Though Kirkuk Arabs voted for Iraqiya list during elections, they did not appreciate head of the List Iyad Allawi’s visits to Erbil. Kirkuk Arabs accused Allawi explicitly of compromising with Kurds over their province in favor of his personal interests. Kirkuk Arabs supported the firm stand of stand of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki’ regarding Kirkuk and oil and gas law.

Arab Political Council’s accusations to Allawi were pushed further as the council’s members blamed him for trying to unsettle the country by sticking to the national strategic policy council. Allawi was accused as well of taking personal stands without consulting with heads of political parties within Al Iraqiya List. …Read more 

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ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan — In a recent interview with the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Alawsat, former Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani pressed for US troops to stay in Iraq and said Iran has launched a slew of attacks inside of Iraqi territory to test the resolve of the US military.

Iran has been fighting the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) along the border for years, but the intensified shelling by Iranian forces and reports that Iranian troops have crossed into Iraqi territory over the past month has angered Iraqi Kurds.

Barzani said the shelling “has had considerable impact on the lives of the people in those areas” and maintained that the US decision not to respond to the shelling “has encouraged Iran to pose a bigger threat to the security of Kurdistan.”

“But let’s be realistic,” he added. “The Kurdistan Region is committed to the principle of not under any circumstances allowing its soil to be used to threaten neighboring countries, whether Iran or Turkey. We have proven in the recent years that we are a factor of stability in the region and not disorder.”

Barzani also spoke out against PJAK and called on the armed Kurdish rebels to lay down their arms.

“We believe PJAK’s attacks do not serve the Kurdish issue in Iran and will only increase pressure on the Kurds. So, I believe PJAK has to understand the danger emanating from its actions and should take the initiative to stop the armed struggle against Iran and turn to peaceful political struggle,” Barzani said.  Read more     http://www.krg.org/articles/detail.asp?smap=02010200&lngnr=12&rnr=73&anr=41156

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Peshmerga Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government Jaafar Mustapha warned on Wednesday against Kurds boycott to the Iraqi Army for it has become a “central army”, he argued.
Kurds have no longer any power in the Iraqi Army. The incidents that are occurring in the regions where Iraqi army is deployed especially in Diyala have never occurred at the time of Baath, Peshmerga Minister said  Read More

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The issue of reducing the terms came in the 19 point initiative by Kurds to the Iraqi political blocs for the new Iraq can be discussed, said member of the Kurdistan Coalition Bloc (KBC) Mahmoud Othman.

Abu Mohammed, an Arab, moved to the Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk four years ago to escape rising violence in neighbouring Diyala province. Recently, he says, he was ordered by Kurds to get out.

Iraq postponed its first full census in more than two decades until December on Sunday to avoid triggering open conflict between Arabs and Kurds locked in a row over a swathe of oil-rich land in the north.

Iraqi men, Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens sit at a local

coffee house in northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Iraq.

The ancient Iraqi city of Kirkuk has been called a ticking time bomb. Its stark ethno-sectarian divisions have drawn comparisons to Bosnia and the West Bank. The oil in the ground has petro-vultures circling, while an occupying American army tries to “advise and assist” locals on keeping their weapons on safety and tempers in check. Now, a whole new challenge is upon the conflicted city; and its painful past, chaotic present and oil-rich future seem ready to collide because of a census scheduled for Oct. 24.

A population census would seem a simple thing, but in Kirkuk things don’t roll that way. The city is claimed as an ancestral homeland by the Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Turkmen as well as a dwindling population of Christians whose stake in the city goes back 2,000 years. The 10 billion barrels of proven oil reserves buried just outside the city have only raised the stakes and sparked the interest of regional power players. There hasn’t been a census of Kirkuk’s Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen since 1956 and a fresh survey will only add rhetorical and statistical punch to the claims to the city and its surroundings of the newly established majority. Indeed, Arabs and Turkmen are threatening to boycott the census.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2022986,00.html#ixzz11NWp8LhT

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Having a Kurdish president of Iraq is linked to changes that could occur in the Iraqi political arena, Kurdish Lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said on Sunday.

A Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament said on Thursday that Kurds will not participate in a meeting of Iraqi political groups that might be held in Syria, even if they are invited.

A Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament said on Thursday that Kurds will not participate in a meeting of Iraqi political groups that might be held in Syria, even if they are invited.

A member of the German Parliament announced today that the people of Halabja had the right to file their complaints against the foreign companies that sold chemical weapons to the leader of former Baath regime in Iraq.

A Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament suggested on Wednesday that the Kurds should stop their economic activities with Iran, especially oil trade, until Iran stops its shelling of the border areas in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Iraqi National Alliance (INA) on Tuesday called on al-Iraqiya bloc, led by the former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, to start serious negotiations alongside the Kurdistan Blocs Coalition (KBC) in order form the next government.

The director of the Iraqi Research and Studies Center in Najaf said on Monday that the exclusions and the lack of confidence as well as the insistence of everyone on the partnership were an obsession that started with the political process since 2003…

A member of the Kurdistan Blocs Coalition (KBC) denied on Wednesday that the Kurds use Article 140 of the Constitution as a pressure card to ensure other political gains.

German weekly Der Spiegel says expert has confirmed the authenticity of photographs showing the bodies of rebel fighters apparently killed in chemical attack.

By Haaretz Service

German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Thursday that it has obtained photographs showing the bodies of fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) allegedly killed by chemical weapons used by Turkey.

	Turkish PM Erdogan with army officials in eastern Turkey
	Photo by: Reuters

The report claims German experts have examined and confirmed the photographs’ authenticity. German politicians and human rights experts are now demanding an investigation into the incident.

Read More http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/

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Iraqi Kurdistan’s president says Kurds do not have any objections against the outgoing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki retaining office for a second term, calling him “a long-time friend.”

No political bloc has informed the Kurdistan Blocs Coalition (KBC) that the office of the Iraqi president is off-limit to the Kurds, in particular outgoing President Jalal Talabani, said an official of the KBC on Sunday.

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