Two Turkmen leaders from TuzHurmatu district were martyred

Two Turkmen leaders from Tuzhurmatu district were martyred.

25th June 2013






An explosives attack took place in the area where citizens had demonstrated against the deterioration of the situation in Tuzhurmatu district recently. A suicide activist mingled among strikers in Tuzhurmatu and detonated the explosives on his person. 30 persons were injured while numerous citizens including Deputy Head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front Ali Haşim Muhtaroğlu and former deputy governor of Salahattin Ahmet Abdülmecit Koca lost their lives.



kerkuk.net

Extensive project reveals grandeur of Seljuk Empire

Five voluminous tomes and a documentary that were prepared as part of the Legacy of the Great Seljuks Project now make it possible to view photographs of some of the most important architectural pieces and a plethora of artworks.

The Great Seljuk Empire ruled over an enormous area and created a unique civilization blending Turkish traditions with Islam and reaching excellence in the arts, sciences, architecture as well as military and land administration, and now it is possible to view professional photographs of their masterful buildings and artifacts in an ambitious publication.

Five voluminous tomes and a documentary that were prepared as part of the Legacy of the Great Seljuks Project now make it possible to view photographs of some of the most important architectural pieces and a plethora of artworks that remain from the Seljuks’ majestic heritage in various countries and museums of the world

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The project, carried out under the auspices of President Abdullah Gül, was introduced to the public on Tuesday at a ceremony held at the Çankaya presidential palace. Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, Education Minster Nabi Avcı, Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz and many other top politicians and bureaucrats were in attendance.

Statement by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton following her visit to Iraq

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/137506.pdf

EUROPEA/ U/IO/ Brussels, 18 June 2013

A 329/13

Statement by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton

following her visit to Iraq

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice

President of the Commission issued the following statement today:

"During my visit to Iraq, I met in Baghdad with Prime Minister Maliki, Speaker of the Council of

Representatives "ujaifi, Deputy Prime Minister Shahristani and Foreign Minister Zebari and I also

travelled to Erbil where I met with the President and Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region.

I stressed that Iraq’s democracy and stability are important not only for Iraq itself but for the whole

region. I welcomed recent efforts to ease tension and called on all parties to work together to

address political and governance issues through dialogue. I encouraged the consolidation of

democratic gains through strong and efficient institutions – a key element in any democratic system.

I condemned the wave of attacks that has taken place in the recent weeks in many Iraqi cities, and I

extended my condolences to the families of the victims. The escalation of violence is a cause of

serious concern, and I encouraged all political forces to create a strong and common front against

all forms of violence.

We also discussed the difficult regional context and in particular the negative impact on Iraq of the

Syrian crisis. I commended the recent efforts to agree outstanding issues between Iraq and Kuwait.

I was also pleased to sign the agreement to make available 4 million euros of EU financing to fund

the EU-Iraq Energy Centre.

The EU has consistently supported Iraq’s democratic transition and will continue to stand

alongside the country to help it meet the challenges that it faces. The EU wants Iraq to be an

important political and economic partner and looks forward to further strengthening bilateral ties,

notably on the basis of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement that we signed last year." _____________

Counting iraqis: why there may never be a census again

These are all important reasons as to why Iraq needs to conduct a census as soon as possible However a census is also very important to many politicians in Iraq for other reasons. They all want to know the size of the ethnic and sectarian groups in Iraq because of the fact that these numbers are so connected to who gets what, where and when.

One highly ranked source in Baghdad politics told NIQASH that the census forms will ask citizens as to whether they are of Arab or Kurdish origin. The source also said that the inclusion of another question as to which sect every Iraqi belongs to – and in particular, whether they are Sunni or Shiite Muslim – could also be controversial. “The country’s leaders still don’t know whether to include such a question,” the source said. 

| عربي | کوردی

niqash | Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | 20.06.2013

Iraq’s PM recently said a census would finally be held. There are pressing political and economic reasons to do so. But nobody has managed to hold one yet; there are plenty of good reasons not to count up Iraqis too.

