Kurdistan Observer

The Iraqi Defense Minster has asked KDP and PUK to provide 10,000 Peshmegra to safeguard the oil pipelines in the provinces of Kirkuk and Mosul. Both Kurdish parties have agreed, but demanded that Iraq provide military and logistic support to peshmerga. In effect, the peshmerga are being asked for the ultimate sacrifice in order to ensure that revenues from Kurdish oil end up in the pockets of Baghdad and Arab Iraq. It remains unclear what the benefits will be to the KDP and PUK, and more importantly what benefits, if any, there are to Southern Kurdistan.

----------------------------------------

According to the agreement signed between the PUK and KDP, nominating the names of the joint list to the Kurdistan and Iraqi Election Process will require the approval and mutual consent of the two parties, reported Hawlati.

• Arab Nationalists Spread Hatred Against Kurds

• Four Kurds Shot Dead in Hawija

• Kirkuk and Iraqi Elections, KNC

Dec 19, 2004

• News Snapshot

According to reports in Southern Kurdistan, the Iraqi PM Allawi stated that Iraq will remain an Islamic Arab state. Speaking at the launching of his campaign for the Iraqi national elections in January, Allawi said that Iraq will continue to be an Islamic Arab state. Allawi is a former member of the Arab Socialst Baath Party. The KDP and PUK have not commented on Allawi's statement.

----------------------------------------

Hoshyar Zebari said raising the Kurdish flag in the Kurdish region does not mean separation. He added that the region was outside the former regime's rule from 1991 onward. He also pointed out that the ministry was not "made Kurdish" by
employing only Kurds in it. He denied that Kurdish Peshmerga fighters had participated in the Fallujah operations, reported PUK's daily Ittihad

Dec 18, 2004

• French President Chirac Interprets The Summit And Kurdish Problem

• Kurdistan Offers a Happier Picture of Iraq liberation

• Press Release of Patriot Democratic Party Of Kurdistan

• What a Difference a Decade Has Made to Turkey

Dec 17, 2004

• Kurdish Turnout For Polls Could Be As High As 80%: Pachachi

• Kurdish Leader Says Ankara Still Denies Rights

• Foreign Students Flock to Iraqi Kurdish Colleges

• News Snapshot

In Kirkuk a rocket slammed into a Kurdish refugee housing compound, killing three refugees and wounding one, police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qader said. Also, in Haija, 28 miles southwest of Kirkuk, two Kurdish brothers were shot to death in their shop Qader said the killers wrote graffiti on the shop walls saying, "No Kurds in Hawija." reported AP

Dec 16, 2004

• Turkey's Erdogan: Kurdish Ad Political Assassination

Erdogan also criticized comparisons made in the advertisement about the autonomous and federative structure in certain European countries, adding: “How dare they compare this special land with completely different environments. This is unacceptable.” More

• Zana: Kurd Intellectuals Play for Themselves

• News Snapshot

Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi said on Tuesday that he is going to hold talks with Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, regarding a solution to the settlement crisis of Kirkuk. “I intend to have talks with both Kurdish leaders in order to have further studies regarding a solution to the disputes in Kirkuk,” said PM, reported Peyamner today.

Dec 15, 2004

• News Snapshot

Chemical Ali will be the first of Saddam's top deputies to be tried, Iraqi Defence Minister Hazim al-Shalaan said today. Mr Shalaan, speaking to reporters, said the trial could start next week and would definitely take place by mid-January, reported Reuters today.

• Mass Grave Found in Kurdish Region

• As Kurds Return To Oil-Rich city, a Fragile Detente

• UN Appeals For Resettlement Of Stranded Kurd Refugees

Dec 14, 2004

• Heritage Oil forms joint venture in Kurdistan with Eagle Group of Iraq

Dec 13, 2004

• Turkey Has Much Work Before EU Membership: EU Parliament Chief

• Thousands of Kurds Demonstrate in Northern Kurdistan For More Rights

• News Snapshot

In Erbil, a car bomb exploded on Sunday in the heart of the city downtown. No one was harmed, according to Kurdish sources, two people were wounded. The bombing took place around 1 p.m. near a hospital, and witnesses said the bomb had been packed into a Volkswagen.

