nybooks.com | David L. Phillips (*) | November 20, 2017

When he started investigating General Michael T. Flynn, Special Counsel Robert Mueller concentrated on his income and undisclosed contacts with Russian officials. Now, however, Mueller’s investigation has broadened to include Flynn’s business with Turkey. Flynn faces possible fraud and money-laundering charges for failing to disclose a payment of $530,000 from the Turkish government. (The Foreign Agent Registration Act, FARA, requires disclosure of work for foreign governments, including details about compensation.) Flynn could also face conspiracy and kidnapping charges for allegedly negotiating a payment of $15 million to deliver to Turkey Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic cleric and political foe of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Gülen has lived in exile in the United States since 1999; he was granted permanent residence in 2008. The Turkish government accuses him of orchestrating the coup attempt in July 2016 and imprisoned thousands of his followers.

gov.krd | KRG Cabinet

The Kurdistan Regional Government calls upon the international community to intervene with the Government of Iraq to end its collective measures against the people and government of the Kurdistan Region.

The restrictive policies adopted by Baghdad against Erbil are in violation of Iraq’s obligations and responsibilities under international and humanitarian law, and its duty as a state to respect and protect its citizens, including those displaced, and to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals and groups.

foreignaffairs.com | By Emma Sky (*)

In July 2017, Iraqi soldiers, backed by U.S. air strikes, liberated Mosul, the city where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), had declared a caliphate just three years before. It was a hard-won victory. For nine grueling months, Iraq’s Counter Terrorism Service, an elite group of U.S.- trained forces, suffered heavy losses as they fought street by street to uproot ISIS fighters, who used the local population as human shields. Thousands of civilians were killed, and a million or so were displaced from their homes. Mosul’s historic monuments have been destroyed. And the city’s infrastructure lies in tatters.

rudaw.net | WED, 15 NOV 2017 | KRG Cabinet

Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (cabinet.gov.krd) - Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani today received the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative to Iraq, Mr. Ján Kubiš, who handed Mr. Barzani a letter from UN Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres.

reuters.com | BY Ahmed Rasheed, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin | November 14, 2017

BAGHDAD/LONDON (Reuters) - After helping Iraq stifle a Kurdish push for independence, Iran is now positioning itself to take control of oil exports from the region’s giant Kirkuk field, with the first deliveries expected within days, officials and trading sources said. 

France Diplomatie

diplomatie.gouv.fr

Iraq – Statement by the Kurdish regional government on a decision by Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court (14 November 2017)

France welcomes the acknowledgement by the Kurdish regional government of the ruling by Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court on November 6 on the unity of Iraq, as well the willingness it has expressed to engage in dialogue.

rudaw.net | BY DAVID ROMANO | 11/11/2017

This week Rudaw and other news sources reported that “Iraq’s Federal Court ruled… that no article in the constitution allows partition or the separation of any part of the country, with the Iraqi prime minister calling on Erbil to make its position on the ruling clear.” 

115th CONGRESS
1st Session

H.R. 4238

To impose terrorism-related sanctions with respect to As-Saib Ahl Al-Haq and Harakat Hizballah Al-Nujaba, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

November 3, 2017

Mr. Poe of Texas (for himself, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. Franks of Arizona) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

nydailynews.com | By Dennis Ross (*) — November 8, 2017

I often take part in what’s known as “track II diplomacy” — brainstorming discussions with former officials and academics that explore options for breaking major international impasses or ending conflicts.

newstatesman.com / By Bernard-Henri Levy — 11 November 2017

We know more or less about the unbearable epilogue to Kurdistan’s hundred years of solitude being written before our eyes. We know, too, about the craven abandonment of the Kurds to the “New Gang of Four”, right up until the ceasefire of 28 October.