Around a fortnight ago Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki confirmed that his government was determined to hold a census as soon as possible. The announcement was made at a press conference in Erbil, in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, which al-Maliki held together with Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani.

The reasons for this were clear. Al-Maliki was making a conciliatory visit to the Iraqi Kurdish, with who Baghdad has been at loggerheads with recently. And the Iraqi Kurdish have long wanted a census because it would help settle one of the most contentious issues between themselves and Baghdad – that of the disputed territories, areas they say belong to them because there are so many Kurdish living there but which Baghdad says belongs to Iraq because there are just as many Arabs there.

If it was known exactly how many Kurdish lived in an area and how many Arabs lived in that same area, it might be possible to begin to hold the popular referendum that’s needed; such a referendum would allow locals to decide whether they want to be part of Iraq or whether they want to be part of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s share of the Iraqi national budget has also been disputed. Iraq’s Kurds want a 17 percent share of the national budget whereas the current government, led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, says they can only have 12 percent.

“Our problems with Baghdad are very connected to how many Kurds there are actually in Iraq,” says Kurdish MP, Shwan Mohammed Taha. “Holding an accurate census and having numbers that everyone agrees on would help resolve the issues with the budget and with the disputed territories.”

Iraq and Flood Problems

Iraq and Flood Problems
Dr. Tuğba Evrim Maden, ORSAM Water Research Programme Specialist,

While Iraq, the downstream neighbor of Turkey’s Euphrates and Tigris rivers, frequently form the agenda regarding water shortage, it has recently taken its place on the agenda with flood news.

With precipitations occurring heavily in short periods and sudden and early snow melts taking place with rising temperature, floods have been observed in certain periods from the past to the present in the river basin of particularly the Euphrates and Tigris whose flow rate varies. While global climate change influence the precipitation regimes, it can also cause rapid snow melts and change the interval of the periods. Moreover, in Iraq, which has experienced long periods of war, water structures that have been damaged in terms of structure can also remain insufficient in storing flood waters.

Floods in the Tigris River are seen between February – June while they are seen in March and July in the Euphrates. In “The Mail” newspaper dated 25 May 1929, the floods occurring in Iraq have been addressed and individuals living for many years in Baghdad have indicated that a great flood occurring in 1919 had threatened the capital city of Baghdad and that floods take place periodically in the river basins of the Tigris and Euphrates. From the information obtained from FAO2, the Tigris River, especially during periods of floods, can rise by 30 cm. per hour. While Iraq, experiencing flood problems, implement projects on water resources, in the early periods it had constructed dams for the purpose of controlling floods. Later on, energy and irrigation purposes have started coming to the fore in the construction of dams. It is also indicated that one of the purposes of the Tharthar Lake project in particular, whose construction had been completed in 1956, was to protect the capital of Baghdad from floods. The lake which allowed water flow from the Tigris River to the Euphrates in the 1970’s has been criticized for damaging the quality of water by creating salinity in the Euphrates River.

While Iraq, experiencing flood problems, implement projects on water resources, in the early periods it had constructed dams for the purpose of controlling floods. Later on, energy and irrigation purposes have started coming to the fore in the construction of dams.

In Iraq, which has a surface area of 438.320 km2, cultivated land exists in two regions. The first region is the mountainous regions and plateaus in Northern Iraq where there is plentiful of precipitation, while the second region consists of the irrigation lands existing in Baghdad and Ramadi along the shore of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Opposite to the north of Iraq, water being provided is not seasonally steady in the south and while floods originating from the Tigris particularly in the spring can be regarded as a benefit for producers of rice, it causes great harm to the products to be harvested in the summer and especially to the city of Baghdad. These floods also cause salinity in the soil. Soil salinity can only be prevented with water existing at the right time and at the right place.

The great flood that took place in February 2006 caused create damages to the cities of Arbil, Duhok, Sulaymaniyah, Salahaddin, Tameem, Kirkuk, Diyala, Missan, Wasit and Kut in Iraq. In order for the damages to be compensated, the Organizations of the Red Cross and Red Crescent have gathered aid of approximately 1.3 million dollars.

