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Iraqi Kurdistan News in brief – March 17, 2015
Posted on March 17, 2015
Issue of Kurdish Peshmerga in Iraq’s disputed areas will be solved after IS fight
Baghdad: The leading figure of the Kurdistan Alliance says the issue of Peshmerga in reclaimed, disputed areas will be dealt with after the fight against Islamic State group (IS) militants. “The problem of the presence of security forces and the Peshmerga in the disputed areas will be resolved after the elimination of IS,” Mahmoud Othman said in a statement to the National Iraqi News Agency. “The meetings between officials in the federal government and their counterparts in the Kurdistan region will continue, and there will be close encounters between the two sides, and perhaps there will be positive developments in the relations between the two sides, to remove previous differences,” Othman said. Othman believes the formation of a future Iraqi National Guard will not affect the Peshmerga forces and he guessed that future issues between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will be focused on the disputed areas. Kurdish forces have reportedly cooperated with Shia militiamen of the Hashid Shaabi forces in recent operations south of Kirkuk, while KRG President Masoud Barzani recently said during a visit to Kirkuk that militias are not needed in the campaign against militants. “We do not need [al-Hashid al-Shaabi], and if we were in need, we would tell them,” he said. nrttv.com | Ekurd.net
Oil exports through Kurdish pipeline go back to 400 thousand bpd after a week of problems
Erbil: A source said on Tuesday that the rate of oil exports via the pipeline owned by Kurdistan Regional Government line has returned to the level of 400 thousand barrels per day after a week of problems. The source said in a statement to Reuters that “oil pumping rate of Kirkuk and several other crudes from Kurdistan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean has returned to the level of 400 thousand barrels per day since Monday after faltering pumping over the past week due to problems “. The Turkish official said on Saturday that resume pumping oil in the line took place on Friday night after it was closed because of damage caused by theft. The pipeline is pumping about 450 thousand barrels per day in the last period, but stopped working since last week to make repairs after the theft amounts of oil on the Turkish side…shafaaq.com | Ekurd.net
Hungary’s governing parties support sending soldiers to Kurdistan
Budapest: The parliamentary group of Fidesz-KDNP agrees with sending Hungarian soldiers to the Kurdish capital Erbil, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq to support the international coalition set up against the Islamic State, Fidesz group leader Antal Rogán said. Hungary plans to send the soldiers “not for offensive operations but rather for defence purposes”, he said. Rogán asked the opposition parties to consider supporting the initiative which requires a two-thirds majority. He said a final decision by parliament is expected by mid-April. politics.hu | Ekurd.net
Khalid Shwani: Iran has a great role in protecting Iraq and Kurdistan
Slemani: Iran has a great impact and role in protecting Iraq and the Kurdistan region, said the spokesman of the Iraqi Republic Presidency during an interview with NRT on Monday. Speaking during Monday night’s ‘Panorama’ program, Khalid Shwani said that Iran has had a great role in aiding with operations to regain areas from Islamic State control. Shwani believes Iraq can benefit from both Iranian and American assistance in defeating militants who overran about a third of the country beginning in 2014 in an attempt to establish a caliphate. Iran has supplied the Iraqi government with forces and ammunition to defeat IS. And according to Shia Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amri, up to 100 Iranian military advisers are involved in operations to liberate Salahaddin province from IS control. Iran backed-Shia fighters, led by the Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, along with Iraqi forces are fighting against militants to regain areas in and around Tikrit city. nrttv.com
Kurdish MP: Kurdistan Regional Government delegation to visit Baghdad soon
Baghdad: Iraqi MP Najiba Najib of the Kurdistani Democratic Party KDP assured on Tuesday that a delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG will visit Baghdad soon to discuss the oil agreement. MP Najib stated to IraqiNews.com “We heard about an expected visit for a delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government to Baghdad, but I am not sure whether this delegation will be political or technical to discuss the oil agreement concluded between the KRG and the Central Government.” She added “This visit came after the meeting of the leaders of the Kurdish blocs with raqi PM Haider al-Abadi who confirmed to them that the CG is adherent to the oil agreement.” Najib clarified “Implementing the oil agreement requires more understanding over the details.” iraqnews.com | Ekurd.net
