Russia reaffirms its support for Kurdistan Region

From the Heart of Kurdistan Region
The only English paper in Iraq - No: 539 Mon. June 20, 2016
GLOBE PHOTO
Russia reaffirms its support
for Kurdistan Region
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and his delegation met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the SPIEF'16 - St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
No. 539, Monday, June 20, 2016
The Kurdish Globe
Ending Totalitarianism
Means Ending Court
Trivialities
2
IHEC: KRG’s Holing
Independence Referendum Legal
By | Gazi Hassan
Unlike the financial crisis and
the brutal war that the Kurdistan
Region is waging against Da’esh,
some parties intend to move the
political process towards further
deterioration. The deterioration
has started following the GorranPUK deal. We’re all aware that
the announcement of the bilateral
political deal evoked two provocaative messages, the first, the deal
tends to be a claimed constitution
for imposing certain political will,
which intends to be a sort of alternnative for government, authority
and general legitimate principles;
and the second, imposing will
of parliament seat numbers. The
mentioned points cause KDP’s
immediate, clear and strong reacttions.
At the same instant, the two partties previously had unofficial pollitical coalition with the other two
Islamic parties practically against
KDP. They used the parliament
for shifting the balance of power
and isolating the KDP, then atttempting to change the governing
system temperamentally accordiing to their own political interest,
claiming that they’ll turn Kurdisttan into a “field of promoting demmocracy, eliminating the hurdles
before achieving the personal,
historical and political wishes.”
Meanwhile, rational voices were
being heard inside the political
parties, though they were minnorities, and were often accused
of being KDP’s supplement and
were degraded, which more likely
seems to be ideological terror and
violence.
Once again, in a public official
speech in front of members of his
party with a reaction against his
summon before Erbil’s courts,
Nawshirwan Mustafa issued dire
threats for dissolving the politiccal community, not taking into
account the real circumstances.
Weekly paper printed in Erbil
First published in 2005
www.kurdishGlobe.net
Address: Erbil, Massif road
Whenever the KDP and PUK held
a meeting, Nawshirwan and Gorrran would set off a political bomb
for negatively provoking the pollitical situation.
In his remarks, Nawshirwan
mentions ending unilateralism
and achieving the new balance of
power. He’s repeating the same
story over, a story that he’s been
telling over against Barzani’s
family and Kurdistan’s revolution
for over half a century, a story that
denies a joint and power leadersship, but rather works towards pollitical dilemma, further deterioratiing internal issues. It seems that
this is a hateful, deceitful, divisive
and power diminutive mind. The
political bomb that was set off last
week under the pretext of “ending
totalitarianism and the new balaance” might take the Kurdistan
Region towards another round of
troubles and political issues, aimiing at creating a complex political
arena and political compliment
against the court, and delaying
the trial of Nawshirwan Mustafa
who’s been accused of exciting
carrying out attacks on consulaates, targeting pipelines in Kurdiistan Region. It aims at obsessing
over the parties’ and Region’s
leadership with the internal isssues, preventing them from takiing advantage of the transformattions going on in the area. To say
it honestly, in the “totalitarianiism” talks, they want to exclude
President Barzani and the KDP
in the leadership of this historical
age. The reality is telling us those
negative minds and attitudes have
never gained success at any time.
So even though the political partties were forcibly obsessed with
another round of internal issues,
the political development will go
on at this stage, because there’s
strong political will for rationally
dealing with the issues.
The Head of the Independdent High Electoral Commmission of Iraq (IHEC),
pointed out that Kurdistan
Region can conduct a refeerendum on independence
without IHEC, except for
the political impediments
Baghdad may constitute to
the process.
Sarbast Mustafa, the head
of IHEC, told BasNews that
the commission will not opppose to the referendum for
Kurdish independence and
there isn't a law preventing
the Kurdistan Region from
holding the referendum. Erbbil and Baghdad however
should reach an agreement
over the issue, he said.
Mustafa explained that
a referendum can be held
without a decision from the
parliament in Baghdad, but
there needs to be a code on
the regulations and guidellines of the process, and the
result of the process has to
be defined by the law.
Masoud Barzani, the Kurdiistan Region President, annnounced in February 2016
that Kurdistan Region will
hold a referendum on its
independence from Iraq by
the end of the current year.
Handren Mohammed Salih,
the head of the Kurdistan
Independent High Electoral
Commission and Referenddum (KIHEC), told BasNNews that the commission
is technically capable of
PKK Expand Activities in
Sulaymaniyah Province
Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK) continues expanding
its military influence across
Sulaymaniyah and Halabja
districts of Kurdistan Region
throughout military training
bases and youth centers.
A security source, speaking
on condition of anonymity,
confirmed the presence of
PKK checkpoints, military
bases and unofficial customs
offices, and revealed that
in several areas, including
Chamchamal and Chami
Rezan, the PKK has establlished military bases through
which they recruit and train
youths under 16.
According to the source,
the PKK is charging unoffficial trades between Kurdiistan Region and Iranian
Kurdistan, and it is running
nearly 20 customs offices
along the border.
