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Independent Kurdistan - a bomb for the Middle East?

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ekurd
Independent Kurdistan - a bomb for the Middle East?
MOSCOW,— Russia does not exclude the possibility of the emergence of an independent Kurdistan if Iraq breaks up, but generally supports the territorial integrity of Iraq, said deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov.



According to Radzhab Safarov, the general director of the Center for Iranian Studies, independent Kurdistan is a Western project. "This project can explode the entire region; the US and Israel, and to a lesser degree, Turkey and European society are interested in it. An independent Kurdistan can catalyse processes in Iraq, Iran, Syria and to some extent in Turkey. Many states are interested in this chaos," the expert said.

The expert finds the Turkish position on the Kurdish question surprising because it has suppressed the Kurdish questionwww.Ekurd.net on its own territory but is trying to influence Iraq through Kurdistan and has agreed to purchase oil from Iraqi Kurdistan.

"We hear every day in Europe and the US about the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but the West forgot about the integrity of Iran. Russia and Iran are not against wide autonomies within the state of Iraq, they are better than the precedent ofa break-up," Safarov said.

Turkish experts Shaban Kardash and Togrul Ismail in their conversation with VK said that there is no contradiction between a solution of the Kurdish question in Turkey and the cooperation of Ankara with Iraqi Kurdistan. According to the head of the Center for Strategic Research of the Middle East, Shaban Kardash, the growing connections with the autonomy in Iraq help to keep peace in the Kurdish provinces of Turkey.
 


Togrul Ismail, however, said that the position of Ankara on Kurdish separatism and its relations with Iraqi Kurdistan are not connected. "The current government of Turkey is trying to strengthen its positions in energy direction that is why it is negotiating with the group of Barzani," the expert said. "But this does not indicate a resolution of the Kurdish question, because the influence of Barzani over Turkish Kurds is minimal."

After Christians... ISIS threatens Kurds in Iraq's Mosul

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After Christians... ISIS threatens Kurds in Iraq's Mosul.
MOSUL, Northwest Iraq,— The al-Qaeda linked Islamic-jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS threatened Kurds of being killed if not leave Mosul city.

Mosul city has become completely empty of Christians who fled under threat of ISIS and that gave them the choice between converting to Islam , pay tribute or face death at a deadline that ended on Saturday.



“100 Kurdish family have been threatened today to be killed if they didn’t leave their homes and the city, without setting a timetable for them, it is likely to vacate Mosul soon," The media official of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan KDP in the region, Saeed Mamouzine said in an interview published on the party’s Website.

He added that "700 Christian families were forced to leave the city, while about 25 families are currently paying tribute because they have interests that must be sponsored in Mosul."

ISIS had determined an amount of $ 450 as a capitation to Christians who decided to stay in Mosul city that the organization has controlled on the 10th of last June. ISIS has gave the Christians of Mosul, 24 hours that ended last Saturday, calling them to be Muslims, pay tribute or to leave their homes without their property as spoils.

Mmouzine pointed out that "ISIS gunmen kidnapped today citizens of the Turkmen Shiite in al-Shuhadaa neighborhood as their fate is still unknown."   


ISIS has subjected entire Mosul under its control and radical Islamic view on religious minorities as Christians, Shiites and Yazidis, causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands.

Targeting Christians has received international and wide domestic condemnation.


Mosul city, Iraq's second largest and the oldest city inhabited by a mixture of religions nationalities.
ekurd

Netanyahu's message to the UN and the whole world. We're fighting terrorists, we have respect for the Palestinian people, but that providing the problems is the terrorist organization Hamas that attack us each and shoot ract against Israeli peopels and civilians

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Netanyahu is a great and good prime minister
Netanyahu's message to the UN and the whole world. We're fighting terrorists, we have respect for the Palestinian people, but that providing the problems is the terrorist organization Hamas that attack us each and shoot ract against  Israeli  peopels and civilians


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's important message to the world.

An open letter to the UN and all human organization in the world to stop Turkish barbaric fascist regime that attack the Kurdish people in Western Kurdistan (Syrian Kurdistan)

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stop turkish terrorist regime
An open letter to the UN and all human organization in the world to stop Turkish barbaric fascist regime that attack the Kurdish people in Western Kurdistan (Syrian Kurdistan)

Why Iran Fears an Independent Kurdistan

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Why Iran Fears an Independent Kurdistan  
Tehran is increasingly nervous about a potential bid by Iraq’s Kurds for independence. First, an independent Kurdish state next door could incite Iran’s own Kurdish minority, setting a dangerous precedent in the multiethnic country. Second, the two countries likely to have the most leverage over an independent Kurdistan would be Turkey and Israel, Iran’s regional rivals. From Tehran’s perspective, a Kurdish blowback inside Iran and a Turkish and Israeli geopolitical win at its expense has to be thwarted.



Tehran’s fears about Iraqi Kurdish intentions are rooted in deeper fears about Iraq imploding as a nation-state. In recent weeks, the president of the Kurdish region in Iraq, Massoud Barzani, has been feeding speculation about his people breaking away from Iraq. He announced on June 30 that he intends to hold a referendum on independence “within months.” Barzani has since been arguing that such a step is a mere formality, as Iraq is already effectively partitioned into Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions. In the meantime, he has been gauging the regional and international community’s reception of his plans.