Peshmerga demands Islamic State trade for caged comrades
Erbil: Kurdish Peshmerga forces want to exchange Islamic State captives for a group of captured Peshmerga who were seen paraded through an ISIS-held village in metal cages, an official told Rudaw on Tuesday. A propaganda video released last month by ISIS, showing at least 18 caged Peshmerga on public display in Hawija, sparked outrage from the families of the victims and the Kurdish street. More than 70 friends and relatives of the hostages staged a protest in Kirkuk, calling on the Kurdistan Regional Government to take immediate action. There is as yet no confirmation of the fate of the hostages, although the last scene of the video shows them alive. “We have urged the Islamic militants to send a list of names of ISIS prisoners they want to be released in an exchange for the captive Peshmerga who have been kept in cages,” Aso Mamand, Peshmerga official in Kirkuk, told Rudaw. Mamand confirmed that Kurdish officials are actively working for a prisoner exchange with the help “several Sunni tribal figures.” According to Mamand, the ISIS leadership has yet to respond…rudaw.net
UN: 5 million people need health services in Iraq
Baghdad: The UN’s health body said Monday that more than five million people need medical services in Iraq as it bemoaned a 70 percent gap in funding required to help. “The longer we wait, the more critical the situation becomes for those who need urgent, life-saving health services,” World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director Ala Alwan said during a visit to Iraq. The agency said that only 30.4 percent of the funding required by the health sector had been received, leaving a gap of $218.7 million (206 million euros). “The situation is alarming,” Alwan said. “More than five million people in Iraq are currently in need of health services. While WHO and health partners are doing all we can to save lives, our efforts are hindered by insufficient funding.” On Saturday, Alwan visited the northern region of Kurdistan, which has welcomed many of the 2.5 million people displaced by conflict since last year…AFP
Sirwan Barzani: 800 IS militants killed in Gwer-Makhmour since the war began
Erbil: Statistics indicate that up to 800 Islamic State (IS) militants have been killed in clashes around Gwer and Makhmour frontlines in northern Iraq. Peshmerga commander Sirwan Barzani told Bas news, “Around 800 IS militants have been killed since the beginning of clashes on these front.” Barzani continued, “Most of the bodies have been taken by IS and the Peshmerga have buried the rest.” Fighting has been ongoing for 9 months on the Gwer front, in the west of Erbil Province, with most villages in the area under the control of Peshmerga forces. basnews.com
Kurdish Anfal condemned in US State Legislature resolution
Atlanta: As Iraq’s Kurds marked the anniversary of the devastating 1988 attack on Halabja on Monday, earlier this month an important and related development took place in the United States. On March 4, both the House and Senate Chambers passed resolutions declaring April as “Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month” in the southern state of Georgia. The resolution included wording pertaining to the Kurdish Anfal Genocide, a brutal campaign by ousted dictator Saddam Hussein that killed more than 180,000 Kurds and others in the 1980s and destroyed nearly 4,500 – 90 percent – of the villages in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The documents also referred to the ongoing genocidal practices of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), which has deliberately been targeting the Yezidi Kurdish religious minority since the summer of 2014, massacring tens of thousands and enslaving women and children in an attempt to eradicate their religion and identity. The bicameral resolution was drafted by members of the Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide (GCPG), which seeks to “create a permanent constituency in Georgia through advocacy, education, and action.”…rudaw.net
U.S. returns dozens of artifacts to Iraqi government
Washington: The U.S. handed over dozens of antiquities to the government of Iraq Monday. The cultural treasures, including a limestone head of the Assyrian King Sargon II, were looted from Iraq and smuggled into the U.S. It’s taken more than seven years to identify the pieces and return them. Ancient glass vessels, clay images and bronze spears and axes were on display in Iraq’s consulate in the United States as part of the hand over. The head of an Assyrian lamassu, or winged bull, taken from the palace of Sargon II in northern Iraq, was among the items that are headed back to Iraq’s recently reopened national museum in Baghdad. The head dates to around 700 BC and is valued at up to $2 million dollars. Sargon’s palace is in the province of Nineveh where the Islamic State group (IS) was seen in videos destroying and defacing ancient sites and items, including a winged bull like the one returned Monday…AFP | Agencies | Ekurd.net
