One of the critical outcomes of the July 22 general elections was that the Turkish National Assembly produced a result in line with the “justice in representation” principle and contributed to fortification of a democratic parliamentary system. One of the most striking indicators of the “representation capability” the assembly exhibited was the existence of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Parliament.

April 10, 2006
By Yigal Schliefer | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Underlying social problems remain in the Kurdish southeast, where protests turned violent last week.

DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY - Relative calm has returned to this city in Turkey's southeast after three days of violent clashes between Kurds and Turkish security forces. But the underlying tensions have not gone anywhere.

By Arwa Damon

QANDIL MOUNTAINS, Iraq (CNN) -- The women line the mountainside, locked hand in hand in their green battle fatigues, and begin dancing. It's a victory dance, they say, that is routine after raids across the border on Turkish troops.

Monday, December 10, 2007 | James Palmer, Chronicle Foreign Service

Sulaymaniya, Iraq - The Kurdish region of northern Iraq has withstood the destruction of its villages and deadly gas attacks at the hands of Saddam Hussein. Now, as the semiautonomous Kurdish government strives to increase its independence, the region is coping with another adversary - cholera.

January 23, 2008 | By Kimi Yoshino | Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi lawmakers approved a new flag Tuesday, defusing a long-simmering dispute with the country's northern Kurds, who had refused to fly the national banner because of its connection to Saddam Hussein.

21 January 2008

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

With heightened security in the “red zone” of Baghdad and on its streets, a drastic drop in violence, good economic growth prospects and a warming of political relations between the majority Shiite and minority Sunni religious groups, the chances for a stable and unified Iraq were encouraging, Staffan de Mistura, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for that country, said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Sunday, February 24, 2008 | By Joshua Partlow and Ellen Knickmeyer | Washington Post Foreign Service

BALINDA, Iraq, Feb. 23 -- The Iraqi Kurdish soldiers stood at the edge of the collapsed steel bridge and looked down into the teal waters rushing below. The last sign of the Iraqi government, a small border checkpoint, was far behind them down in the river valley.