Head of the Kurdistan Isllamic Union (KIU) branch
office in Halabja, Sheikh
Hasan Abdullah, told BasNNews that PKK is active in
the area and they have previoously seen teenagers waving
PKK flag during demonstrattions and public gatherings.
“They [PKK] have recently
imposed and collected taxes
in the rural areas of Halabja,
but they regularly moving
from one are to another,”
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Gazi Hassan +964 750 7747784
Senior U.K. Editor
Bashdar Pusho Ismaeel
[email protected]
[email protected]
ARTS EDITOR
Diyaco Qayoumy
+964 750 4036252
[email protected]
holding the referendum if
it is officially asked to procceed.
Kurdistan
Independent
High Electoral Commission
and Referendum (KIHEC)
was established in 2015
and their first mission is
expected to be conducting
the referendum on Kurdish
independence.
To conduct the referendum,
Salih said "we will cooperaate with our partners from
the international organizattions including an American
organization for democracy
and all the UN organizattions will be involved in
the process as monitors and
consultants."
Reviser
J. Watt
Abdullah said.
Fazil Basharati, a Kurdisttan Democratic Party (KDP)
official in Halabja, said the
PKK’s activities are obvious
in the area, and they have
unofficial offices in Halbjah
working to recruit locals, inccluding underage people.
However, a Kurdish MP
from Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK) insists
that no official authority in
Kurdistan Region has yet
confirmed this wide-range
presence of PKK; “but it is
not an odd incident that PKK
establishes [youth] centers
and runs training courses
wherever it is present.”
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No. 539, Monday, June 20, 2016
The Kurdish Globe
3
Barzani, US delegation discuss post-ISIS era
Masoud Barzani, the Presiident of Kurdistan Region,
met with a US delegattion consisting of Stewart
Johns, the US ambassador
to Iraq and Lt. Gen. Sean
MacFarland, the head of
Operation Inherent Ressolve (OIR) and a number
of diplomatic and military
officials on Saturday, June
11th, in Erbil.
The fight against the Isllamic State (ISIS) in Fallujjah and other areas in Iraq
was discussed in the meetiing, and the US delegation
briefed president Barzani
on the coalition's military
plans for eliminating IS in
Iraq and Syria.
They also exchanged
views on the Mosul offfensive and the post-ISIS
phases in the city, insisting
on the participation of all
components of Mosul in
recapturing the city.
The cooperation between
Peshmerga and the intern-
national coalition as well
as the US financial assisttance to Peshmerga forces
were also on the agenda.
President Barzani's
Statement on Media
Attacks by Gorran
Barzani dismissed a perssonal media campaign
waged by the Gorran
Movement, and urged the
people of Kurdistan to reffrain from responding to
this slanderous campaign
and to instead support
efforts towards independdence and the brave peshmmerga forces on the fight
against ISIS.
“The priority for all of us
should now be realizing
independence, supporting
the peshmerga in the fight
against ISIS, improving
the welfare of the people,
and confronting corrupttion. Those who undermmine the unity of the peop-
ple, and undermine peace
and security of Kurdistan,
and try to bring on catasttrophes upon people, will
face justice,” said the
President.
Barzani Receives
Former President
of the Syrian
National Coalition
Masoud Barzani, presiddent of Kurdistan Region
received on Thursday the
former president of the
Syrian National Coalition
Sheikh Ahmed al-Jarba.
During the meeting,
the two sides exchanged
views on the political
and security situation in
Syria, the developments
and changes and the possition of the international
community and regional
countries positions on the
Syrian crisis.
The meeting also highllighted the critical situaation in Syria and the rellationship between armed
factions and forces in the
field inside Syria and the
situation on the battlefield
.
ISIS committing genocide against Yazidis,
says UN in rare declaration
ISIS is committing genoccide against the Yazidis in
Syria and Iraq to destroy
the religious community
of 400,000 people through
killings, sexual slavery
and other crimes, United
Nations investigators said
on Thursday.
Such a designation, rare
under international law,
would mark the first recognnized genocide carried out
by non-state actors, rather
than a state or paramilitariies acting on its behalf.
The UN report, based on
interviews with dozens of
survivors, said the Islamist
militants had been systemaatically rounding up Yaziddis in Iraq and Syria since
August 2014, seeking to
“erase their identity” in
a campaign that met the
definition of the crime as
defined under the 1948
Genocide Convention.
“The genocide of the Yazzidis is ongoing,” it said.
The 40-page report, enttitled “They Came to Desstroy: ISIS Crimes against
the Yazidis“, sets out a
legal analysis of Islamic
State‘s intent to wipe out
the
Kurdish-speaking
group, whom the Sunni
Muslim Arab militants
view as infidels.
The Yazidis are a religgious sect whose beliefs
combine elements of seveeral ancient Middle Easte-
ern religions.
“The finding of genocide
must trigger much more
assertive action at the pollitical level, including at
the (UN) Security Counccil,” Paulo Pinheiro, chairmman of the commission of
inquiry, told a news briefiing.
“Almost two years since
the attack on Mount Sinjjar, nothing has been done
to save those people,” he
said, referring to the heart
of the Yazidi region in
northern Iraq stormed by
Islamic State in August
2014.
