Kurdistan

Kurdistan Parliament Energy and Natural Resources Committee member Karwan Gaznay told reporters at a televised press conference today in Erbil that the government still needs to supply people with subsidized kerosene.

"Initially, we need 258 million liters of kerosene to supply each household in the Kurdistan region with a barrel of kerosene," Gaznay said.

According to the lawmaker, up to January 2023, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has distributed only 43 million kerosene to the people, which equals 17 percent of the Kurdistan region's citizens. "That leaves 83 percent Kurdistan region households without fuel," the MP noted.

Gaznay blamed the government's lack of planning for distribution and the fuel price at 103,000 Iraqi Dinars as the main drive for the failure to provide every household with fuel to heat their homes in the winter. "The set price was not to help citizens but was for profit," the lawmaker told reporters. 

Several districts in the Kurdistan region have not received government-supplied kerosene for the past three years. Now the government sells kerosene at 103,500 Iraqi dinars to the citizens; many families still need help to purchase the fuel at the set price, leaving many without energy for the winter.

Many have resorted to firewood and other energy sources to heat their homes in the winter amid high energy prices, with environmental activists warning of increased logging for firewood.

 
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KurdSat English has learned that today a farewell ceremony will be held in front of the Ahmed Kaya Cultural Center in Paris to commemorate the three Kurds killed by a racist French citizen.

The bodies of the two victims will be repatriated to North Kurdistan, Turkey, where they will be buried, while the body of the third victim will arrive in Makhmour in the Kurdistan region for burial.

A racist man opened fire on the Kurdish community in Paris, killing three Kurdish activists; the attack caused a large public outcry and led the Kurdish community in the country to ask for more protection.

The killer, a retired train driver named William M., told police he had become "depressed" and "suicidal" after his home was robbed in 2016, the office of the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday.

The Paris Shooting spree attack came almost 10 years after the murder of three Kurdish women activists in the French capital; the victims were PKK members, prompting many to raise fingers at Turkey.

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Today, Tuesday, farmers in the agrarian district of Bardarash begin planting potato with their tractors.

According photojournalist Faisal Keto, the Bardarash region produces more than 65% of the potatoes in the Kurdistan Region.

The Kurdistan region has hundreds of thousands of acres of arable and and plenty of water that support various crops and vegetables, although the region relies on foreign supplies for food.

 

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In a large-scale joint search operation, Kurdistan region security special operations forces, General Directorate of Counter-Terrorism (CTG) forces, the Kurdistan Commando Forces, the 711th Brigade of the 70th Peshmerga Corps and the forces of the International Coalition against ISIS, today conducted an extensive air and ground operation in Ashdakh Mountain and Sangaw area of the Kurdistan region.

“The joint operation was launched at 5 am on Monday, January 2, 2023 and lasted until 2 pm on the same day,” a statement from the security forces said. The joint operation searched the areas where ISIS sleeper cells' presence is suspected.

According to the Kurdistan region security forces the operation was "only" to monitor the security situation in the area. The forces said that their extensive search has ensured the people of the region that they are safe from any threats.

The large-scale operation is the most extensive military operation to date in the region, as it involved all armed forces.

Kurdistan region armed forces during the search operation in Sulaimani's Sangaw region

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During last year, more than 150 kilograms of drugs have been seized in Soran, according to date obtained by KurdSat from the administration’s security forces.

“Soran is between two countries, that is why it is often used as a transit. Borders crossings should be strictly monitored,” Halgurd Sheikh Najeeb, Supervisor of the Soran administration told KurdSat.

There is no center for treating drug addicts in Soran and the head of human rights commission in Soran, Jawad Swar says, “so many people have become victims.”

According to a data released by the United Nations, there are over 50,000 people addicted to drugs in the Kurdistan Region.

Soran is an area in Iraqi Kurdistan bordering Iran and Turkey. Its main city is also called Soran, although the town of Rawanduz is better known outside of the region.

Soran is located about 110km north east of Erbil and 65km west of the Iranian border. Today the town has a population of approximately 125,000, most of which are refugees who returned from Iran to Iraq within the last ten years. 

 
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Sheikh Mustafa Sheikh Abdulrahman, head of the union of importers and exporters in the Kurdistan region said during a press conference, 1.147 tons of food and goods have been imported to the Kurdistan region this year.

Among the items imported to the Kurdistan region, food and beverages ranked first, followed by construction materials.

