Peyamaazadi

Interview with FM Zebari

2007-05-28T20:51:45+02:00

The Australian, By Greg Sheridan*

Quitting a foreign concept for Iraq

There can be no turning back for Iraq, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari tells Greg Sheridan IN the cacophonous, bitter and rancorous debate about Iraq, there's one voice we seem determined not to hear: the voice of Iraq's democratically elected Government.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed genuine anger with the Western media about this in a press conference in Baghdad a few days ago. Standing among Iraqi ministers, he upbraided the media and said, in effect: ''Let's not rule these guys out of the debate, you know they were actually elected, they have a little more legitimacy than the terrorists.''

Conferance for Solution of Kurdish Matter

2007-05-14T15:29:58+02:00

Office of Joost Lagendijk
Member of the European Parliament

Brussels, 2007-05-08

After a round of discussions with Mr Kaval, representative of the Democratic Alliance of Northern Kurds, and others, we have decided to organize a conference in the European Parliament on the Kurdish issue in Turkey. We will try to bring together a broad range of Kurdish and Turkish organisations committed to peaceful and democratic solutions to the Kurdish problem. This conference will be held as soon as possible after the Turkish Parliamentary elections.

Kirkuk referendum needed soon, says Iraqi Kurdish leader

2007-05-09T13:38:46+02:00

KTV

"Kurdistan has never been part of the problem, but we are trying to be part of the solution," said Massoud Barzani, President of the Autonomous Kurdish Government in Iraq to the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday. MEPs questioned him on minority rights, relations with Turkey and the referendum plans for the contested city of Kirkuk.

The KRG Nordic strongly criticizes the Iraq Study Group Report

2006-12-12T17:20:12+02:00

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Nordic Representation hereby issues a statement in connection to President Massoud Barzani�s response to the Iraq Study Group (ISG) Report.

The KRG Nordic maintains the statement of President Massoud Barzani and the reaction of the KRG to the Iraqi Study Group report and strongly criticizes the conclusions of the newly presented report.

Statement by President of Kurdistan Region on Iraq Study group

2006-12-12T16:39:02+02:00

Masoud Barzani

President of the Kurdistan Region

7 December 2006

After studying the report prepared by the Iraq Study Group we deem it necessary to issue the following statement.

1) The failure of the Iraq Study Group to visit the Kurdistan Region was a major shortcoming in its information gathering process; this alone detracts from the credibility of the report.

EU Presidency statement on the verdict of Saddam Hussein

2006-11-05T20:51:50+02:00

The Presidency of the European Union notes the conclusion of the first trial before the Iraqi High Tribunal and the verdict announced today in the so-called Dujail case against Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants.

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death

2006-11-05T20:46:52+02:00

Saddam Hussein has been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. The former Iraqi leader was convicted over the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail following an assassination attempt on him in 1982.

Why withdrawal from Iraq is the worst option by Michael Rubin

2006-11-04T01:49:44+02:00

The news from Iraq is bad, but many of the recommendations coming from London and Washington are worse. Dividing Iraq would abet ethnic cleansing and break the country into morsels more easily digested by neighbouring states. Outreach to Iran and Syria is no panacea: Tehran and Damascus treat diplomatic commitment with disdain; Iran's revolutionary guards seldom abide by the promises of Iranian diplomats.

Kiss Iraq Goodbye if Shiites Align With Hezbollah

2006-08-09T18:06:16+02:00

How fallout from Lebanon could choke a fragile U.S.-Muslim alliance, By Rajan Menon

AS ISRAEL and Hezbollah continue to trade deadly blows, the Bush administration may have to brace itself for the possibility that the shock waves from the war in Lebanon could wreck its partnership with Iraq's Shiites and make Iraq's fragmentation well-nigh unavoidable.
Anger over Israel's bombing of Lebanon has reached Iraq, whose population is roughly two-thirds Shiite. Muqtada Sadr, the firebrand Shiite cleric who heads the Al Mahdi militia, was first to rail against the Israeli bombardment and Washington's fulsome support of it. He continues to do so. On Friday, thousands (estimates range from 14,000 to 100,000) of pro-Sadr Shiites flooded Baghdad's streets, chanting slogans of solidarity with Hezbollah and denouncing Israel and the United States.

War Crimes and Lebanon

2006-08-09T10:27:43+02:00

The US-backed Israeli assault on Lebanon has left the country numb, smouldering and angry. The massacre in Qana and the loss of life is not simply "disproportionate". It is, according to existing international laws, a war crime.

The deliberate and systematic destruction of Lebanon's social infrastructure by the Israeli air force was also a war crime, designed to reduce that country to the status of an Israeli-US protectorate. The attempt has backfired. In Lebanon itself, 87% of the population now support Hizbullah's resistance, including 80% of Christian and Druze and 89% of Sunni Muslims, while 8% believe the US supports Lebanon. But these actions will not be tried by any court set up by the "international community" since the US and its allies that commit or are complicit in these appalling crimes will not permit it.