Commission
member
Vitit Muntarbhorn said
it had “detailed informat-
tion on places, violations
and names of the perpettrators”, and had begun
sharing confidential testimmony with some national
authorities aiming to proseecute militant citizens.
The independent commmissioners urged major
powers to rescue at least
3,200 women and childdren still held by Islamic
State (IS or ISIS), mainly
in Syria, and to refer the
case to the International
Criminal Court (ICC) for
prosecution.
Iraq and Syria also have
a duty to prevent, punish,
and prosecute genocide,
having ratified the Convvention, they said.
Historical victims of
genocide include Armennians in 1915, Jews during
the Nazi Holocaust, Tutsis
in Rwanda in 1994 and
Bosnian Muslims in Srebbrenica in 1995.
“Road map for
prosecution”
“ISIS made no secret of
its intent to destroy the Yazzidis of Sinjar, and that is
one of the elements that alllowed us to conclude their
actions amount to genoccide,” said another investtigator, Carla del Ponte.
“Of course, we regard
that as a road map for
prosecution, for future
prosecution. I hope that
the Security Council will
do it because it is time
now to start to obtain justtice for the victims,” addeed del Ponte, a former UN
war crimes prosecutor.
The five permanent membbers of Security Council
– Britain, China, France,
Russia and the US – have
agreed on the need to fight
ISIS, “so it should be no
problem at all to have a
decision that a prosecution
can be done,” she said.
Islamic State, which has
proclaimed a theocratic
caliphate – based on a radiical interpretation of Sunnni Islam – in areas of Iraq
and Syria under its cont-
trol, systematically killed,
captured or enslaved thoussands of Yazidis when it
overran the town of Sinjar
in northern Iraq in August
2014.
At least 30 mass graves
have been uncovered, the
report said, calling for furtther investigations.
Islamic State has tried to
erase the Yazidis‘ identity
by forcing men to choose
between conversion to Isllam and death, raping girls
as young as nine, selling
women at slave markets,
and drafting boys to fight,
the U.N. report said.
Yazidi women are treateed as “chattel” at slave
markets and some are sold
back to their families for
$10,000 to $40,000 aftter captivity and multiple
rapes, according to the
report.
Militants have begun
holding “online slave aucttions”, using the encrypted
application Telegraph to
circulate photos of capttured Yazidi women and
girls, “with details of their
age, marital status, currrent location and price”,”
it said.
“No other religious group
present in ISIS-controlled
areas of Syria and Iraq has
been subjected to the desstruction that the Yazidis
have suffered,” the report
added.
No. 539, Monday, June 20, 2016
The Kurdish Globe
4
Kurdistan and Russia to boost trade relations
Russia reaffirms military assistance to Kurdistan in the fight against ISIS.
Kurdistan Region Prime
Minister Nechirvan Barzzani and his delegation
visited Russia to attend
SPIEF'16 - St. Petersburg
International Economic
Forum, meeting with
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov and Aleexander Novak, Russian
Minister of Energy. The
Kremlin has its own take
on the Kurdistan Region's
energy sector to resume
the investment projects, as
Erbil, capital of the Kurdiish region, is encouraging
the international compannies to start investing in
the region.
Welcoming Prime Miniister Barzani, Foreign
Minister Lavrov highllighted Russia's good rellations with the Kurdistan
Region including the acttive roles of the Consulate
General of the Russian
Federation in Erbil and
Russian commercial entterprises, particularly in
the field of energy.
Talking about Russian
support to the Kurdistan
Region in its war against
ISIS, Lavrov reaffirmed
that his country will conttinue its support.
Prime Minister Barzani
thanked Minister Lavrov
for the warm welcome
and highlighted the old
friendship between the
people and government
of the Kurdistan Region
and the Russian Federattion. He also expressed
his gratitude for the Russsian military support to
the Kurdistan Region in
its war against ISIS terr-
rorists.
They also discussed the
situation of the Syrian
refugees and Iraqi internnally displaced people
who fled ISIS and took
refuge in the Kurdistan
Region. Lavrov praised
the role of the people and
government of the Kurdiistan Region for the assisttance they have offered to
this large number of vuln-
nerable people.
Russian Minister of Eneergy Novka welcomed
the participation of Prime
Minister Barzani and his
delegation at St. Petersbburg International Econnomic Forum, stressing
the need to further devvelop the old relations bettween the two sides.
He pointed out that the
energy sector in Kurdistan
Region could be further
developed and that Russsia wishes that its energy
companies contribute to
this development.
Prime Minister Barzani
thanked Novka for the
warm reception and highllighted the historical ties
between the two sides,
which he said can be devveloped in various fields.
He explained the situat-
tion in Kurdistan Region,
its current financial crisis,
the war against ISIS and
the issue of accommoddating a large number of
refugees and displaced
persons, who fled ISIS reppression and took refuge
in Kurdistan Region.
He thanked the Russian
government for its suppport and assistance for the
Kurdistan Region in its
fight against terrorism.
Prime Minister Barzani
offered his government’s
support to Russian comppanies that invest in eneergy and other sectors in
the Kurdistan Region.