The head of the union of importers and exporters said, 5,204 import licenses have been issued to traders in the Kurdistan region.

Most of the exports took place at the Ibrahim Khalil border gate.

The exported products include bread, pomegranates, other agricultural products, car oil and many other products.

"This year, 298 import licenses have been issued to traders in the Kurdistan Region, including 120 at Ibrahim Khalil, 18 at Haji Omeran, 22 at Bashmakh and five at Erbil airport," said the head of the union of importers and exporters.

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The murder took place in Kirkuk’s Smail Beg community in Shuan district, southeast of the province.

Kurdsat News reporter said the gunmen tied the man’s hands and feet before stabbing his wife to death.

No arrests have been made so far and the cause of the murder is unclear, but a source from Kirkuk police said, "It seems to be a social problem, because the husband’s car was shot last week.

According to police statistics, 28 murders have been registered in Kirkuk province during the current year.

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A Kurdish library in Syria's Mediterranean city of Latakia joined the list of the oldest Syrian libraries after its managers announced its closure at the end of this year, nearly 80 years after its opening. The library would be closed in the coming days, the owners said. 

We did not decide it shut down because of a shortage of readers or not buying books, but rather because of many circumstances that contributed to our closure and because of which we cannot continue, the Library managers said in a Facebook post. The library is to join dozens of other ancient libraries that have closed their doors to readers in recent years.

In a post on the library's Facebook page, the library's administrators explained that they have not and will not be dragged into the piracy and counterfeiting book business. They contributed as much as possible to restore the original book's culture to Syrian libraries. Still, today theft, photocopying, and piracy predominate the book market despite their high price. The Library owners complained that it leaves no place for original books or our library in such an environment. The owners also pointed out that most readers need help to afford original books.

The "Kurdish" bookstore is one of the oldest libraries in Lattakia and Syria. It was founded by and owned by Yusuf al-Kurdiyah in 1950 and passed on to his children and grandchildren. It is known for its unique services of offering books of all kinds of cultural, literary, social, and political books in the city.

Kurdish culture, history, and language have been preserved in places like Syria through libraries and cultural centers as the various regimes have banned Kurdish education or the Kurdish language.
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Sulaimani Census Department release the number of newborn babies in Sulaimani Governorate. The figures were collected from Sulaimani private and public hospitals from January 1, 2022, to December 22, 2022. 


According to the census department, more boys were born than girls, numbering 13,762, while 12,421 girls were born in the same period.


Most of the newborn boys were first named Mohammed and second Ahmed, while the most common girl names were Mina and Ella, respectively. Mina is a Iranian name flower type. Ella is a Kurdish name, meaning moon light. 

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Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani sent a congratulatory message to Christians worldwide on the birthday of Jesus Christ. 

Religious events are an important opportunity to continue and strengthen brotherhood and the spirit of peaceful coexistence between all communities in Kurdistan and Iraq, the DPM said. 

Talabani congratulated all Christians in Kurdistan, Iraq and the world on the birthday of Jesus Christ. Religious festivals are essential to continue and strengthen brotherhood and the spirit of peaceful coexistence between all communities in Kurdistan and Iraq, the DPM noted. 

Kurdistan is proud to have been a prime example of brotherhood and peaceful coexistence throughout history, Talabani concluded his congratulatory message.

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This Kurdish tradition is very similar to ancient Jewish traditions. According to the Jewish historian Josephus who lived in the first century, Israel had two New Years—the commercial New Year, which began in the fall of the seventh month, and the religious New Year, which started in the spring first month).

Newsal, Nusal or Nusar is translated into English as "new year." It comes from Nausardi or Nusardi ("new year") in Old Kurdish. In some regions, the festival also has local names, for example, Gaxn "Gakhan" in Dersim in northern Kurdistan, Cejna Xore "Feast of the Sun".

The earliest recorded date of Nusardi being celebrated by Kurds- along with Mehrakan, Tiriaski and Newroz, comes from the 3rd century CE. 

The festivities of Nûsal begin on December 21 and last until the first week of January. Some Xorkanî Reya Heqi/Kurdish Alevis, celebrate Gaxan on December 31. 

This festival is very similar to the Christian celebration of Christmas, and both are originally Mithraic traditions. This annual celebration on December 25 was the most crucial celebration of Mithraism, sun-worshipping; it was believed that Mithra was born on this day. 