In Tehran, where reading Kurdish tea leaves is the latest trend, opinion is split between those who see Barzani as engaging in the theatrics of brinkmanship and those who take him at his word. The skeptics, who are in the minority, say Barzani is playing a political game with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, raising the prospect of independence in order to secure territorial and political concessions from a beleaguered central government in Baghdad. In other words, they suspect that Barzani is mainly an opportunist, not necessarily a separatist.

The majority of Iranian officials, however, sees Barzani as strongly committed to Kurdish independence, and sees him maneuvering to take advantage of the politically fluid circumstances in Iraq and in the Middle East to launch such a bid. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s deputy foreign minister in charge of Arab and African affairs, even felt it necessary to publicly warn that “all Iraqi factions should respect the country's constitution . . . to prevent the country from breaking up.” In Abdollahian’s words, Iraq’s Kurdswww.Ekurd.net should “face reality.” In this case, facing reality means accepting that Tehran will do what it can to prevent an independent Kurdistan carved out of northern Iraq.    


Why Fear Kurdistan?

At the heart of Tehran’s anxieties lies a decades-old fear of spillover of the Kurdish self-determination movement, and an independent and secular Kurdistan becoming a geopolitical and ideological liability.

Militant Kurds in Iran previously established independent regions around the time of the First and Second World Wars, while the central authorities in Tehran were too weak to resist. Kurdish militancy continued to simmer throughout the reign of the Shah, and they took up arms against Tehran immediately after the Iranian revolution in 1979. This became a full-fledged insurgency that took a number of years to quell.

Militancy among a small pocket of Iran’s Kurds is still alive today, most notably linked to PJAK (The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan), which is an offshoot of PKK (The Kurdistan Workers’ Party). Over the last decade, PJAK’s antigovernment attacks have been localized and small scale. Tehran wants to keep it that way, and fears what would result if the Iraqi Kurds won independence.

These fears are not just heard from Iran’s military and intelligence agencies, but seem to be shared more widely in Iranian society. Mardom Salari, a prominent reformist-leaning newspaper, recently felt the need to issue a warning that, “Given the spread of Kurdish people in four countries of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, the independence of Kurdistan will have its [regional] political consequences and security threats.” That Iran is a multiethnic country only exacerbates Tehran’s angst about other ethnic-minority communities becoming emboldened by Kurdish separatism.

A Vassal State?

On the other hand, Iranian state-run media is inundated with rumors that somehow the West is concocting a scheme for the partition of Iraq. They point to visits made by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary William Hague to Erbil in late June as pivotal gestures of support for Barzani’s independence plans. That both Kerry and Hague urged Barzani to prioritize working toward a politically inclusive central government in Baghdad is deliberately ignored.

Among its closer rivals, Tehran is principally concerned about Turkey and Israel. Barzani’s close political and economic ties to Ankara are hardly a secret. Even though Turkey is still officially against independence for Iraq’s Kurds—as Barzani was reportedly told when he visited Ankara last week—the prevailing wisdom in Tehran suggests that the Turkish policy on this question is increasingly driven by its desire to counter Tehran’s regional ambitions. The Iranians believe the Turks would rather see Iraq’s Kurds break away than remain in a federal Iraq beholden to the Shia-led, Tehran-backed central government in Baghdad.

Then there is the question of Israel’s close historic ties to the Iraqi Kurds. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s June 30 call of support for an independent Kurdish state rattled the Iranians and has to lead to some unusually harsh anti-Barzani statements from Tehran. Qods, a hardline outlet, chastised Barzani for his “betrayal and opportunism” and called his plan to hold a referendum on independence to be part of “Israel’s game” to find a soft foothold on Iran’s doorstep.

Erbil has felt compelled to hit back against Iran’s rhetoric. On July 12, the Kurdistan National Congress (KNC), an umbrella movement spanning the Middle East, openly criticized Iran for its stance on Kurdish independence. The KNC statement charged that Tehran is looking to divide the Kurds in order to halt the momentum behind the independence movement. Signs of such a strategy have been visible in Iran’s public statements, which have sought to depict Barzani’s independence bid to be opposed by other Kurdish leaders.

The one man the Iranians have focused on most is Jalal Talabani, the ailing president of Iraq, who has long been a political rival of Barzani in Iraqi Kurdish politics. Talabani’s party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), has largely stayed out of the recent debate over secession, instead focusing on jockeying its top members for the top post available to Kurds under the Iraqi constitution: that of president. In other words, the PUK policy stance echoes Tehran’s hopes for the state of Iraq to remain intact.

   


With Talabani’s return to Iraq on July 19 after an eighteen-month medical leave abroad, Tehran will likely intensify its support for PUK and other Iraqi Kurdish entities opposed to Barzani’s call for independence. Still, as it weighs its options and other regional commitments, Tehran can hardly afford an overtly aggressive strategy. A policy designed to foment internal disagreement among Iraqi Kurds may be the magic bullet Tehran is seeking to derail its nightmare of Kurdish independence.

Alex Vatanka is a Senior Fellow at The Middle East Institute.