He said that despite the
situation in the Kurdistan
Region, Gazprom Naft
continues its operations
and that his government
will provide the needed
facilities in order to exppand its activities in the
Region.
In an earlier meetiing with Prime Minister
Barzani, Gazprom Neft
Board Chairman Alexaander Dyukov expressed
desire to expand their acttivities in the Kurdistan
Region.
France sends new military aid shipments to Kurdistan
Two shipments of French
military assistance for
Peshmerga forces arrived
in the Kurdistan Region
on Wednesday.
After a statement by the
French General Consulate
in Erbil about the delivery
of military supplies, the
packages arrived at the
Erbil International Airport
in two stages, one on June
11 and the second on June
15.
“Another shipment of
weapons, ammunition and
military equipment will
arrive on June 17,” the
statement added.
According to the annnouncement, the military
aid included MM89 rockeets, thousands of differeent types of ammunition,
defense and attacking
grenades,
night-vision
goggles, military uniform
for dozens of Peshmerga
battalions, and food.
On Monday, Jabar Yawar,
the spokesperson for the
Kurdistan Regional Goveernment (KRG) Ministry
of Peshmerga, told Kurdi-
istan24, that “new French
arms supplies will arrive
in Erbil.”
In April, Jean-Yves Le
Drian, the French Defense
Minister, visited Erbil to
reiterate his country’s suppport for the Peshmerga
forces in the fight against
Islamic State (IS) extremiists.
In a statement to journnalists, Le Drian said, “I
came here to thank the
French military trainers
and advisers as well as
meet with the Kurdistan
Region President Masoud
Barzani and Prime Miniister Nechirvan Barzani
to reiterate the support
of France to Peshmerga
forces in the fight against
[IS].”
France is known for haviing historical relations
with the Kurdistan Reggion. In 1992, it played
a significant role in the
United Nations Security
Council Resolution 688
for Operation Provide
Comfort (OPC).
Additionally,
French
President François Holllande was the first world
president to visit the Kurdi-
istan following IS attacks
on the Region in August
2014.
UNHCR warns of massive displacement in battle for Mosul
Even as the humanitarian
crisis unfolds during the
fierce battle to recapture
Fallujah, Iraq, another
humanitarian disaster is
developing in northern
Iraq.
More than 14,000 Iraqis
have now been forced to
flee their homes followiing a renewed offensive
by Iraqi forces against
the Islamic State group
southeast of Mosul, and
more are leaving every
day.
Mosul has been under
IS control since June
2014.
According to UNHCR,
the U.N. refugee agency,
civilians living southeast
of the city have been
walking through mineffields at night to escape
the fighting as Iraqi securrity forces edge closer to
the city.
Frederic Cussigh, head
of the UNHCR’s field
response unit in Irbil,
said there were reports
some refugees had been
“trapped, severely injjured or killed in mineffields on their way to
safety.”
Camps set up to receive
them are rapidly filling
up.
An eventual assault on
Mosul could result in a
displacement of upward
of 600,000 people, the
UNCHR warned.
The current offensive in
Fallujah, by comparison,
has displaced 43,000, and
humanitarian agencies
there are already warning
of being overwhelmed by
refugees’ needs.
No. 539, Monday, June 20, 2016
The Kurdish Globe
5
Masrour Barzani: Post-ISIS Iraq should be split in three
Once ISIS is defeated,
Iraq should be divided
into three separate entities
to prevent further sectariian bloodshed, with a state
each given to Shi'ites,
Sunnis and Kurds, a top
Kurdish official said on
Thursday.
Iraqi troops have exppelled ISIS from some key
cities the militants seized
in 2014, and are advanciing on Mosul, the largest
city under IS control. Its
fall would likely mean the
end of the group's selfproclaimed caliphate.
But even if ISIS was
eliminated, Iraq would
still be deeply divided.
Sectarian violence has
continued for years and a
power-sharing agreement
in Baghdad has only led to
discontent, deadlock and
corruption.
Masrour Barzani, head
of the Kurdistan Regional
Government’s (KRG) Seccurity Council and son of
KRG President Massoud
Barzani, said the level
of mistrust was such that
they should not remain
"under one roof".
"Federation
hasn't
worked, so it has to be eitther confederation or full
separation," Barzani told
Reuters in an interview on
Wednesday in the Kurdish
capital Erbil. "If we have
three confederated states,
we will have equal three
capitals, so one is not
above the other."
The Kurds have already
taken steps towards reaalizing their long-held
dream of independence
from Iraq, which has been
led by the Shi'ite majoriity since the overthrow of
Saddam Hussein, a Sunni,
in 2003, following a USled invasion.
They run their own aff-
fairs in the north and have
their own armed forces,
the Peshmerga, which
have been fighting ISIS
militants with help from
a US-led coalition. Sunnis
should be given the option
of doing the same in the
provinces where they are
in the majority in the north
and the west of Iraq, said
Barzani.
"What we are offering is
a solution," he said. "This
doesn't mean they live undder one roof but they can
Kirkuk threatens to halt oil
exports to Baghdad
The Iraqi ministry of oil
takes 50,000 barrels per
day (bpd) of Kirkuk oil
from the Khabaza oilfield
but has failed to send
to the province its porttion of the budget. The
Kirkuk
administration
has, therefore, threatened
to cut Baghdad’s share of
its oil and will sell crude
oil to some companies to
pay debts to these compannies.