Mithraism has been practiced in modern-day Kurdistan since the Mitannian period (1600 BCE). The non-Abrahamic Kurdish sects of Yarsanî, Yezidî/Ezidî, and Xorkanî/Rêya Heqî are regarded as the sole remnants of Mithraism in the region.

According to the beliefs of Kurdish religious sects, the world remains a permanent fixture of the cosmos, year in and year out. Each year, however, is ruled by a different "Padişa—King—of the turning time." Following summer solstice, as the days begin to grow shorter, the Padişa, likewise, becomes older. By the end of the year, they are ready to pass on their temporal kingdom to the next Padişa – which is a renewed, yet distinct, version of himself/herself, becoming younger as the days grow longer. 

On the last Thursday of December, just after the winter solstice, the festival of Newsal/Nûsal is held, ushering out the old year - and the old Padişa - and welcoming in the new Padişa.

Among northern Kurds, the festival's centerpiece is a procession called Khalkek, in which several people wear traditional costumes and parade around their town or village. One of the performers, representing the outgoing Padişa, wears a white beard and carries a cane or other accessories of old age. Another performer, representing the world itself, is made up as a beautiful woman. A third performer, representing the incoming Padişa, is dressed as a young person with a blackened face (dark cosmos) – it is said that their face is dark because their star has only just begun to rise in the inner, spiritual world. Its light cannot yet be cast into the outer world, which will have to wait until March when they claim his throne.

While musicians beat drums and play the zurnas (oboe-like wind instruments), these three characters, sometimes joined by others in traditional dress, go from door to door, house to house, shop to shop, collecting food and money.

Traditionally, all the food would be brought to the home of the poorest family in the village or neighbourhood, where a feast is prepared. A couple of hours before the party, right around sunset, prayer rituals are held at sacred places, such as hilltops and springs. Prayers are offered for the new year, and lokma – sacramental food, in this case, a buttery cake - is shared among the congregation. 

The idea behind the Newsal/Nûsal is to refresh oneself spiritually. According to this custom, "when the world was renewed, humans were renewed. As the world gets renewed humans too get renewed and rejuvenated. As the world gets old, humankind gets old. After we enter a new year, we are also becoming a new people."

 

 

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The residents of Erbil and Duhok say, Shafafiat Project can give them right to know how much revenue their provinces are making.

Earlier this month, Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region launched a project titled "Shafafiat," meaning "transparency." 

The project is considered the first of its kind in over 30 years of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) rule, it provides information and the amount of income from every administration department in Sulaimani.

Shafafiat Project is consisted of an online website through which, the general public and the media can view sources of non-oil income and revenues.

The Shafafiat Project will radically change governance, eradicate corruption, and enable citizens and parliamentarians to monitor revenues.

The project has been warmly welcomed by the public opinion, and consideredas the most crucial step to bring transparency in the non-oil income of the provinces of Sulaymaniyah and Halabja, as well as the two administrations of Garmian and Raparin.

Journalists are also supporting the project and say that it makes it simple for them to access crucial information since it reveals everything related to citizens' lives that they have a right to know.

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The migrants and refugee monitoring group spokesperson Bahoz Barzan told reporters in Sulaimani that people continue to leave Iraq in large numbers.

"People continue to migrant in the world, Iraq and the Kurdistan region due to political, economic and social instability that has confronted the region for years," the spokesperson said. Millions of Iraqis have left the crisis-hit country in the past seven years, per Barzan.

We continue to serve migrants and refugees despite the lack of sufficient funds, according to the speaker. The Summit Foundation is an NGO funded by international organizations that have helped many refugees and migrants leaving Iraq in their ways in search of a better life; or track trapped or drowned migrants overseas to return their coffins.

Barzan also spoke about special assistance it has offered migrants, saying, "[we] have offered assistance to migrants losing their ways in route to Europe as they were headed to Libya or Egypt and helped them return home to the Kurdistan region." Migration smuggles misled Kurdish migrants and took them to Libya or Egypt instead of Europe. 

The Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister's Office has helped migrants return home or covered deceased migrant body repatriation fees. "We do cooperate with the Kurdistan Regional Government and they have been helpful," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson noted a similar number of migrants had left the Kurdistan region and Iraq in 2021 and 2022. "2021 saw 73,325 people migrating while 71,225 have left Iraq 2022," the spokesperson answered a reporter. According to the Summit Foundation, over 650 thousand people have left Iraq since 2015.