Centre to combat violence against women in Syrian Kurdistan

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Centre to combat violence against women in Syrian Kurdistan 
QAMISHLO, Syrian Kurdistan,— A women's centre has been set up in the Kurdish city on Qamishlo (Qamishli) in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) to tackle the problem of violence against women. The centre brings together three communities: the Kurds, Arabs and Assyrians.



The Sara Women's Association is run by a committee consisting of 12 members, with six sub-committees: Funding, Law, Service-Projects, Media, Archive and External Relations.

The association has already become a focal point for women of different ethnic backgrounds.

One of the association's directors, Neja Amin, spoke to ANF, underlining the fact that since women have common problems everyone can become a member of the association, regardless of ethnicity, religion or organisation.

Amin said the aim of the organisation was to wage a struggle against all kinds of violence against women, psychological as well as physical, and combat all manner of things that break the will of women.    


She added that the association also helped women who had suffered violence to regain their confidence.

Amin said the Sara Women's Association worked in coordination with international institutions in addition to organisations in Rojava.

She added: "Violence is the same everywhere. Violence in one place can affect women in other places. We are therefore opposed to all kinds of violence wherever in occurs in the world and we will continue our struggle against it."

She said one of the aims of the association was to combat forced marriages, 'honour' crimes, child marriage and polygamy, adding that they would speak to the families involved in such situations and endeavour to find a solution.

She said that they also carried out activities such as issuing press statements and organising protests towww.Ekurd.net prevent violence against women, emphasising that they were waging a struggle for the recognition of rights for all women and to empower them. 

Emin added that one of the aims of the association was to develop projects designed to help women gain economic independence. She said they obtained funding from their members and from internal and external charities. She said they have an annual conference, and emphasised that since the association was established they have raised the problems of women from different ethnic backgrounds, resolving them on the basis of social morality. Amin added they had made particular efforts to prevent divorce, saying they had been able to resolve many problems in this area. 


 firatnews.com

Hi, this news is about western Kurdistan from ronahi TV

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Hi, this news is about western Kurdistan from ronahi TV
islamic terrorist Organizations isis attacked Kurdish civilians in western Kurdistan.
Therefore, we urge the West to support the Kurdish people specially ypg against Islamic terror iockså require Turkish terrorist barbaric regime to stop attacking Kurdish people in Western Kurdistan

300 Kurdish youths from turkish Kurdistan are now YPG Fighters to fight Isis terrorists in Kobane,Rojava.


ISIS threatens to forcibly Islamise Yazidi Kurds in Iraq's Sinjar

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ISIS threatens to forcibly Islamise Yazidi Kurds in Iraq's Sinjar .
INJAR, Northwest Iraq,— The al-Qaeda linked Islamic-jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS being used by international forces against the gains of the Kurdish people are now issuing threats against the Yazidi Kurdish population of Sinjar.



ISIS has distributed leaflets in the Kurdish town of Sinjar threatening to forcibly convert the local population to Islam.

Following the capture of Mosul by ISIS the organisation has begun to target the Yazidi, Shabak and Christian communities of the Nineveh region. 

Gangs which last week attacked the villages of Girzerik and Guhbel in the Tilbenat district of Sinjar are now distributing threatening leaflets in Sinjar town.

Former Member of the European Parliament, Feleknaz Uca, recalling the massacre of 400 Yazidi Kurds in 2007, said there is the threat of a similar massacre being carried out today.

She said the ISIS militants had distributed leaflets inviting the people to become Moslems,www.Ekurd.net adding: "I gather the leaflets say"'we will come to drink your tea on the day of the feast, there is no need to kill you, we are establishing an Islamic state, you will have to become Moslems.'"   


Uca recalled that Turkey's imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan had drawn attention to the defence of Yazidis in 2007, emphasising that Sinjar's only option was to consolidate its defences. She said; “Sinjar is a city of Kurdistan. If there is an attack on Sinjar it will become a cemetery of thousands. If Sinjar falls, the resistance epic of Derwishe Edule will also fall", adding that all Kurdish forces must make efforts towards the defence of this region. 

The Yazidis are a dominant group, linked to Zoroastrianism and Sufism, in the northwest region, a historically oppressed people who speak Kurdish and are ethnically Kurd but follow their own religion. In fact, they are reputed to be devil worshippers, not just by Iraqi Muslims but they’ve been characterized that way by Western scholars over the years.


The Yazidis are a Kurdish religious group linked to Zoroastrianism and Sufism. Over 350,000 Yazidi Kurds live in villages around Mosul near Kurdistan autonomous region border, with additional communities in Transcaucasia, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, and Syria, estimated to over 600,000 worldwide. 

OBAMA REJECTS KURDS’ PLEA FOR HELP AGAINST ISIS

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OBAMA REJECTS KURDS’ PLEA FOR HELP AGAINST ISIS
President Obama famously failed to act when warned that ISIS was preparing to mount an offensive in Western Iraq. This left ISIS free to conquer, with virtually no resistance, city after city in the defense of which American soldiers have shed blood.



Now Obama is receiving new warnings, this time from the Kurds in Northern Iraq. In fact, according to the Washington Post, the Kurds are “pleading for U.S. military aid.”

Unlike the Iraqi government, the Kurds possess a viable military that is prepared to fight ISIS. Indeed, they are fighting ISIS, and fairly effectively.