“Daily 50k bpd of oil
from Kirkuk is sent to
Baghdad and the rest
of the produced oil is
saved underground in the
oilfields,” said Ahmed
Askari head of the oil
and gas committee in the
Kirkuk provincial counccil. “Baghdad owes us
about $1.3 billion from
the petro dollar deal.
Therefore the Kirkuk
provincial council decideed to give some crude oil
to those companies who
we owe money to.”
Exportation of Kirkuk’s
oil was temporarily susppended by Baghdad,
though the province still
produces about 150 to
180,000 bpd.
Chief engineer at the
North Oil Company Farhhad Hamza said, “The oil
that has been produced
from the Kirkuk fields, we
separate the gas from the
oil and then drop the oil
back into the wells. This
is not a good process but
we have to do so because
Baghdad made a politiccal decision and halted
Kirkuk oil exports.”
Baghdad has also halteed building a refinery in
Kirkuk, stalling developmment of Kirkuk’s energy
sector.
Baghdad owes Kirkuk
a lot of money and this
has affected the Kirkuk
economy and public servvices. About 430 service
projects are suspended in
Kirkuk and the region has
a pile of electricity bills it
has to pay.
be good neighbors. Once
they feel comfortable that
they have a bright and seccure future, they can start
cooperating with each
other."
His father has called for
a referendum on Kurdish
independence this year
as the region is locked in
territorial and financial
disputes with the central
government.
Baghdad has cut off paymments from the federal
budget to the KRG to try
to force the Kurds to sell
crude produced on their
territory through the state
oil marketing company
and not independently.
The Kurds also claim the
oil region of Kirkuk, in
northern Iraq, as part of
their territory.
Barzani said that the
Sunnis' feeling of margginalization by the Shi'ite
leadership had facilitated
the takeover of their reggions by ISIS militants.
In addition, Iraq endured
months of wrangling and
chaos over a government
reshuffle that was to curb
corruption. In May, frusttration over the delays
culminated in the unpreceedented breach by prottesters of the Green Zone,
which houses parliament,
government offices and
many foreign embassies.
Ahead of the battle for
Mosul, Barzani said the
city's different communitties should agree in advvance on how to handle
the aftermath. Mosul's
pre-war population of 2
million was mostly Sunni,
but included religious and
ethnic minorities includiing Christians, Shi'ites,
Yazidis, Kurds and Turkmmen.
"I think the most importtant part is how you manaage Mosul after Da’esh
[ISIS] is defeated," he
said, referring to an Arabbic name of ISIS. "We
don't want to see the gap
of liberation and then a
vacuum, which probably
will turn into chaos."
Iraqi Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi at the
end of last year expressed
hope that 2016 would be
the year of "final victory"
over ISIS with the capture
of Mosul.
KRG invests in minerals as
oil revenue decreases
The Kurdistan Regionaal Government (KRG)
Ministry of Natural Ressources (MNR) released
its monthly report for the
Region’s May crude oil
export earlier this month.
According to the MNR
report, the KRG exported
15,904,271 barrels of
crude oil in total, an aveerage of 513,041 barrels
per day. The exports went
through the Kurdistan
pipeline network to the
port of Ceyhan in Turkey
and generated a $390 milllion profit.
About $59 million out of
the $390 million was giveen to oil companies in the
Kurdistan Region in May.
Based on the report,
“The total retained by the
KRG was $315 million…
and $75 million was alllocated to six contractors
and shippers according to
their PSC entitlement and
to pay down past receivaables.”
“The buyers of the KRG
crude oil lifted 18 cargoes
according to the volumes
allocated to them under
their contracts, of which
[four] cargoes (3,797,461
barrels) were allocated
against previous debts,”
the report added.
In April, the KRG expported 15,356,651 barrels
of crude oil in total, geneerating $376 million.
On June 1, the MNR relleased a statement inviting
“expressions of interest
from qualified internattional mining companies
for the Mineral Explorattion & Investment in the
Kurdistan Region-Iraq.”
The MNR report identtified seven prospective
blocks for investment:
two blocks in Duhok, two
in Erbil and three in Suleimmaniya.
According to the statemment, the Kurdistan Reggion’s mineral profile is
characterized by the occcurrence of diverse metalllic mineral deposits such
as Lead (Pb), Zinc (Zn),
Copper and others.
In January 2014, the Iraqi
government, led by thenPrime Minister Nuri alMaliki, cut off the Kurdisttan Region's proportion of
the federal budget.
The budget cut indirectly
encouraged the autonommous region to sell crude
oil in the world market inddependently.
Low oil prices have exaacerbated the financial
crisis in the Kurdistan Reggion, resulting in a three
month delay of payment
for civil servants in 2015
and one month in 2016.
No. 539, Monday, June 20, 2016
The Kurdish Globe
NEWS BAR
Sunni Arabs Unite
in Kirkuk
Sunni Arabs in Kirkuk are, for the second
time, forming a Sunni Arab council. The
council will include Arab MPs, provincial
council members, and personalities from
fourteen Sunni Arab parties and factions in
Kirkuk.