US advisors are in Kirkuk: paper
A U.S. daily said a number of the states advisors have arrived in Kurdistan Region of Iraq to train and help the Kurdish forces of Peshmerga that are fighting against the militants of the Islamic State (IS). Los Angeles Times reported that the US forces are anonymously taking part in Kirkuk front and are fighting against the jihadists of the IS. The daily went on to say that a number of the advisors are wearing Peshmerga uniforms. The forces have denied revealing their identity and talking to the daily. According to Los Angeles Times the US advisors are fighting against the jihadists in Kharabeh Root in northwestern Kirkuk, in northern Iraq. kurdpress.ir
Iraqi FM to Moscow on Thursday
Baghdad: Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian deputy foreign minister said Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari will visit Moscow next Thursday. Bogdanov said in a press statement “the importance of this visit is the fact that al-Jaafari is the co-chairman of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee, headed by the Russian side by Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin, adding that it is currently being prepared for Jaafari’s visit to the Russian capital. He explained, “Jaafari’s visit to Moscow will include talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and will hold consultations between the two foreign ministries, as well as an extensive meeting of the Inter-Governmental Committee to discuss regional issues and bilateral economic and technical and military cooperation. He added that the meeting will also discuss the oil sector, where Russian companies are actively working in Iraq…ninanews.com | Ekurd.net
Iraqi parliament speaker, Kurdish bloc delegation discuss endorsing important laws
Baghdad: Iraq’s parliament speaker, Saleem al-Jobouri, received a delegation of the Kurdistan Islamic Union KIU bloc on last Sunday. A statement by Jobouri’s office “They discussed the parliamentary efforts and the coordination among the political blocs to endorse the important laws like Parties Law and Supreme Federal Court Law.” “They stressed prioritizing the national interests and consolidating accord among the blocs,” the statement concluded. iraqinews.com | Ekurd.net
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Posted on March 17, 2015
Issue of Kurdish Peshmerga in Iraq’s disputed areas will be solved after IS fight
Baghdad: The leading figure of the Kurdistan Alliance says the issue of Peshmerga in reclaimed, disputed areas will be dealt with after the fight against Islamic State group (IS) militants. “The problem of the presence of security forces and the Peshmerga in the disputed areas will be resolved after the elimination of IS,” Mahmoud Othman said in a statement to the National Iraqi News Agency. “The meetings between officials in the federal government and their counterparts in the Kurdistan region will continue, and there will be close encounters between the two sides, and perhaps there will be positive developments in the relations between the two sides, to remove previous differences,” Othman said. Othman believes the formation of a future Iraqi National Guard will not affect the Peshmerga forces and he guessed that future issues between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will be focused on the disputed areas. Kurdish forces have reportedly cooperated with Shia militiamen of the Hashid Shaabi forces in recent operations south of Kirkuk, while KRG President Masoud Barzani recently said during a visit to Kirkuk that militias are not needed in the campaign against militants. “We do not need [al-Hashid al-Shaabi], and if we were in need, we would tell them,” he said. nrttv.com | Ekurd.net
Oil exports through Kurdish pipeline go back to 400 thousand bpd after a week of problems
Erbil: A source said on Tuesday that the rate of oil exports via the pipeline owned by Kurdistan Regional Government line has returned to the level of 400 thousand barrels per day after a week of problems. The source said in a statement to Reuters that “oil pumping rate of Kirkuk and several other crudes from Kurdistan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean has returned to the level of 400 thousand barrels per day since Monday after faltering pumping over the past week due to problems “. The Turkish official said on Saturday that resume pumping oil in the line took place on Friday night after it was closed because of damage caused by theft. The pipeline is pumping about 450 thousand barrels per day in the last period, but stopped working since last week to make repairs after the theft amounts of oil on the Turkish side…shafaaq.com | Ekurd.net
Hungary’s governing parties support sending soldiers to Kurdistan