However, the Kurds now have a 650 mile border to defend, thanks to the abandonment of the area by Iraq’s military forces. Thus, the Kurdish forces are stretched extremely thin.

The Kurds should be receiving a share of the weapons the U.S. is supplying to the Iraqi government. But that, of course, isn’t happening. Mansour Barzani, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s intelligence and security chief, told the Post that Baghdad hasn’t provided “a single bullet.”

Meanwhile, says the Post, the ISIS forces attacking the Kurds have seized weapons worth hundreds of millions of dollars from retreating Iraqi soldiers. In effect, Baghdad is supplying ISIS while providing the Kurds with nothing.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the Obama administration has rejected Kurdish pleas for arms with which to fight ISIS. Its rationale is that assistance must come through the central government.

But the central government is (a) dysfunctional and (b) unwilling to lift a finger to help the Kurds in any case. In fact, the Iraq government’s unwillingness to “play nice” with the Kurds has been part of the Obama administration’s rationale for not doing more to help the government.

Unlike the government of Iraq, the Kurds are ready and willing to inflict defeat on ISIS. With assistance from the U.S. in the form of weaponry, the Kurds would probably be able to inflict that much-needed defeat.

It seems criminal for Obama to deny this assistance in the name of defending the interests of a central government that Obama has condemned for its dealings with the Kurds (among others).

ISIS is looking to establish a caliphate, and making good progress toward that end. Meanwhile, Obama dithers, using the Iraq government’s poor treatment of the Kurds as an excuse for not doing more to help it fight ISIS, and the Kurd’s natural animosity to the government as an excuse for not helping them.

It’s almost as if Obama is indifferent to the progress of ISIS and willing to embrace any excuse for standing idly by in the face of that progress.

This is not the first time the United States of America betrayed the Kurds. They did in 1975, the late 1980's, 1991, 2003, and now again.

In 1975, the Kurds managed to defeat 90% of the Iraqi Army. The Iraqi Army had ammunition left for only 1-2 weeks of battle. The United States hurried to make sure that the Kurds would not be victorious. The Algiers Treaty was signed, Iran closed its borders with 'Iraqi' Kurdistan, and Syria send in military support. Iraq gave the important Shat al-Arab sea route to Iran in return, which later lead to the Iran-Iraq War (when Saddam came to power, he wanted it back).

In the late 1980's, the United States was allied with Saddam's regime. They provided Saddam with chemical weapons, which he used against the Kurds. On March 16, 1988, over 5,000 Kurdish civilians were gassed to death in a matter of minutes (Poison Gas Attack on Halabja). The United States also closed an eye when the Iraqi Army started the Al-Anfal Genocidal Campaign, in which 5,000 Kurdish villages were destroyed, and over 182,000 Kurds were buried alive.

In 1991, George Bush called upon the Kurds to revolt. He promised air support. The Kurds revolted against Saddam's army, and the Kurds liberated an area of 72,000 square kilometers (42,000 square miles) within 2 weeks. The Iraqi Army suffered heavy casualties. The US didn't expect this to happen, so the promised support never came. When Saddam realized that the US was lying, he launched a brutal counter-attack in which over 50,000 Kurdish civilians died, and millions were displaced.

In 2003, Turkey refused to support the US invasion of Iraq in the North (Kurdistan). But the Kurds provided the much needed help for the invasion/liberation to succeed. Kurdish Peshmerga fought side by side with American troops. Not a single American soldier was killed, captured or wounded in Kurdistan since 2003, while over 4,500 were killed in the Arab parts of Iraq. Yet, the United States continues to support the Arab government in Baghdad, and denies the Kurds assistance in their fight against ISIS.

The Kurds have lost all their trust in the United States. A while ago, the Kurdish President Barzani cancelled his meeting with President Obama at the White House. And recently, Kurdish politicans said that they won't consider US interests anymore when making decisions. The Arabs, like always, continue to burn American flags, murder American soldiers, and threaten American civilians in the USA. The United States is crumbling. And it's all their own fault.

Source: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/07/obama-rejects-kurds-plea-for-help-against-isis.php

While Kurds wave with American flags, and even open American-themed restaurants in Kurdistan:

Click to view image: '33c_1406462446-Kurdflag1_1406463324.jpg'

Click to view image: '33c_1406462446-Kurdflag2_1406463325.jpg'

Arabs continue to burn American flags and kill American soldiers:

Click to view image: '33c_1406462446-americanflagburn2_1406463326.jpg'

Click to view image: '33c_1406462446-americanflagburn1_1406463325.jpg'

And the United States/Americans continue to support those who oppress and murder Kurds.



As a Kurd, I'll now have to say: fuck the USA.

Kurds diaspora continue to stage protests globally in support of a Kurdish state. Part of channel(s): Iraq (current event) Kurds diaspora continue to stage protests globally in support of a Kurdish state. Pictured below, American-Kurds in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee, in front of the Federal building Kurds diaspora continue to stage protests globally in support of a Kurdish state. Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=99e_1406451501#gqHMXkDwS8CbDdlg.99

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Kurds diaspora continue to stage protests globally in support of a Kurdish state.
 Part of channel(s): Iraq (current event)
Kurds diaspora continue to stage protests globally in support of a Kurdish state.
free kurdistan



Pictured below, American-Kurds in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee, in front of the Federal building




Kurds diaspora continue to stage protests globally in support of a Kurdish state. 