Many Iraqis continue to leave Iraq and the Kurdistan region for Europe in search of a better life as unemployment and inflation continue to rise in Iraq.

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Samir Hawrami, the spokesperson for Kurdistan Regional Government Deputy Prime Minister, told KurdSat English today that the transparency initiative will leave nothing in the shadows in Sulaimani and Halabja financial records and hopes for other provinces follow suit. Hawrami refers to the transparency project that made Sulaimani and Halabja provinces' financial revenues public as the first province in Iraq.


The DPM spokesperson notes that Qubad Talabani had placed transparency in revenue and reforms in governance in various sectors before other tasks and also digitized many lengthy administrative processes to serve citizens of the Kurdistan region. Sulaimani and Halabja's transparency initiative and the ongoing digitization of the government in the Kurdistan region is the brainchild of the Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani. 


Registration of employees in the biometric system, the Service Project—a step to help people in their administrative processing—and digitization of citizens' affairs in some departments and a number of other implemented similar improvements have been among Talabani's works in the recent years, per the DPM spokesperson.


Hawrami explained that shafafiat.com is not only a website to make information public but a way to reorganize economic infrastructure, financial and banking infrastructure and at the same time be open in the financial revenues of Sulaimani and Halabja provinces, and Garmian and Raperin administrations.


Last week, Qubad Talabani launched a project that made financial records, taxes, and tariffs in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces, a democratic move that could help reduce corruption and mismanagement dramatically, analysts say. All financial records of the KRG's southern regions are listed on the website with live updates.

 

 

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Born to a patriotic Erbil Kurdish family in 1989, the father of the commander of Kurdistan Commando Forces, Akam Omar, is a veteran Peshmerga Omar Osman, who served as a Peshmerga between 1978 and 2007. Martyr Akam was born to a revolutionary Peshmerga family, and a fighting spirit ran throughout his family. Martyr Gurun, the commander of the PUK artillery, was Martyr Omar's uncle.


Martyr Akam left two sisters, and a brother behind was the third child of his family and was unwed. He finished his primary and secondary education in Erbil. Akam had an excellent command of English, and Americans offered him a job. Between 2006 and 2010, he worked with the American forces as an interpreter. In 2011, he moved to the United States with the help of Americans and enrolled at an American military college.

As the war against ISIS begins, he moves back to the Kurdistan region and starts working for Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa, the then commander-in-chief of the Peshmerga 70th Corps and the overseer of the Peshmerga frontlines against ISIS.

Martyr Akam greatly assisted in forging closer ties between the Peshmerga forces and the International Coalition against ISIS. He knew both sides well and had experience working for both, which helped him bring them closer to a better fight against ISIS. In 2015, he was transferred to the Kirkuk front, and Sheikh Jafar formed a task force of 38 Peshmerga with Martyr Akam as the force's commander. 

Creating a Peshmerga special forces was a turning point in the war against ISIS as it denied the enemy the advantage of surprise attacks using its small terrorist groups. The special troops counter-acted the ISIS tactics. Commander Akam also reorganized the foreign volunteers fighting against ISIS and brought them under a single command, making it an effective force against ISIS. 

Commander Akam's force provided critical assistance to peshmerga forces fighting against ISIS as the force served as a rescue unit for Peshmerga trapped fighting the terrorist groups.

His small unit grew and came to be known as Kurdistan Commando Forces. US, Germany, and France trained the Kurdish special forces and equipped it with necessary weapons. Martyr Akam turned the small unit into a formidable force, numbering over three thousand by the end of 2020, from only 38 Peshmerga. The commando was a determining factor in battles against ISIS, as it broke the morale of ISIS and fought with a warrior spirit. In a video, Martyr Akam talks to new recruits, telling them that they are the first line of defense in their fight against terrorism, and only 13 percent of his force are not injured in battle.

Akam Omar was wounded twice in the fight to liberate Mosul in October 2016. In 2017 an explosive-laden vehicle drove towards his unit, and Commander Akam blew the car up using an AT4 before reaching the Peshmerga battlefront, saving many lives but leaving himself severely injured from the explosion. For nine times, Commander Akam stood to car bombs and stopped them before breaching Peshmerga fronts. 

Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa praised Martyr Akam's bravery in an interview, saying, "whenever a bullet was shot in the long frontlines [against ISIS] he was always there to defend the Peshmerga."

