Author: Mirzan Birusk

Iraq’s oil minister and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) natural resources minister on Sunday stressed the need to restart the Region’s oil production and exports, nearly eight months after the process was put on hold. KRG Natural Resources Minister Kamal Muhammad Salih received Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani and his accompanying delegation from the oil ministry, including Undersecretary for Extraction Affairs Basim Mohammed Khudair, and Undersecretary for Distribution Affairs Ali Maarij al-Bahadli, in the Kurdish capital of Erbil. The visit of the Iraqi delegation is the continuation of discussions between the two sides aimed at resuming the Kurdistan Region’s…

Kurdistan Teachers’ Union on Monday said they would submit a four-point memorandum to the government, demanding the payment of their salaries, as strikes continue in Sulaimani and Halabja over unpaid wages.  Thousands of teachers took to the streets in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces on Sunday to protest three months of unpaid salaries, threatening to not return to classrooms if the government does not pay their wages. Their anger was further fueled by the remarks of Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Minister of Education Alan Hama Saaed who on Thursday said teachers “must end” their strikes and return to the classrooms this…

London (04/11 – 67) US district judge, Denise Cote yesterday granted Sri Lanka’s request for a six-month halt on a creditor lawsuit against the country. Hamilton Reserve Bank, an obscure and tiny St Kitt’s bank with interesting ties, says it has accumulated a big chunk of one of Sri Lanka’s now-defaulted bonds and had been suing it for immediate repayment. Sri Lanka had asked for a stay on these legal proceedings to let it restructure its overall pile of debt in some peace and quiet, and had gotten heavyweight support from the UK, France and the US government. Judge Cote ruled, “The Court recognizes that…

Three people were reportedly injured in a suspected Turkish drone attack on Makhmour refugee camp on Saturday. Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a human rights organization that monitors Turkey’s operations in the Kurdistan Region, said on X (formerly known as Twitter) that Turkish forces bombed a mosque inside the refugee camp and injured a woman and two children. Makhmour Camp hosts over 12,000 Kurdish refugees from southeast Turkey. The majority of the residents came from villages depopulated during Turkey’s conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The site is closed to security forces and journalists and no one was permitted to…

Berlin (24/10 – 67) UN Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Nazila Ghanea, visited Tajikistan from April 11 to April 21 to conduct research on issues in this field. The UN expert will assess religious freedom and its interaction with the right to freedom of expression, discuss gender equality, women’s rights, and children’s rights. She stated that the implementation of religious freedom and belief in the country is a cause for concern. Ghanea, the newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, called on Tajikistan to adapt and review its laws, policies, and practices regarding religion…

Iraq is cooperating with the United Nations to develop a roadmap with the goal of closing IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region and return the residents to their hometowns, an official from Iraq’s ministry of migration and displaced said on Monday.  “The roadmap is aimed at supporting the IDPs to return to their homelands and after discussions are completed, we will begin to implement it,” Ali Abbas Jangahir, spokesperson for Iraq’s ministry of migration and displaced, told Rudaw’s Hastyar Qadir. The process will be conducted by Iraq’s migration and displaced ministry with UN support, Jangahir added. There are 15 camps…

There are over 130 confirmed cases of cholera in Sulaimani and several cases have been registered in Erbil as well, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) health minister revealed on Thursday, stressing that the actual number is much higher. The Kurdistan Region’s health authorities have recently reported a spike in the number of patients hospitalized for vomiting and diarrhea, urging citizens to exercise caution amid dozens of confirmed cases of cholera. Health Minister Saman Barzinji on Thursday said that the rate of recorded cholera cases was declining as the Region enters cooler climates, but stressed that the number of cases was…

Israel has not only been the victim of a vicious and despicable terrorist attack. It is also the victim of a brazenly cynical move to disrupt the international stage and subvert tranquility in the Middle East. The Israeli-Palestinian powder keg conveniently served to add yet another full scale crisis putting even further pressure on a global order already strained to breaking point. Although no concrete evidence exists of any involvement in the attacks, Russia stands to gain the most from this extra flash point on the world map, as violence and war in the Middle East distracts from Putin’s unjustified…

Misinterpretation of the federal budget law is the main reason behind the Iraqi government not sending enough money to pay the salaries of employees in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq’s deputy finance minister said on Monday, as tensions between Erbil and Baghdad over the Region’s financial entitlements linger. “The interpretation of the Iraqi finance ministry for the budget law is not an accurate one,” Masoud Haider, Iraq’s deputy finance minister told reporters. He also called on the ministry to not connect the salaries of the Kurdistan region employees to other matters.“The salaries of people of Kurdistan are 775 billion dinar monthly according…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Thursday held meetings with a number of political parties in Erbil, discussing his country’s ties with the Kurdistan Region.  Fidan arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday for the first time since becoming foreign minister, holding a meeting with Iraq’s top officials. He arrived in Erbil early Thursday and conducted several meetings with the Kurdistan Region’s officials and political parties. During his meeting with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, Fidan discussed a range of topics, including bilateral relations and the Region’s oil exports. Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Region’s ruling…