Dec 12, 2004

• Thousands Protest Killing of Kurdish Boy In Northern Kurdistan

• Kurdish Costume Museum established in Kermanshah

Dec 11, 2004

• Barzani Warns Kurds Must Be Allowed To Re-establish Majority In Kirkuk

• Turkey Complaining Irrationally About Kurdish Ads in European Newspapers

• Kurds Try To Invest 14 Tons of Cash

Dec 10, 2004

• Syrian Security Forces Prevent Damascus Sit-In

• News Snapshot

A senior Kurdish official said a Kurd should be made either president or prime minister following the polls. "We have the right to ask for one of the (two) top positions in the government after the elections and we insist on taking one of them," Arsalan Biez, a member of the PUK's political bureau, "We are as a nation like other world's nations, and we must receive our rights and demands," reported AP

Dec 9, 2004

• Kurd leader In Western Kurdistan Calls For Release Of Prisoners

• Syrian Regime Arrests Kurdish journalist, Another Reporter Barred From Writing

• Kurd refugees Prepare To Fly From Jordan To New Life In Sweden

• News Snapshot

The administrations of Arbil and Sulaimani have reiterated their rejection of the share allocated for the region from the Iraqi government’s budget. Kurdistan Government Vice-Chairman Sirkees Aghajan along with Sulaimania’s Minister of Finance and Economy Baiz al-Talabani yesterday said in a meeting the allocated share was totally unfair and did not meet the region’s needs and requirements, reported KDP's Taakhi.

-----------------------------------------

The New York Times published a classified memo from the CIA station chief in Baghdad, who said the situation was deteriorating and was likely to get worse, with more violence and sectarian clashes.

Dec 8, 2004

• 10 Days before the Summit Yet, Repression Reigns In Turkey

• Turkey, Russia To Cooperate Against Kurdish, Chechen Rebels

• Syria Releases 112 Political Prisoners

• Shi'ites To Set Up Autonomous Region

• Parlak Denies Link To Terror

Dec 7, 2004

• News Snapshot

A Turkish administrator told the President of European Parliament Josep Borrell last Friday "why are you going to Diyarbakir? Have you been to Basque and speak in Basque? Patriots won't enable you divide this country. What will you do in Diyarbakir? There are also poor people in Aegean city of Denizli and northwestern city of Bilecik," reported Anadolu Agency

Dec 6, 2004

• EU Parliament Head Visits Northern Kurdistan

News Snapshot

The U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. John Abizaid, acknowledged that the country's home-grown forces aren't up to the task of ensuring secure elections, necessitating the planned increase in U.S. troops. More than 40 Iraqis have been killed in the last two days alone. United Nations special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi criticized the military's hard-line approach to the insurgency and said credible elections cannot be held Jan. 30 under current conditions, reported AP

Dec 4, 2004

• 17 Kurdish Peshmerga Killed in Mosul

The PUK chief in Mosul, Saad Pira, told AFP 17 peshmergas were killed and more than 40 wounded when a suicide car bomber rammed their convoy at around 4:30 pm (1330 GMT) as they were travelling through the Karama neighborhood of Mosul. More

• Kurds In Northern Kurdistan Demand More Rights Ahead Of Key EU Summit

• Kurdish Writer Arrested After Trip To Turkey: Rights Group

• Four Suspended for Murdering 12 year Boy, His father

• KDP And PUK Do Not Play The Democratic Game: Hawlati Editor

• Kurds Close Ranks in Bid to Secure Federation From Elected Iraqi Assembly

• News Snapshot

A leading Turkish lawmaker on Thursday accused the US of committing "genocide" in Fallujah. He went on to state that: "genocide of such proportions was committed neither under Mussolini, nor Hitler". This is why the US deliberately sealed the place from independent press coverage.

-----------------------------------------

Responding to a question by Michael Rubin, Ahmad Chalabi said "All peoples have the right to self-determination and that includes the Kurdish people. Why should they be any different? If the exercise of that right leads them toward independence, then so be it. We will negotiate with them. The days of using violence to hold this country together are over." More

Dec 2, 2004

• Five Top PKK Members Guned Down In Mosul

• KDP, PUK To Run Jointly In January Election

Dec 1, 2004

• Oil refinery to be build in Zakho

• Turkey Receives EU Entry Tonic

• News Snapshot

Sources in the city of Zakho, Southern Kurdistan, indicate that as many as 8 persons are feared drowned. A boat carrying about 40 passengers sank in the Peshkhabour River. Rescue teams have so far picked up 15 people. The rest are unaccounted for.

Two American Army Captains Describe Their Experiences in Kurdistan

What Do The Kurds Want In Turkey?

Confederation Of three Entities, Only Option For Iraq