“The council will become the real face of
the Arabs for any decision, meetings and
negotiations amidst these hot developments
in the region, especially about the future of
Kirkuk and Iraq,” said Esmael Hadidi, Arab
politician and spokesperson of the council.
Their main goal in forming the council at
this stage is to be prepared for after the defeat
of the Islamic State. The Sunni Arab leaders
are concerned about the role of Shia militias
in the Sunni areas during the fight against IS
and afterwards.
Turkey Mad at PUK for
Giving Weapons to PKK
An Iraqi Parliament member from the PUK
bloc, Rebwar Taha, said that his party is unhhappy with Turkey politics in the country and
has expressed their unhappiness officially.
Taha thinks that the Turkish Government
needs to review its works and actions towwards the Kurds in Turkey.
"Our representative, Bahroz Galali, in Turkkey has been warning the Turkish Governmment form the attacks made against Turks,"
said Taha
Taha also revealed that Turkey is mad at
PUK for giving weapons to a PKK affiliated
side.
6
KDP-I fighters killed 13 Iranian soldiers
A military unit of the Kurdiistan Democratic Party-Iran
fighters killed 13 Iranian
soldiers and injured 30 in
the Kurdish city of Sheno
in Iran.
An Iranian official conffirmed that they saw a team
of the Kurdish Peshmerga
fighters of the KDP-I who
were doing organizational
works among the people
of the area. The team were
ambushed by the Iranian
soldiers, exchanging fire
among each other, fatalities
from both sides were annnounced.
According to a news publlished by the Iranian news
agencies, the Kurdish fighteers infiltrated damage on
the Iranian soldiers as seveeral ambulances were seen
in the scene transforming
the injured and dead sold-
diers. After transforming
the bodies to Sheno Hospittal, people's visit to the hosppital were banned.
Following the armed confflicts, Iranian government
dispatched a lot of soldiers
to the Kurdish cities, especcially the villages near bordder with Kurdistan region
and Turkey.
A source said that Iran has
equipped the troops with
heavy and medium-sized
weapons on the border.
According to news sourcees, scores of Iranian soldiers
with military uniforms and
plain clothes patrol in the
Kurdish cities of Bokan,
Sardasht and Piranshahr.
The military atmosphere
in the Kurdish cities has
spread fear among the peopple.
Attorney General Issues Arrest
Warrant for Gorran Leader
The Attorney General in
Kurdistan Region issued a
warrant to arrest the Geneeral Coordinator of Gorran
(Change movement) after
it called him a few times to
appear in court on charges
of alleged plots against the
foreign representation and
consulate offices in Kurdisttan Region.
Nawshirwan Mustafa, the
leader of Gorran has lately
been repeatedly asked by
the Attorney General in
Kurdistan Region to appear
in court in order to provide
explanation on the recordiings previously leaked, in
which he speaks about atttacking consulates and foreeign representation offices
existing in the Kurdistan
Region.
According to Kurdistan24
and the Attorney General,
Mustafa has several times
been called to appear in
court, but he never respondeed.
Kurdistan
Democratic
Party (KDP) media outlets
previously released video
and audio recordings as
evidences to claim that
Gorran’s General-Coordinnator Nawshirwan Mustafa
speaks about a plot to atttack consulates and foreign
representation offices in
Kurdistan Region by mob
attacks.
Officials from Gorran prevviously told BasNews that
Mustafa would personally
decide on the case whether
to attend the court or not,
and they also said that "the
audio recordings have been
crafted with technology."
Cleaning Campaign Started in Kurdistan
KIU Not Become Part of
Gorran-PUK Agreement
Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) member,
Hiwa Mirza, said that Gorran-PUK agreemment is against a specific political party.
Mirza also said that the agreement is for the
political interests and his party will not beccome a part of the agreement.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
and its breakaway Change Movement (Gorrran) signed an important agreement Tuesday,
ending seven years of separation, political
stalemate and rivalry.
The official signing in the city of Sulaimani
came after both the PUK and Gorran leadeerships separately approved the agreement
Saturday to develop relations.
Hacker Hijacks ISIS
Twitter Account, Posts
Gay Pride Messages
A hacker affiliated with the loosely organnized collective Anonymous is taking over
the Twitter accounts of Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria (ISIS) supporters and plastering
them with rainbow images and other proLGBT messages.
The hacker, who goes by the handle Waucchula Ghost, launched the campaign in suppport of the victims of the Sunday mass shootiing at the gay club Pulse, in Orlando. The
attack, which killed 49 and wounded dozens
of others, has been celebrated by ISIS-affiliaated supporters on Twitter.
Wauchula Ghost has hacked into more than
250 ISIS accounts over the past month, he
told CNN Money, originally posting explicit
pornographic images “to humiliate them.”
People across the Kurdistan
Region marked World Envvironment Day on Wednesdday with a street-cleaning
campaign.
“The campaign goes on
in all four provinces of the
Kurdistan Region,” said
Newroz Mawlood Amin,
Minister of Municipalities
and Tourism in the Kurdisttan Regional Government
(KRG).
