Damac properties global expansion does not seem to be showing signs of slowing. The luxury property developer which started life in Dubai as a catering company announced its newest project in Kurdistan. The first phase of the project in the region will be Tarin Hills Development covering 170 million square feet in Erbil and estimated to cost $4.5 billion. The project will start by the end of this
Le 21 février de cette année, l’armée Turque a militairement agressé les Kurdes sous protectorat irakien. Cette situation choque l’opinion mondiale et avec raison. Le Parti communiste français a déjà dénoncé cette agression lâche et immonde de la part de l’état bourgeois turque. Le parti communiste du Québec en fait de même. Pourtant cette agression [...]
The Turkish army is mobilizing to move inside Iraqi Kurdistan, and Turkish experts say the invasion may go as deep as 60 KM inside Iraqi Kurdish lands. The objective is to uproot the fighters of the PKK, but the Turks may also find themselves clashing with the Peshmergas. Hence intense diplomatic efforts are needed to avoid this Turkish-Kurdish war inside Iraq. Washington — along with the Kurdish leadership in Iraq — must dismantle the PKK positions and networks, or at the very least...(read more)
Iraqi Kurdistan is usually held up as a model of exemplary perfection for the rest of the country to follow, and, compared to other parts of Iraq, things are indeed quite good there. That is, unless you're a woman:
Shawbo Rauf Ali, 19, clearly did not know that the picnic she was headed for would become a death trap. When she got there, her husband and several other men beat her to death on suspicion of extra-marital relations.
The suspicion arose because of an unknown number that appeared on Shawbo's cell phone.
The men fled after the murder. Two who had British citizenship left for the UK. Kurdish officials have said the British police will now extradite them to Iraq. The other two have been arrested and are awaiting trial.
The murder of Shawbo is among numerous 'honor killings' in the Kurdish region every year. A Kurdistan parliament report has warned of an "increasing rate of violence against women."
In Sulaimaniya province south of Erbil, 24 women have been killed in the firs
Iraq's Kurdistan region opened, through the Kurdistan Development Corporation, a lobbying office in Washington, DC*. Headed by Qubad al-Talabani, son of Jalal Talabani, the President of Iraq as a whole (a black hole some may say), this unit officially promotes investments and tourism in the region. Autonomy and independance could be part of the discussions.I do feel some sympathy for Kurds in general and I do wish them a peaceful future. Yet, I'm not so sure this is the way everybody wants it and even if Talabani were honest, other players would join the lobbying frenzy.I remember the intense Iraqi lobbying between the two wars. Who could forget Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress ? Among the different approaches for the liberation of Iraq, US theocons deliberately favored the factions that were bound to cause maximum damage. The parting of Iraq and the strengthening of fundamentalists across the region (especially and Iran and Israel) was not only expected but planned from
Iran military committed massacre in East-KurdistanPictures of atrocities committed last summer.The Iranian press and news outlets generally have ignored the events. However, in an interview with pro-government Fars News agency, the deputy mayor of the city of Kela Makê's (Mako) in the Iranian parliament, showed the official position towards the dreadful events that happened in Eastern Kurdistan where nine people were shot dead by the Iranian military and police along with hundreds arrested.The Fars News Agency quoted the deputy mayor of Mako about the events Wednesday, February 15 as saying, “The armed gangs supporting Abdullah Ocalan clashed with the people in one of the villages of the area.”Suleiman Jafarzadeh, in an interview with the parliamentary reporter of Fars News Agency, said about 200 opponents of the Turkish government who were supporters of Ocalan wanted to create unrest in one of the villages of the town of Bazirgan, a town near the border. He said this armed group