In 2017, ISIS launched an attack on a US military base in Kirkuk's K1 military base; the commando forces went to the rescue of the Americans, a suicide bomber blew up Martyr Akam's unit, injuring Commander Akam and five other Peshmergas, and the Americans later took him to the United States for treatment.

Commander Akam believed in fighting for freedom and ignored party politics. In 2016, ISIS sieged six Peshmergas in the KDP-led fifth front, KDP politburo member Kamal Karkuki commanded the front, but Commander Akam rescued the Peshmerga, even though the Peshmerga were controlled by the KDP and fell under a separate command chain of KDP-led Peshmerga.

Akam Omar was the first Peshmerga to reach the rank of brigadier at 33, approved by a presidential decree as he was a skilled Peshmerga and talented commander. Commander Akam never wore his military rank to create a friendly sphere with his fellow Peshmerga and avoid looking down on his friends. 

Commander Akam was a philanthropist giving away a large portion of his income to hospitals and the needy and always attended to the needs of cancer hospitals. He always placed excellence and skills over nepotism and recruited based on CV and experience.

Commander Akam Omar continued serving the Kurdistan region and the fight against terrorism until October 19, 2022, when a network of land mines went off his convoy in Sulaimani's Garmian region during a search operation for ISIS remnants. The blast killed a commando explosion specialist and left commander Akam severely injured. He was initially moved to a Sulaimani hospital but later moved to a hospital in Germany; he remained under intensive care until he became a martyr on December 12, 2022.

His body was returned to Sulaimani in the Kurdistan region on December 17, 2022, for a funeral procession at the Sulaimani International Airport; hundreds of Iraqi and Kurdish military leaders, government officials, and foreign diplomats greeted the fallen commander's coffin and laid their wreath. Thousands of mourners in Sulaimani lined the streets with flowers and the Kurdistan flag.

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Today, Saturday, thousands of mourners greeted the return of the coffin of Kurdistan Commando Forces Commander Martyr Akam Omar at the Sulaimani International Airport, who became a martyr on December 12, 2022. Iraqi and Kurdish military commanders, government officials, and foreign military and diplomatic delegations attended Martyr Akam's funeral in Sulaimani.

Sulaimani streets are covered in black flags to sympathize with the fallen commander who spearheaded the fight against ISIS for years and came to build a formidable Peshmergas special forces that kept the Kurdistan region and Iraq safe from terror.

In the procession, PUK President Bafel Jalal Talabani said, "we are saddened here to farewell our dear brother Akam Omar… Martyr Akam was a Kurd, a religious man who fought for Kurdistan for his people and his party, and Kak Akam [Kak is a respectful addressing of somebody] did not want anything other than defending Kurdistan and improving the Peshmerga forces."

"Martyr Akam had a fundamental role in reorganizing the Peshmerga and played a significant role in forming the special ties we have with the International Coalition," the PUK president added. The International Coalition against ISIS provided critical assistance to the Peshmerga forces to win the war against global terrorism. 

The PUK chief then spoke in English to the International Community and thanked them for assisting the Kurds. "I want to especially thank the Americans, and especially the Germans for helping Kak Akam for his treatment, and at the same time, I want to thank the Iranians for taking our wounded to Tehran," President Talabani told the foreign delegations present at the funeral process.

At the ceremony, the Kurdish and Iraqi leaders laid wreaths before the fallen commander's coffin put the Sulaimani International Airport.
His coffin was later transferred to the Peshmerga General Command Headquarters in Sulaimani for a final funeral procession before leaving for Martyr Akam's home city of Erbil, where his tomb is prepared for his burial in Erbil's Sheikh Ahmed graveyard.

Thousands of civilian and peshmerga mourners lined the blackened streets of Sulaimani dotted with black flaglets, and thousands of Peshmerga with Kurdistan flags waited on the streets as his coffin was carried to the Peshmerga headquarters in the city.

On October 19, the Kurdistan Commando Forces (KCF) led by Martyr Akam Omar launched a search operation for IS remnants in the town of Zenana in Sulaimani's Garmian district; several land mines went off on the KFC convoy, killing KCF explosives specialist Mohammed Zuhair, and the force's top commander Akam Omar. Omar was hospitalized in Sulaimani but was later moved to a hospital in Germany for better care; he became a martyr 54 days after his injuries.

 
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