Barham Salih, a leading Kurdish politician said the Kurdish Alliance had taken
a strategic decision not to form an exclusive alliance with the Shia parties.
It would insist on a government of national unity that would include at least
one party representing the Sunni and the secular group led by former interim
prime minister Ayad Allawi. He said there would be no peace until Iraq had a
government and institutions that represented all Iraqis, reported Financial
Times
The Kurdish Human Rights Activist
Dr. Roya Toloyee, said that she was
Brutally tortured by Iranian Security Forces
while in prison for sixty-six days. She was accused of leading last summers
protests in Sine (Sanandaj) in Eastern Kurdistan, reported Radio Farda.
In the final results of the December 15 polls, the Turkomen managed to win only one
seat in the Kurdistani city of Kirkuk. Arabs won three seats while the Kurds captured five seats.
Turkmen expected to win at least 10 seats!
----------------------
Turkey has ordered a major military operation against Kurdish peshmerga
near Southern Kurdistan border. Officials said Turkey's military Command has launched an operation
against the Kurdish Workers Party. They said the counter-insurgency
mission was taking place in Tunceli.
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) is to discuss the
situation of the Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan in a meeting to be held in
Paris on Wednesday. The meeting has been organized by the Committee on
Culture, Science and Education of the Assembly.
----------------------
Jalal Talabani today stepped into the debate over the future of the troubled
court trying Saddam Hussein, suggesting it be moved from Baghdad to his own
Kurdish home region (Kurdistan) to improve security, reported Reuters
----------------------
A court in Turkey on Wednesday ordered the release of a soldier accused of
killing a Kurdish demonstrator and injuring five others during riots in
Northern Kurdistan in November, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Such trivial language courses, a half-hour Kurdish broadcasting right, will
no longer suffice for the Kurds of Turkey. They will as well demand
administrative rights. They will demand the right to self-rule.
More...
an angry crowd mobbed and booed Health Minister Recep Akdag as he visited
Dogubeyazit, accusing the government of neglecting them because they are
Kurds. More..
Kurdistan Government Unifies.
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani will keep his position as Prime Minister and
his deputy will be from PUK. PUK will run the ministries of Human Rights,
Interior, Justice, Education, Health, Social Affairs, Water Resources,
Transportation, Reconstruction, Planning and Religious Affairs. KDP will run
the ministries of Peshmerga Affairs, Agriculture, Finance, Municipalities,
Higher Educating, Electricity, Youth and Sports, Foreign Affairs and Culture.
------------------------------
Austrian will start commercial flights to Southern Kurdistan in March, the
carrier announced Monday, in what it described as a first for a European
airline. Service to the Kurdish city of Erbil will begin March 9 and
will be increased from two to three flights a week in May, Austrian said,
reported AP
Saddam Hussein said he would rather
die by firing squad than by hanging if he is sentenced to death for war
crimes, according to a report in The Washington Times yesterday. Saddam's
lawyer Ghazzawi said he raised the possibility that Hussein might be
sentenced to death if convicted of war crimes. Ghazzawi said Hussein told
them: "I am the commander in chief.... I prefer it to be by firing squad."
