Holiday in Iraq



April 2007 | by Christopher Hitchens
Letter from Kurdistan

Over Christmas break, the author took his son to northern Iraq, which the U.S. had made a no-fly zone in 1991, ending Saddam's chemical genocide. Now reborn, Iraqi Kurdistan is a heartrending glimpse of what might have been.


  

Cross-border operation delayed until after elections



12 July 2007

The military intervention that Turkey has been considering staging in northern Iraq to root out members of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based there seems to have been postponed to a time after the elections, with Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdoğan stating "the possibility of getting parliamentary approval for an operation is not on our agenda right now."


  

Nearly 90 detained as Kurdish demonstrators clash with police in Turkey


ISTANBUL, Sept 4 (AFP) - 17h40 - Turkish police on Sunday detained 88 people and used truncheons and tear gas against Kurdish activists who protested after they were barred from attending a planned demonstration in favour of jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, media reports said.
Footage broadcast on CNN-Turk news channel showed protestors -- some of whom had covered their faces with Palestinian-style checkered kaffiyehs -- hurling incendiary devices at shops and in the streets in the Alibeykoy district in the city's European side.

  

Turkey Beefs Up Investment in Kurdish Regions



May 28, 2008 | AMMONEY VS. UNREST

The Turkish government on Tuesday announced billions in new investments for its impoverished and rebellious southeast. Prime Minister Erdogan hopes the money will help undermine support for Kurdish separatists. But will it be enough to convince detractors in Europe?

  

The Big Question: As Tariq Aziz goes on trial, who is left from Saddam Hussein's regime?



Wednesday, 30 April 2008 | By Patrick Cockburn

Why are we asking this now?

Tariq Aziz, the most articulate spokesman for Saddam Hussein's regime, went on trial in Baghdad yesterday. The 72-year-old is accused of being responsible for the execution in 1992 of 42 merchants, who allegedly raised food prices for no reason at a time when Iraq was under international sanctions.


  

Spate of Executions and Amputations in Iran



January 11, 2008| By NAZILA FATHI

TEHRAN — Using strict enforcement of Islamic law, the judicial authorities in a restive region of southern Iran amputated the right hands and left feet of five convicted robbers this week, part of what the government said was an effort to deter other troublemakers.


  

Kurdish complex open for business



April 7, 2008

ERBIL, Iraq, April 7 (UPI) -- With aid from the Kurdistan government, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers helped open a government complex less than a year after an explosion ripped it apart.


  

Arab states still wary of investing in Iraq



May 29, 2008 | By Liam Stack | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

At a United Nations conference in Sweden Thursday, Iraq appealed for debt forgiveness to boost development.


  

US call for dialogue with PKK no slip of tongue



7 March 2008

The top US commander in the Middle East has suggested that dialogue between Ankara and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) would solve Turkey's problem with terrorism, a strong sign that an earlier call for talks with the PKK from a senior US commander was not a slip of tongue.


  

Kurds in talks with Arab tribes in bid to contain Syria clashes


DAMASCUS, June 6 (AFP) - 18h46 - Representatives of banned Kurdish parties met with Arab tribal chiefs in northeastern Syria Monday in a bid to calm sectarian tensions following bloody clashes over the weekend, a Kurdish leader said.