In Erbil, hundreds came
out to launch a campaign
to clean areas around the
capital city and warn about
environmental issues.
The Peshmerga also att-
tended the event saying
that, due to the war with the
Islamic State, they could
not protect Kurdistan’s envvironment as much as it
was needed.
“As Environment Peshmmerga we are now at the
front lines, therefore we
have not been able to protect
the places and the nature as
before,” said Goran Omer,
a member of the Kurdistan
Region force assigned to
protect the environment,
including policing garbage
disposal.
The event was funded
by the European Union’s
special budget for World
Environment Day, which
is monitored by the United
Nations Development Proggram (UNDP) and organnized by the Local Area
Development
Program
(LADP).
“Fortunately the municippality ministry of KRG and
Erbil governorate cooperateed with us very well for this
campaign,” said Dr. Anwar
Younis, head of the civil
society organization, one of
the organizers of the event.
Taking down campaign
banners and putting them
into a pickup truck filled
with brochures after a succcessful day, Fares Murad,
one of the organizers of the
event, said that their goal
was just to tell people how
important our environment
is.
“No matter how much area
we cleaned and how much
trash we gathered, our aim
was to raise awareness,”
said Murad.
World Environment Day is
usually celebrated on June
5 every year, but since the
Kurdistan Region requested
to take part as an independdent entity, the program was
postponed to Wednesday.
No. 539, Monday, June 20, 2016
The Kurdish Globe
Sports News
Kurdistan Best
Footballers Selected
7
Horror film captures Mesopotamia’s
history in a dramatic form
Kurdistan Football Association selected the
best player and goalkeeper in Kurdistan Reggion after all the local leagues and tournamments ended officially.
Several professional sportspeople along
with coaches participated in the selection
process.
After collecting 20 votes, Shalaw Abbas
at Sirwani New was recognized as the best
player in Kurdistan. Ismail Ahmad at Gazi
Bakur club was identified as the best goalkkeeper.
Messi Ties Batistuta’s Record
Lionel Messi has delivered what many of
the 59,183 fans in attendance wanted from
his first-ever visit to Gillette Stadium: the
chances to celebrate a goal scored by one
of soccer’s best-ever players.
Messi scored in the 60th minute of Arggentina’s Copa America 2016 quarterfinal
win over Venezuela on Saturday at Gillette
Stadium. The goal was Messi’s fourth of
Copa America, a tournament high at this
stage.
Messi also tied Gabriel Batistuta as Arggentina’s all-time leading goal scorer,
with 54.
Ronaldo Misses Penalty
Cristiano Ronaldo missed a second-half
penalty on the night he became his counttry's record appearance holder as a hugely
frustrating match for Portugal and their
captain in Paris ended goalless to leave
Group F wide open.
Ronaldo struck the base of the post with
his spot kick after Austria defender Martin
Hinteregger had wrestled him to the ground
and later headed home only to be denied by
the offside flag.
But huge credit for Austria's point must go
to keeper Robert Almer, who made a string
of sensational saves.
Federer Loses in Semi-final
of Wimbledon
Roger Federer suffered a shock defeat by
German teenager Alexander Zverev in the
semi-final of the Gerry Weber Open in
Halle, Germany.
Federer, who was bidding for a ninth Hallle singles title and his fourth in a row, lost
7-6 (7-4) 5-7 6-3.
Zverev, 19, claimed the biggest win of his
career, becoming the first teenager to beat
Federer since 2006.
The Swiss will begin his bid for an eighth
Wimbledon singles title later this month.
Federer, 34, had previously won 15 straight
sets at Halle but Zverev, standing 6ft 6in
and ranked 38th in the world, dropped just
four points on serve in the opener and won
it 7-4 in a tie-break.
It was going to be a film
about a brutal tyrant but
was disrupted when perhaps
the most brutal modern day
group got comfortably too
close to Iraqi Kurdistan's
capital city, Erbil, where
it was being shot. As the
extremist Islamic State's
militants approached Erbil's
gates in August 2014, Lauaand Omar rushed his internnational cast and crew out of
the country quickly.
"We had to stop filming in
Erbil after only 2 weeks of
production, mid august, due
to the advance of Daesh,"
said Omar, referring to the
Islamic State by its Arabic
acronym. "We lost a lot of
money due to that unexpecteed halt, it took me 7 month
to raise money to complete
filming in Jordan."
Omar's Curse of Mesoppotamia tells the story of
how the Kurdish new year,
Newroz, came into being
when a Kurdish blacksmith,
named Kawa, rebelled
against a bloodthirsty king,
known as Azdahak. The
film's theme is one too fammiliar for Kurds throughout
history: ruthless oppression
and the costly struggle for
freedom. Struck by devil
and having two snakes grow
on his shoulders, Azdahak
murdered countless young
men and fed their brains to
the snakes so they won't beccome hungry and devour his
own brain. But set in a modeern setting, Curse of Mesoppotamia has lots of twists to
make the story a proper horrror one. Modern day young
men and women play the
role of historical figures that
were involved in Newroz
legend. It's got all elements
of an appealing horror film:
blood, murder, fear, sex and
even a witch who for most
of the film appears as a psycchiatrist.
