The Myth of Kurdistan

Kurdistan???s press pays for tackling corruption
By Anna Fifield in Suleimaniya

Published: October 3 2008 17:48
For three nights out of every 14, Ahmed Mira does not sleep at home. He no longer walks on the street either, nor does he drive his own car anywher
Such is the life of an independent magazine editor in Kurdistan, the northern Iraqi province where journalists say they are coming under increasing pressure not to write about government corruption.
Iraq???s biggest bank reaches telling milestone - May-18Oil groups to end 40-year exile from Iraq - May-06Baghdad bombs leave 51 dead - Apr-30Investors eye opportunity in Iraq - Apr-28Small US loans are catalyst for Iraqi business - Apr-07Baghdad bombings shatter normality - Apr-06???We are proud of not having red lines, of crossing the boundaries and touching the most sensitive issues,??? says Mr Mira, editor of Lvin (???Movement???), a fortnightly magazine that has homed in on corrupt officials.
American officials in Iraq are concerned about recent attempts to clamp down on the Kurdish press.
???There have been a number of instances in the past six months in which reporters have been harassed, detained, pressurised not to write about corruption,??? says a senior US official in Baghdad. ???Sometimes we really question the [regional government???s] commitment to a truly democratic Kurdistan.???
The government denies suggestions it is corrupt or undemocratic, and the president???s office refutes claims it is putting pressure on any media outlets.
???There is no official pressure,??? says Fuad Hussein, the president???s chief of staff. ???The president told the editors that it???s their right to publish about corruption but that when they accuse someone they should have proof.
???They should not make black into white,??? Mr Hussein told the Financial Times. This was advice not pressure, he added.
Regardless, Judit Neurink, a Dutch journalist who runs the Independent Media Centre in Suleimaniya, training Kurdish journalists, says the non-state press is certainly ???stirring things up???
???Independent media are necessary in this country to open up a few more eyes to what is really happening,??? Ms Neurink says, although she sometimes has difficulty convincing reporters of the difference between ???freedom of the press??? and fiction.
Mr Mira, for one, says he will not waver. ???Yes, of course it is very difficult,??? he shrugs, ???but we must not bow to the pressure from the government.???
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9638d89e-9167-11dd-b5cd-0000779fd18c.html

We fed up and sick from comments like sazan . One would not surprised if sazan turned up to be part of the corruption , profiterring from it .

Your days are numbered .

I think kurds should stands and say NO the corrupt punch of thuggs that has been missing up with their lives for decades .
Time to kick talbani and barzani arses . Wil American the proposer of democracy and freedom allow this to happen ?

election next month* (July 25th 2009)

Sazan M. M.

Obviously this article has been written by a person who is not familiar or has not seen the Kurdistan region. One can only come and see the vast progress and advancements the region is undertaking. A few corrections:
"Kurdistan's two great clans." - Frist of all both KDP and PUK are poltiical parties, and any healthy government system ought to have political parties, if you call Kurdistan undemocratic, taking into consideration the elections next year already composes of over 40 political entities running for the 111 parliament seats along side already 6 nominees for the Presidency post. What more can be democratic?

"region is littered with unfinished construction projects" - It would be good to provide examples, every where in the region there is construction and it is growing day after day, in Erbil to project has been left incomplete, some are taking a lilttle longer to complete than others. It certainly is no litter.

Some precise individuals and sides die of jealousy and discotent to see Kurdistan progress, the reality is there is great progress and development, corruption is a side of the coin that is recovering, and it is natural in any transforming state.
Simply, this article has an intention and purpose to hand pick all the negative aspects and forgets all positive sides of the region, having said this, it would be good to inform of who these 'officials' are talking this way about the region that they work for and they are a part of. Without any names mentioned, this article one can argue is entirely made up!!