Kurds in Canada call on world to ‘End Silence’ and help Syrian Kurdistan

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Kurds in Canada call on world to ‘End Silence’ and help Syrian Kurdistan 
ORONTO,— Kurds in Canada’s largest city protested on Saturday against attacks by Islamic militants on Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), and called on the international community to end their “silence and indifference to the plight of Kurds there.”

“The world media is only talking about what is happening in Gaza and Israel while the Kurds have been suffering and been under attack for one year now,” said Donald Dogan, a member of Toronto’s Kurdish Community.

“If they care about what is happening in Gaza they should also stand by the Kurds,” Dogan told Rudaw.

Using advanced weapons it seized from the Iraqi army in Mosul last month, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has laid siege to the Kurdish city of Kobane and its surrounding villages for several weeks.

“Rojava is facing a big danger from fundamentalists who aim to kill them,” said Mustafa Kakin, one of the protesters. “I am here to say that the world should be aware of this, but unfortunately the West is ignoring them.”

Kakin said that the Islamic militants are targeting not only the Kurds, but also Christians and other minorities who have taken refugee in Rojava. 

The Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) is holding back the ISIS attacks, but the group’s leaders say that their weapons are no match for ISIS’s heavy artillery brought over from Iraq.
  
  
YPG commanders have called on the world, particularly the United States to help the Kurds in their fight against radical groups in Syria.

In a recent interview with Rudaw, Sipan Hemo, the YPG commander said that if the US is serious about helping the Syrian opposition, “Then the Kurds and YPG deserve this support the most.”

The Kurdish community in Toronto have organized two similar rallies in the past year in support of Rojava and delivered medical supplies to victims of the fighting.

“Civilians and children are being killed by these murderers everyday,” said Dogan, a protest organizer. “How could the world remain silent?”

“Christians are protected only by the Kurds in Syria,” he added. “Canadian people, America and the West have a moral responsibility to help the Kurds.”

The threat to Kobane is such that young Kurdish volunteers rushed across the border from Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey earlier this month to join the YPG in its fight against the ISIS.

Now however, Kurds worry that the war in Gaza has stolen the attention from Kobane and its civilian population.

“My heart goes to Gaza too, but we don’t see the same attention to the Kurds,” said Dilan Bagti, a Kurdish woman holding a poster at Toronto’s iconic Dundas Square. “What is happening in Gaza is the exact same thing that is going on in Rojava, in Kobane.”

Atakan Esen, 23, an engineering student at the University of Toronto said that Islamic extremists in Syria pose a threat to the entire region and not just the Kurds.

“If the ISIS takes over it will be bad for the whole region and the whole world,” said Esen. “There will be more blood, more suffering and worse than it is now.”

“Anyone who is worried about this violence should care,” he added.

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, rudaw.net

President Barzani - Al Jazeera interview (Kurdishe independence)

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President Barzani - Al Jazeera interview (Kurdishe independence)
 Part of channel(s): Iraq (current event)
Before you watch the Interview of Masoud Barzani Kurdistan President.
Read these 3 notes.

1. The subtitle of the interview was not translated good, and it misses lots of points.
2. Martine Dennis does not support Kurdistan region, she say anything to make him look bad.


The interview done by Martine Dennis: Al Jazeera

Is it Time for Rojava and Kurdistan Region to Unite against Common Enemy?

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Is it Time for Rojava and Kurdistan Region to Unite against Common Enemy?


 Part of channel(s): Iraq (current event)
LONDON - Whilst the Islamic State (IS/ISIS) was propelled into the limelight in spectacular manner in Iraq, controlling Mosul, Tikrit and large swathes of territory across Iraq, for the Kurds of Syria their deadly battles with the al-Qaeda offshoot over the past year or so have largely failed to make headlines.



The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) has ubiquitously engaged in furious battles against IS militiamen across the areas in Syria under Kurdish control. Those Kurdish areas are of strategic importance, as they straddle the Turkish border -- and with it some of the most vital border crossings -- and are home to some of Syria’s largest oil fields.



Conversely, the battle of the Peshmerga forces in Iraq has been well noted, as they have formed a formidable frontier against IS rebels, all but saving Kirkuk and many other cities from falling to the IS, which recently changed its name from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).



In the same manner as the Peshmerga, the YPG should be acknowledged for its vital role in keeping IS at bay in Syria.



Fresh from their gains in Iraq, a buoyant IS has returned to Syria with a new onslaught on Kobane and other Kurdish towns and villages. However, this time the goalposts have shifted. Armed with significant booty from their Iraq conquests, including Humvees, tanks and artillery -- not to mention millions of dollars in funds – IS quickly shifted their guns to the Syrian Kurds once more.



According to Jabar Yawar, secretary general of the Peshmerga ministry, “ISIS has different types of rockets, tanks and other heavy weaponry that they got from the Iraqi army and now they use these weapons to attack Kobane.”



Faced with a barrage of attacks on Kobane from different sides, Kurdish forces have fervently confronted IS forces; but they will ultimately struggle under inferior firepower. The co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Salih Muslim, warned that IS now possesses “heavy weaponry like mortars and tanks, which concerns our forces. We can’t use our weapons against their bulletproof tanks.”