Stacey Thunes is an Ameriican actress and Curse of
Mesopotamia was her first
movie in the Middle East.
She plays the complicated
yet fascinating character of
a psychiatrist who tries to
treat a number of young men
and women seemingly posssessed by demons an events
from the past. And the end,
it turns out she herself is the
personal witch of King Azddahak reincarnated generattions later as a psychiatrist.
"I loved it. As an actor,
playing evil is much more
fun than portraying good,"
Thunes said. "And one could
say that the Demon who
possessed King Azdahak is
comparable to the ‘demon’
who has possessed those
people who felt they needed
to join IS."
Curse of Mesopotamia is
the first horror film in Engllish made by a Kurdish filmmmaker. For the Syrian Kurdiish director, the story of the
film is personal too.
"Being Kurdish, I grew
up celebrating Newroz, I
always found the legend inttriguing, a evil king tricked
by a demon, feeding off
children's' brains to calm the
snakes growing out of his
shoulders, a pretty creepy
story," Omar told The Kurdiish Globe. "I always loved
horror movies, so I took the
legend and played around
with it, writing a modern day
horror film which plays with
re-incarnation, set in the past
and in the present. Cinema
should be diverse, why only
making war movies about
the middle east? There are
so many more stories to be
told."
Though the film's story
may appear too distant and
unreal for today, the core
idea has been surreally reccurring throughout ages.
"The movie talks about
a curse that seems to have
been put on this region, formmer Mesopotamia," says
Omar. "With the current
happenings in the region,
the spotlight is back on the
Kurds, who have fought and
suffered forever, it seems."
Omar produced the indeppendent film with a local
investor with a budget of
just $800,000 and brought
in an international cast from
the United States, Mexico,
Morocco, France and Kurdiistan.
It was premiered in early
November in Erbil and has
since been commercially
screened in theatres in a
number of Iraqi cities inccluding Erbil and Baghdad.
Omar aims for a worldwide
VOD and DVD release and
limited theatrical releases in
some parts of the world.
The film has interesting
twists often in the shape of
unexpected and shocking
characters appearing every
now and then. A particullarly interesting character
in Omar's film is Zuleykha,
a bloodthirsty mistress of
King Azdahak brought for
him from Babylon. Kaoutar
Boudarraja, a well-known
model and television perssonality in Morocco plays
the role of Zuleykha.
"Zuleykha is the crazy misttress of a demon, with a real
dark and ice side," Boudarrraja told The Globe. "This
movie breaks everything
about Kaoutar Boudarraja
modeling , hosting or prodducing TV Shows. It’s not
about being sexy, beautiful
or friendly girl, Zuleykha is
not human and she hates hummans."
This is Omar's second film
and he hopes to introduce
more diversity to the types
of films that are produced by
Kurds or come out of Kurdiistan.
By Salih Waladbagi
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The Kurdish Painter, Adil Dawood
The Kurdish artist and
painter Adil Dawood
was born in Hasakah,
Syrian Kurdistan in
1980. He studied primmary and secondary
schools in Hasakah,
from which he had
hobbies of drawing.
He took part in several
exhibitions in Hasakah
as a young man in the
and has his own charaacteristics in his works,
that forms and colors
of his work as distincttive. His professional
level of art is high, esppecially in adopting the
arabesque school and
using the colors in a
mixed form.
Adil Dawood’s identtity is Kurdistani and
ters. He displays his
artworks in special gallleries of Vienna. He has
a considerable particippation in the European
countries and the wellknown galleries of Germmany, Switzerland and
France. Adil Dawood’s
long paintings attract a
viewer’s attention, esppecially in the galleri-
Arab Cultural Center
of the city. He’s now
living in Vienna, Austtria. He’s now occuppied with works, exhibbitions, daily cultural
activities, and his own
exhibitions. Dawood
is known as a Kurdiish artist in the country
Hasakah was where he
began his art. Now Vieenna is the place where
Dawood tells the sad
story of that part of
Kurdistan. He started
working with oil, then
acrylic and black and
white, working with
lengths of 2 and 3 met-
ies and wide and grand
halls when the viewer
can confidently watch
the drawings. Dawood
depicts sufferings so
great that they might
seem surreal.
By Ashti Garmiyani
European Film On ISIS to Be
Produced in Kurdistan
The local production
of a new film “Before
the Walay”, which will
cover the story of what
has happened in the
years since ISIS arose
in the region, was annnounced at a press
conference in Duhok.
Salih Arif, Directtor of Cinema Art in
the Duhok Province,
said the German film
has now finished filmiing—with around half
being shot in Germany
and half in Kurdistan.
The film, which foccuses on the Kurdistan
region of Iraq as well
as Syria, is produced
by Mitos Film Comppany and directed by
Professor Peter Auf,
an instructor at Stuttggart University in Germmany. However, the
one million euro budgget needed for fundiing the film came from
the German Minisry of
Culture.
This will be the first
cinema level documenttation of the story of
those affected by ISIS
in the Middle East.
The film is expected to
be shown to audiences
globally. Notably, the
Kurdish Director, Husssein Hassan, acted in
the film.
By H.G.Hassan