Budapest: The parliamentary group of Fidesz-KDNP agrees with sending Hungarian soldiers to the Kurdish capital Erbil, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq to support the international coalition set up against the Islamic State, Fidesz group leader Antal Rogán said. Hungary plans to send the soldiers “not for offensive operations but rather for defence purposes”, he said. Rogán asked the opposition parties to consider supporting the initiative which requires a two-thirds majority. He said a final decision by parliament is expected by mid-April. politics.hu | Ekurd.net
Khalid Shwani: Iran has a great role in protecting Iraq and Kurdistan
Slemani: Iran has a great impact and role in protecting Iraq and the Kurdistan region, said the spokesman of the Iraqi Republic Presidency during an interview with NRT on Monday. Speaking during Monday night’s ‘Panorama’ program, Khalid Shwani said that Iran has had a great role in aiding with operations to regain areas from Islamic State control. Shwani believes Iraq can benefit from both Iranian and American assistance in defeating militants who overran about a third of the country beginning in 2014 in an attempt to establish a caliphate. Iran has supplied the Iraqi government with forces and ammunition to defeat IS. And according to Shia Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amri, up to 100 Iranian military advisers are involved in operations to liberate Salahaddin province from IS control. Iran backed-Shia fighters, led by the Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, along with Iraqi forces are fighting against militants to regain areas in and around Tikrit city. nrttv.com
Kurdish MP: Kurdistan Regional Government delegation to visit Baghdad soon
Baghdad: Iraqi MP Najiba Najib of the Kurdistani Democratic Party KDP assured on Tuesday that a delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG will visit Baghdad soon to discuss the oil agreement. MP Najib stated to IraqiNews.com “We heard about an expected visit for a delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government to Baghdad, but I am not sure whether this delegation will be political or technical to discuss the oil agreement concluded between the KRG and the Central Government.” She added “This visit came after the meeting of the leaders of the Kurdish blocs with raqi PM Haider al-Abadi who confirmed to them that the CG is adherent to the oil agreement.” Najib clarified “Implementing the oil agreement requires more understanding over the details.” iraqnews.com | Ekurd.net
Peshmerga demands Islamic State trade for caged comrades
Erbil: Kurdish Peshmerga forces want to exchange Islamic State captives for a group of captured Peshmerga who were seen paraded through an ISIS-held village in metal cages, an official told Rudaw on Tuesday. A propaganda video released last month by ISIS, showing at least 18 caged Peshmerga on public display in Hawija, sparked outrage from the families of the victims and the Kurdish street. More than 70 friends and relatives of the hostages staged a protest in Kirkuk, calling on the Kurdistan Regional Government to take immediate action. There is as yet no confirmation of the fate of the hostages, although the last scene of the video shows them alive. “We have urged the Islamic militants to send a list of names of ISIS prisoners they want to be released in an exchange for the captive Peshmerga who have been kept in cages,” Aso Mamand, Peshmerga official in Kirkuk, told Rudaw. Mamand confirmed that Kurdish officials are actively working for a prisoner exchange with the help “several Sunni tribal figures.” According to Mamand, the ISIS leadership has yet to respond…rudaw.net
UN: 5 million people need health services in Iraq
Baghdad: The UN’s health body said Monday that more than five million people need medical services in Iraq as it bemoaned a 70 percent gap in funding required to help. “The longer we wait, the more critical the situation becomes for those who need urgent, life-saving health services,” World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director Ala Alwan said during a visit to Iraq. The agency said that only 30.4 percent of the funding required by the health sector had been received, leaving a gap of $218.7 million (206 million euros). “The situation is alarming,” Alwan said. “More than five million people in Iraq are currently in need of health services. While WHO and health partners are doing all we can to save lives, our efforts are hindered by insufficient funding.” On Saturday, Alwan visited the northern region of Kurdistan, which has welcomed many of the 2.5 million people displaced by conflict since last year…AFP
Sirwan Barzani: 800 IS militants killed in Gwer-Makhmour since the war began