Furthermore, Syrian Kurds have complained at lack of humanitarian aid over the past couple of years and have been hampered under the cautious eyes of Ankara. YPG spokesperson Redur Xalil called on the international community to "intervene immediately and carry out their duty toward Kobane."



The Syrian Kurds freed themselves from decades of tyranny and repression and announced self-rule across three cantons. But lack of political unity between the main PYD party and other political parties threaten the existence of the administration in the midst of increasing danger.



The situation has not been helped with lukewarm relations between the PYD and the Kurdistan Region leadership.



There could be no better time for the Kurds to unite and protect the Kurdish population in Syria and also preserve hard-fought Kurdish self-rule. IS is not just an internal matter for the Syrian Kurds: What happens there is very much a problem for the Iraqi Kurds.



Because if Kobane and other major Kurdish cities fall, the IS gets even stronger. That is not good for Erbil, which is also somewhere on the IS priority list of enemies to annul.



For Abdul-Salam Ahmed, co-chair of PYD, Kobane was effectively becoming a factor to “the end of the Sykes-Picot agreement,” the 1916 pact by which the powers of the time redrew the Ottoman Empire borders, essentially dividing the Kurds in the process. Whilst rallying Kurdish unity, Kurdish veteran politician Ahmet Turk emphasized that there is no difference between Kobane and Kirkuk.



PYD head Muslim warned that the unity of the three cantons and ultimately the Syrian Kurdish autonomous region itself depends on Kobane, which he labeled as the “symbol of the Kurds’ identity and resistance.” He urged Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani to join a common struggle against the Islamic militants, claiming that Barzani "had not fully grasped the nature of ISIS."











Whilst the Kurdish Region edges towards independence, the importance of a stable, secure and prosperous Kurdistan Region of Syria as a key neighbor cannot be discounted.



To this effect, the Syrian Kurds, who have already imposed compulsory military service, have tried to rally Kurds in Iraq and particularly Turkey. Gharib Haso, an official from the PYD, claimed that “Young Kurds from all parts of Kurdistan are going to Syria.”



The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdul Rahman stated that at least 800 Kurdish fighters had crossed the Turkish border into Syria to join the battle.



“It’s a life-or-death battle for the Kurds. If ISIS takes Ayn al Arab (Kobane), it will advance eastwards toward other Kurdish Syrian areas, such as Hasakah in the northeast,” he warned.



The ultimate success of greater Kurdistan rests with all its four parts. There is no better place to start than with a political alliance amongst Kurdish parties in Syria and the fostering of better ties between the Rojava administration and the Kurdistan Region.

Israel has right to defend itself against terrorism, also defend their residents

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Israel has right to defend itself against terrorism, also defend their residents
the countries responsible for gaza war is Iranian regime and Syria's regime, Israel has right to defend itself from terrorists because Palestinian terrorists kidnapped three Israeli youth after only 5 and 7 days Israeli army found them kid dead bodies, who can accept such things. those who talk shit about israel must shut up and take a realistic look at the situation iran supports the terrorist organization Hamas against the Israeli people. world must stop the Iranian regime of supporting terrorism

we condemn the Kurdistan oil foreclosure, it's Kurdish oil money goes to the Kurdish people. I do not understand why the United States listening to the Iranian regime and the Turkish regime also Obama listens to Nuri al Maleki who is Iranian agents in Iraq. Kudistans oil exhaustion of the United States is against Kurdish children and civilians.

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we condemn the Kurdistan oil foreclosure bý usa, it's Kurdish oil money goes to the Kurdish people. I do not understand why the United States listening to the Iranian regime and the Turkish regime also Obama listens to Nuri al Maleki who is Iranian agents in Iraq. 
Kudistans oil exhaustion of the United States is against Kurdish children and civilians.

U.S. judge says cannot seize Iraqi Kurdistan crude for now 
HOUSTON,— A high-stakes dispute over a tanker carrying $100 million in Iraqi Kurdish crude took a surprising turn on Tuesday when a U.S. judge said she lacked jurisdiction given the ship's distance from the Texas shore and urged that the case be settled in Iraq.

Federal magistrate Nancy K. Johnson said that because the tanker was some 60 miles (100 km) offshore, and outside territorial waters, an order she issued late on Monday for U.S. Marshals to seize the cargo could not be enforced. She said the dispute between Iraq's central government and the autonomous region of Kurdistan should be resolved in Iraq.

Overnight Johnson signed an order directing the marshals to seize the 1 million barrels of crude from the United Kalavrvta tanker anchored in thewww.Ekurd.net Gulf of Mexico. Tuesday she scheduled a conference to give the two sides a chance to state their case.

The ship could simply sail away, though it also could offload its cargo for delivery to another U.S. Gulf of Mexico port outside of Texas, lawyers said.

Baghdad's lawyers had laid claim to the oil in a lawsuit filed on Monday, saying Kurdistan sold the crude without permission from the central government.

The latest dispute over exports reflects Iraqi Kurds’ emboldened steps toward seizing greater political and economic autonomy, with oil sales seen as central to Kurdish dreams of independence that Baghdad opposes.

  
  

While the sides fought the legal battle in Houston, they pressed the political fight in the courtroom of public opinion.