Since January this year, floods have occurred first in Southern Iraq and following it, since the beginning of this month, in the north of Iraq due to heavy precipitations. During the floods caused by precipitation that occurred the most heavily in the last 30 years and whose consequence had been experienced in the winter, the Tigris River has rose approximately 5 meters and the greatest flow since the last 50 years has been witnessed. Especially in the northern cities of Iraq, state of emergency has been declared against floods. In 230 villages situated in the regions of Wasit, Dhi Qar and Maysan, measures have been taken against the problem of floods that would occur as a result of heavy precipitations. According to information obtained from news sources, it has been learned that two small dams have collapsed due to the floods. Moreover, it has also been indicated that consolidation works are being performed in the dams against floods. Opening of drainage channels for the drainage of extreme flows formed in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is also another piece of information that has been obtained.

According to their hydrologic features, the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates can display great changes in their flow over the years. Throughout history, periods of great drought and great flood have been experienced in this basin and these processes have been felt the most intensively in Syria and Iraq. Actually, the dams, which have been exposed to Turkey’s constant criticisms, organize storages and the flows of the two rivers having unsteady flow in times of drought and flood in a way that would be beneficial to both Syria and Iraq.

US energy giant Chevron signs oil deal with Iraqi Kurdistan

BAGHDAD, AFP – 18.6.2013 – US energy giant Chevron has signed another oil exploration deal in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, it said on Monday, one of several contracts between Kurds and foreign energy firms that have enraged Baghdad.



The contract to explore the Qara Dagh field, in the south of the three-province region, is Chevron’s third with Kurdish officials, who have signed a swathe of contracts with international oil companies to boost exploration and production of energy. Iraq’s central government, however, has slammed the deals as illegal on the grounds that they were not approved by the federal oil ministry, and last year barred Chevron from working in non-Kurdish parts of the country.

“Chevron will acquire an interest in and operatorship of the Qara Dagh block production sharing contract from the Kurdistan regional government,” the company said in a statement issued from the Kurdish regional capital Erbil. The block lies southeast of Erbil and is about 860 square kilometres (332 square miles) in total area, it said. The American energy giant was awarded the exploration deal in January, its third in Iraqi Kurdistan after acquiring two others in July 2012.

The spat over oil contracts is one of a string between Baghdad and Erbil. Diplomats and analysts say the unresolved rows are among the biggest threats to Iraq’s long-term stability.

Kurdish General and Police Officer Lead Attack on Assyrian Village

Kurdish General and Police Officer Lead Attack on Assyrian Village
GMT 6-17-2013
Assyrian International News Agency

Northern Iraq (AINA) -- New information has surfaced on the recent attack by Kurds on the village of Rabatki, in the Dohuk province in Northern Iraq (AINA 6-13-2013). According to observers in the area who have spoken to AINA on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals, the attack last Thursday was headed by a general in the Kurdish Peshmerga forces. General Aref Habib Al Zebari was identified by witnesses as leading the attack along with his brother Hares Habib Al Zebari, a police officer in the nearby city of Aqra. The Assyrians of the village of Rabatki maintain that most of the armed Kurds who attacked them were actually Peshmerga soldiers wearing civilian clothes.

The Peshmerga is the Kurdish Regional Government's (KRG) military force tasked with the security of the three provinces carved out for Kurds. The force is financed with money from the Iraqi national budget. Assyrians are systematically discriminated against in the armed forces in Iraq. In the Nineveh plain, for example, Assyrians have almost no presence in the police force despite constituting the major ethnic group in several municipalities. Calls for more Assyrians in the local police force where many of them live have been opposed by the KRG since 2008.

No one has been arrested for the attack and the villagers don't expect any of the assailants to face any kind of consequences because of their background and because the victims are Assyrians. Exemplifying the marginalization Assyrians face in all aspects of life in Northern Iraq were the words of general Aref Habib Al Zebari during the attack on Rabatki: "We are the authority around here and we will take what we want."