Erbil: Statistics indicate that up to 800 Islamic State (IS) militants have been killed in clashes around Gwer and Makhmour frontlines in northern Iraq. Peshmerga commander Sirwan Barzani told Bas news, “Around 800 IS militants have been killed since the beginning of clashes on these front.” Barzani continued, “Most of the bodies have been taken by IS and the Peshmerga have buried the rest.” Fighting has been ongoing for 9 months on the Gwer front, in the west of Erbil Province, with most villages in the area under the control of Peshmerga forces. basnews.com
Kurdish Anfal condemned in US State Legislature resolution
Atlanta: As Iraq’s Kurds marked the anniversary of the devastating 1988 attack on Halabja on Monday, earlier this month an important and related development took place in the United States. On March 4, both the House and Senate Chambers passed resolutions declaring April as “Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month” in the southern state of Georgia. The resolution included wording pertaining to the Kurdish Anfal Genocide, a brutal campaign by ousted dictator Saddam Hussein that killed more than 180,000 Kurds and others in the 1980s and destroyed nearly 4,500 – 90 percent – of the villages in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The documents also referred to the ongoing genocidal practices of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), which has deliberately been targeting the Yezidi Kurdish religious minority since the summer of 2014, massacring tens of thousands and enslaving women and children in an attempt to eradicate their religion and identity. The bicameral resolution was drafted by members of the Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide (GCPG), which seeks to “create a permanent constituency in Georgia through advocacy, education, and action.”…rudaw.net
U.S. returns dozens of artifacts to Iraqi government
Washington: The U.S. handed over dozens of antiquities to the government of Iraq Monday. The cultural treasures, including a limestone head of the Assyrian King Sargon II, were looted from Iraq and smuggled into the U.S. It’s taken more than seven years to identify the pieces and return them. Ancient glass vessels, clay images and bronze spears and axes were on display in Iraq’s consulate in the United States as part of the hand over. The head of an Assyrian lamassu, or winged bull, taken from the palace of Sargon II in northern Iraq, was among the items that are headed back to Iraq’s recently reopened national museum in Baghdad. The head dates to around 700 BC and is valued at up to $2 million dollars. Sargon’s palace is in the province of Nineveh where the Islamic State group (IS) was seen in videos destroying and defacing ancient sites and items, including a winged bull like the one returned Monday…AFP | Agencies | Ekurd.net
US advisors are in Kirkuk: paper
A U.S. daily said a number of the states advisors have arrived in Kurdistan Region of Iraq to train and help the Kurdish forces of Peshmerga that are fighting against the militants of the Islamic State (IS). Los Angeles Times reported that the US forces are anonymously taking part in Kirkuk front and are fighting against the jihadists of the IS. The daily went on to say that a number of the advisors are wearing Peshmerga uniforms. The forces have denied revealing their identity and talking to the daily. According to Los Angeles Times the US advisors are fighting against the jihadists in Kharabeh Root in northwestern Kirkuk, in northern Iraq. kurdpress.ir
Iraqi FM to Moscow on Thursday
Baghdad: Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian deputy foreign minister said Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari will visit Moscow next Thursday. Bogdanov said in a press statement “the importance of this visit is the fact that al-Jaafari is the co-chairman of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee, headed by the Russian side by Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin, adding that it is currently being prepared for Jaafari’s visit to the Russian capital. He explained, “Jaafari’s visit to Moscow will include talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and will hold consultations between the two foreign ministries, as well as an extensive meeting of the Inter-Governmental Committee to discuss regional issues and bilateral economic and technical and military cooperation. He added that the meeting will also discuss the oil sector, where Russian companies are actively working in Iraq…ninanews.com | Ekurd.net
Iraqi parliament speaker, Kurdish bloc delegation discuss endorsing important laws
Baghdad: Iraq’s parliament speaker, Saleem al-Jobouri, received a delegation of the Kurdistan Islamic Union KIU bloc on last Sunday. A statement by Jobouri’s office “They discussed the parliamentary efforts and the coordination among the political blocs to endorse the important laws like Parties Law and Supreme Federal Court Law.” “They stressed prioritizing the national interests and consolidating accord among the blocs,” the statement concluded. iraqinews.com | Ekurd.net
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