Iraq warned companies against trying to buy other shipments of Kurdish crude after it won the seizure order, while Kurdish leaders asserted their right to sell the oil but said they would face obstacles.

“The Ministry of Oil in Baghdad continues to interfere directly and indirectly with KRG oil sales," said Karwan Zebari, an official with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s representation in Washington.

SEPARATE CLAIMS

A lawyer in Houston for the Kurds said the regional government would file its own claim of ownership for the cargo, a sign the legal standoff might continue.

Meanwhile, a Kurdish government official said export plans would be hurt.

"We have to acknowledge that the ruling of the U.S. court will definitely have negative consequences on the region's attempts to market its oil," he said of the order to seize the cargo. "Buyers now will start to step back and think twice before purchasing Kurdish crude."

Washington has publicly opposed direct oil sales by the autonomous region, fearing they could contribute to the break-up of Iraq. It has stopped short of banning U.S. companies from buying the oil while warning them of potential legal risks.

Officials from the State Department and the U.S. Marshals Service said the judge's order could only be applied if the ship entered U.S. territory.

In this case, that would be 12 nautical miles from shore, said Martin Davies, a law professor and the director of Tulane University’s Maritime Law Center in New Orleans.

If the oil’s owner wants to stay out of U.S. courts, “they just have to order the ship to stay out," he said.

While the rulers of Iraq’s northern Kurdish enclave have long aspired to independence, their position has strengthened in recent months as Kurdish Peshmerga troops have outperformed Iraqi soldiers against Islamist militants.

Kurds have also succeeded in cementing their control of land and oil reserves around the resource-rich city of Kirkuk, while Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi’ite Arab who has been an adversary of Iraqi Kurds, has fallen out of favor in Washington.

At least one cargo of Kurdish crude was delivered to the United States in May to an unidentified buyer, and four other cargoes of Kurdish crude have been delivered this year in Israel.

The case is Ministry of Oil of the Republic of Iraq v. Ministry of Natural Resources of Kurdistan Regional Governate of Iraq et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 3:14-cv-00249.

By Anna Driver and Kristen Hays - Reuters 

Syrian Kurdistan's leader: Europe is breeding jihadists

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Syrian Kurdistan's leader: Europe is breeding jihadists.
BARCELONA, Spain,— The leader of the Syrian Kurds Salih Muslim warned in Spain that Europe is breeding jihadists who are fighting in their thousands in Syria. In a meeting with Catalan MPs in Barcelona on Tuesday, he accused Turkey of allowing jihadi fighters across its borders into Syria.

Muslim is in Europe to try to persuade Western countries that if they want to fight Islamic militancy at home they must help his Democratic Union Party (PYD) -- the dominant force in Syrian Kurdistan (Rovaja) -- in its fight against militants of the Islamic State (IS/ISIS).

On Monday, he warned at a gathering of civil society movements in Barcelona that, “European democracy shouldn’t finish at the borders of Europe. If you don’t have democracy in the Middle East you are not saved in Europe.” 

“We have 4,000 people from Europe joining the fighting against us. There is something wrong in Europe which is producing people with this mentality,” Muslim said. “The Europeans should sit and think about what they should do.”

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its sister Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), the military wings of the PYD, have been the dominant military force in the Kurdish-populated areas since the withdrawal of most government forces in 2012. They have been mainly fighting against Islamist armed groups, particularly IS and the al-Nusrah Front.

Muslim told Catalan parliamentarians on Tuesday that despite its denials, Turkey was involved in helping IS militants, Quim Arrufat, one of the MPs at the meeting, told Rudaw. “He blamed Turkey for allowing jihadists to cross the border to fight in Syria,” Arrufat said.

  
“Turkey says that ISIS is dangerous for us and them, but members of ISIS pass through Turkey. We were in Turkey many times and they say that they don’t support these groups but on the ground it is different,” Muslim said the day before.

Arrufat said that the Kurdish leader met in Barcelona with the president of the Catalan Parliament, Nuria de Gispert, and representatives of four major Catalan parties.

During the civil society meeting, which was organized by the Barcelona-based Escarre Centre for Ethnic Minorities and Nations (CIEMEN), Muslim spoke about the issues affecting the three Kurdish cantons of Kobane, Afrin and Cizire, where the PYD declared autonomy in July 2012.

He stressed that the PYD is practicing genuine democracy, but confessed to mistakes.

“Of course we have made some mistakes, because we used to live under the pressure of the (Syrian) system and because of that we don’t have very good experience. We have had mistakes happening, especially regarding human rights (issues),” said Muslim.

“The people need to be trained and we are asking everybody -- all the organizations -- to teach us,” he added.

He said he expected pro-democracy organizations and Europe to help build a better model of a democratic society for the 3.5 million people living in Rojava.

Human Rights Watch said in a report last June that Kurdish authorities running the three enclaves in northern Syria have committed arbitrary arrests, due process violations and failed to address unsolved killings and disappearances.

In a positive development, the report said that the new constitution introduced in January in the enclaves, called the Social Contract, upholds some important human rights standards and bans the death penalty.

Muslim has been visiting Europe for the past two years, trying to gather support for his people. But he said that Europe had began to listen only since IS militants captured Iraq’s second-largest city Mosul in June, beginning a dominoes-fall that has the militants in control of about a third of Iraq.

