistan regional government launched a campaign to seize illegal weapons and since has shut down most gun stores.
The Iraqi Civil Defense Directorate (ICD) has announced that 13,600 fires have been registered in all provinces except the Kurdistan region in the first half of this year.
According to the Civil Defense Directorate, 47 percent of the fires were caused by electrical short circuits, most of them in Baghdad.
In summer time temperature rises in southern Iraq and causes many electricity-related fire incidents.
Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmad, an executive member of the PUK politburo, received a delegation of women led by KNK Co-Chairperson Zeinab Murad. They discussed the political situation in the region and Kurdistan and stressed the need for unity between the forces and parties and the solidarity of Kurdish women.
The delegation thanked Hiro Ibrahim Ahmad, a former member of the PUK politburo and one of the early Kurdish female leaders through Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmad and explained that as a female leader and patriot, Hiro Ibrahim Ahmad has supported them in their national struggle and reaffirmed that they would keep her efforts high and alive in the history of contemporary Kurdish national struggle.
Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmad explained the idea and purpose of the Khak Gallery to the guest delegation during the visit to the gallery, officially named "I will not give a single piece of the land of the country to the Imperial Palace." The exhibit displays land samples of different cities and regions of the greater Kurdistan, and they are put together as a sign of the integrity of Kurdistan. She expressed her gratitude to the women's delegation of the Kurdistan National Congress for bringing soil samples of the cities of North Kurdistan to the gallery.
The KNK delegation expressed their admiration for the project and thanked Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmad for building a major national project. After their appreciation of the project, they thought it necessary to present the soil of 22 cities and regions of North Kurdistan to the gallery, the delegation added.
The gallery is an exhibition to show examples of the soil of different cities and regions of Kurdistan, each of which has its distinct color, shape and smell. It is a way to show Ibrahim Ahmed's struggle for the national liberation of the greater Kurdistan.
KNK is a multi-national platform that includes all Kurdish parties and groups that work for the independence of Kurdistan.