Mushir Ahmad


American support innocent killings by KDP thugs and mafias in last election :

But the KIU paid the price. Last week, KIU''s top candidate and politburo member, Mushir Ahmad, was killed in his office, and five of the party???s offices in KDP-controlled towns, including KIU TV, were burned down. The KIU says on its website that the attacks were orchestrated and carried out by mobs mobilized by the KDP. In a telephone interview, a KIU member who witnessed the killing said, ;It was all planned. The security forces promised to protect us. They shepherded us to the backdoor where the assassins were waiting for us. He put a bullet in the head of Mushir He said that they have videos of the attacks in Dohuk, where the police stood by while the attackers ransacked the building, and in Zakho, where RPGs and grenades were fired at the KIU office. Government media described the incidents as flare-ups of popular anger against KIU for abandoning the Kurdish cause. On November 19, Radio Nawa reported that one of its reporters was arrested for reporting a demonstration in Erbil. While demonstrations against the lack of services are unnaturally rare, ;angry Kurds organized simultaneous attacks in five different cities! In a letter addressed to Ashraf Qazi, the U.N. special representative in Iraq, Bahaddin described the act as a ;deadly blow to democracy and rebuilding Iraq and said that your and the Coalition''s forces'' credibility is at stake The violence was officially condemned, but the duality of rhetoric and practice is commonplace in Kurdistan''. Attack on Kurdistan Islamic union during last election in 2004 in fornt of all world . This time Bush gone and Maliky is as strong as ever and if these thug do not become democrtic they ought to pay the price

I really hope we do not desert our Kurdish allies. They have internal problems, but are not in bed with Iran. Maliki is a shia, and is not to be trusted. Kurdistan is a great place to base US assets. Let's not let this war be in vain. Iraq is still up for grabs.

I can assure you there will be no shortage of jihadists souls going "south" [HELL] in the coming "fighting season"...Bush watched as over 150+ camps cropped up and began ops. This was during GWB "love affair" with that DOG Musharraff. P-stan isn't so safe anymore, and if I were a hadji, I would sleep with one eye open. The gloves have truly come off.

The current KDP/PUK elite do not believe in peceful transition of power and they never imagine themselves outside power 'power/money hunger' . The ball in the american pitch now

Elections is planned in May and l both parties, KDP and PUK , will enter in one unifying list any way so that the current fifty fity business be preserved and they effectively contorl every thing . The employees of both parties who dominate public sectors beside their mutiple securities apparatus would suffice for continuation of the democratic corruption.

Elections is planned in May and l both parties, KDP and PUK , will enter in one unifying list any way so that the current fifty fity business be preserved and they effectively contorl every thing . The employees of both parties who dominate public sectors beside their mutiple securities apparatus would suffice for continuation of the democratic corruption.

There was a political revolt within the PUK recently that made Talabani agree to deal with corruption, have more transparency, and get rid of some party members. Elections are planned for May so he was under pressure to get his party unified before them. New parties need to emerge however before Kurdistan can have real change. The former co-founder of the PUK may run in this coming election and he has criticized the government so perhaps that's a positive mark. Until then you'll have a lot of nepotism, lack of development outside of the major cities where the parties reside, corruption, and other problems. musingsoniraq.blogspot.com

we really need chnage, KJurdistan need a turning point which is done by more oppsitions shloud be available in Kurdistna to teach PUK and PDK that they are not the owner of Kuridtsan, these two big parties donet belive the priciples of civil society, they just want themselves, they corrupt Kurdiatn, i myself belive that we need someone like Ghandi or Mandeld comes and be the core of change so that we can live in a real, transparent, democratic country.

Yadgar Merawdaly

that true you can get mor and mor scandale from puk and pdk if you go to kurdistan...............

you don't have to be unsure , aim let you know Islamic getting stronger day by day in Kurdistan,because of the wrong and inhuman policy from PUK and PDK .the most important thing peter Galbraith has not been told the truth because i was interpreted for him but official didn't tell the truth . because of that my information better and more accurate than him. blendbaban