IS has declared an Islamic Calipate that straddles Syria and Iraq.

“We have been in Europe more than two years just knocking the doors and trying for the people to listen to us. We have been fighting against ISIS in the small city of Kobane for a year, while in Mosul six battalions of the Iraqi army could not stand ISIS for 24 hours,” Muslim remarked.

Regarding a planned referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan on independence from Iraq, Muslim said: “Every part of Kurdistan has different conditions. Maybe in South Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan)www.Ekurd.net they can look for the referendum and look for independence. It is their view and the result of the referendum will be respected by us because the people are deciding the fate.”

“In our case we, as a political party and component of Syria, believe that it is not the time for the independence of (Syrian) Kurdistan. The others should also respect what we are doing on our part. We should be within a democratic Syria.”

Regarding the lack of international aid to the Kurdish enclaves in Syria, Muslim said that the cantons “need everything.”
  
  He said that just a few days ago the enclave started receiving some international aid after the UN adopted a resolution allowing aid delivery without the approval of the Syrian government in Damascus.

Jalil Tamo, a Syrian Kurd who has been living in Spain for the past 33 years and has many family members in the city of Kobane, is thankful for the Kurdish resistance in Syria.

“The most important thing for me at this moment is that, thanks to the Kurdish guerrillas, my family is protected against the Islamist criminals. If the guerrillas were not there the Islamists would come to our areas and they would do brutal things against our women and our land,” said Tamo, claiming no political affiliation.

By Alexandra Di Stefano Pironti - Rudaw

Erdogan calls on Jews to denounce Israel

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Erdogan calls on Jews to denounce Israel

President  Recep Tayyip Erdogan (photo: AFP)


Following a call by a US Jewish group for Turkish President Erdogan to give back his Nobel prize for peace, Erdogan is still calling for Jews to denounce Israel. But he is softening his stance by not insisting that Jews issue a statement. Report by Haaretz:  

Turkey will keep its Jewish citizens safe, but the Jewish community should denounce Israel, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a Turkish newspaper.

“Jews in Turkey are our citizens. We are responsible for their security of life and property,” Erdogan told the Daily Sabah. 

He added: “I talked with our Jewish citizens’ leaders on Thursday and I stated that they should adopt a firm stance and release a statement against the Israeli government. I will contact them [Jewish leaders in Turkey] again, but whether or not they release a statement, we will never let Jewish people in Turkey get hurt.”

He said, according to the newspaper, that the Jewish leaders in Turkey should criticize “Israeli aggression,” and that the Israeli government “abuses all Jewish people around the world for its fraudulent policies.”

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kurdish peshmergas kicks isis out off shingall

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kurdish peshmergas kicks isis out off shingall.

the LT In the glasses say ( it was around 4 pm the isis member attacked us they came toward us but we quickly scurred your poison and we started hitting them they were around 10 cars at first they were moving a little bit then they came at us quickly when we fired at them they stopped coming forward the fight lasted for three hours)

(the guys in civilian clothes are tribe leaders )

US Teen Petitions: Obama for Kurdish Independence

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US Teen Petitions: Obama for Kurdish Independence
Remember to visit the white house source to vote for Kurdish Independence 


The petition has already garnered more than 40,000 signatures and has until August 22 to reach its target. The petition has already garnered more than 40,000 signatures and has until August 22 to reach its target.

NEW YORK – An American high school student is petitioning US President Barack Obama to recognize a free Kurdish state.

Jonathan Schwoerer hopes to get 100,000 signatures on the White House petition website and oblige the US Government to make an official comment.

“I've always been interested in Middle East politics and this Kurdish issue just resonates with me,” said Schwoerer, 16, from Poughkeepsie in upstate New York.

“I have a great respect for a people who have been betrayed and denied a state and are now fighting for their inherent right to self-determination.”

Schwoerer says he is an “ordinary high school student”. His Facebook page is decorated with a photo of the Kurdish flag and another of himself holding Twinkie cake snacks.

The petition has already garnered more than 38,000 signatures and has until August 22 to reach its target.

It describes how Kurds suffered under Iraq’s former president, Saddam Hussein, and are currently threatened by Islamic State militants.

Turmoil in Iraq and greater autonomy for its northern Kurdish provinces have raised the spectre of a free Kurdish state breaking away from the south.

But the US and the UN warn against Iraq fragmenting and say Kurds, Sunnis, Shias and other groups should work together in a unified nation.

“Obama is selfish in this respect,” Schwoerer told Rudaw. “He doesn’t want to be the president under whose watch Iraq disintegrates.”

Kani Xulam, director at American Kurdish Information Network, said he saw a link to the petition being shared online and was among the first to sign up.

“When you have 100,000 people saying they care about this issue then the White House has to take notice,” Xulam said.

If we can get Americans, British and the French to say they recognize the right of Kurdish people to their place in the sun, then this will be progress.”

The petition can be found here:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/support-kurdish-independence/wk7K9SSp

vote for Kurdish Independence

Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=df0_1406673220#2i0E5OL8errOb8hR.99

ypg fighting hard against the Islamic terrorist organization isis

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ypg fighting hard against the Islamic terrorist organization isis

isis running away from kurdish ypg forces

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