After months of bitter negotiations and controversy between Erbil and Baghdad, as well as between Kurdish political parties, and several postponements, Kurdistan's parliamentary elections will now take place on October 20, announced a spokesman for the Kurdistan presidency on June 26, citing a presidential decree signed the same day by President Nechirvan Barzani.
Initially scheduled for autumn 2022, these elections have been postponed several times, firstly due to disagreement between the Kurdish parties over a possible revision of the electoral law. Then, last February, the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court decided to reduce the number of seats in the Kurdistan Parliament from 111 to 100, effectively eliminating the 11-seat quota reserved for the Christian and Turkmen minorities. This decision, deemed unconstitutional, provoked a general outcry among representatives of these minorities, who declared that they would boycott future elections. The region's main political party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), also decided to boycott the elections, making them impossible to hold. After months of discussions between Erbil and Baghdad, the Iraqi Supreme Court finally restored a five-seat quota for minorities. Under pressure from its allies in the International Coalition, and to avoid paralyzing Kurdistan's institutions, the KDP agreed to this "realistic" but unconstitutional compromise in mid-June. After consultations with the Kurdish political parties, the High Electoral Commission and the local United Nations Mission (UNAMI), the President of Kurdistan set the date of October 20. The election campaign is due to start after the summer vacations, at the beginning of September.
However, despite recurring visits by Kurdish leaders to Baghdad and promises of an imminent settlement to the multiple outstanding disputes, including the Kurdistan oil export dispute and the Kurdistan budget issue, little significant progress was made in June.
A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the International Oil and Gas Corporation (IOC) met Iraqi officials in Baghdad on June 8 to discuss how to resume oil exports from Kurdistan. The Iraqi Ministry of Oil (IOM), which organized the meeting, had asked the IOCs to reveal their contracts with Erbil before the meeting. The IOM had taken legal action against the contracts it had requested to be disclosed. A source involved in the dialogue told Rudaw that such a request placed the IOCs in "legal peril", given the court order issued in March that halted KRG oil exports. The June 8 meeting was aimed at removing obstacles so that the KRG could resume exports. As of June 9, no details of these negotiations had been revealed, although Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani said: "There is good progress regarding the export of oil in the Kurdistan Region. It is getting closer to an agreement on the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan region. Since Kurdistan's oil exports were halted, Iraq has lost nearly $15 billion.
In New York, the United Nations Security Council responded to Iraq's official request to end the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) by unanimously voting to extend UNAMI until December 31, 2025. It is unclear whether UNAMI will be renewed after this date, as Iraq has requested that it be terminated in 2025. At the same time, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, whose expulsion has been repeatedly called for by pro-Iranian Shiite militias and politicians, will leave Iraq to work in Lebanon. Ms. Hennis-Plasschaert worked in Iraq for five years, and said in her farewell message: "Throughout the country, including the Kurdistan region, countless people of all ages have spontaneously shared their hopes and aspirations time and again".
Still on the diplomatic front, on June 13, Iran's acting Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, visited Iraq and met with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Fouad Hussein. The officials discussed bilateral relations and ways of strengthening them. Later, Bagheri traveled to the Kurdistan region and met with officials of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), including former President Masoud Barzani, President Nechirvan Barzani and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. These meetings took place against a tense backdrop. Iran has supported Shiite militias attacking Kurdistan. However, Nechirvan Barzani's recent visit seems to have temporarily eased tensions between Tehran and Erbil.
The new US ambassador to Iraq, Tracey Jacobson, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. During her hearing, she stated that pro-Iran militias pose the greatest threat to Iraq's stability and sovereignty. She promised that, if confirmed, she would use U.S. policy tools to counter these militias and reduce Iran's influence in the region. She also pledged to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State. Ambassador Jacobson stressed the importance of the KRG and pledged to strengthen relations between Erbil and Washington, as well as between Erbil and Baghdad. The Iraqi government criticized Ambassador Jacobson's comments, arguing that they reflected a lack of understanding of a "new Iraq" and constituted interference in Iraq's internal affairs. Nevertheless, a government spokesman acknowledged that Ambassador Jacobson's appointment could strengthen relations between the US and Iraq. Ambassador Jacobson brings more than 30 years of experience to the post, having served in Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kosovo...
The international coalition against Daech, whose mandate is beginning to be challenged by pro-Iranian Shiite factions and militias, continues to advise, train and equip the Kurdish Peshmerga. According to a press release published on June 28 and quoted by the Kurdish website Rûdaw, in 8 years the coalition has spent a billion dollars on the Peshmergas, a seemingly substantial sum but a drop in the bucket compared with hundreds of billions of dollars spent in pure waste in Afghanistan or the Arab part of Iraq. On July 12, 2016, the Pentagon signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Peshmergas Ministry for a ten-year cooperation, which is set to continue at least until the American elections in November. The international coalition comprises 87 countries, including the USA, Germany, France and the UK. After a long period of active participation in the war against Daesh its mandate now consists of advisory and training missions.
Finally, on June 16, the United States designated the Iraq-based Shiite militia Harakat Ansar Allah al Awfiya (HAAA) as a terrorist organization for its involvement in attacks against US interests, including the January 2024 attack on a base in Jordan that killed three US personnel and injured others. Two days later, the HAAA issued a statement saying it considered the designation "a badge of honor". The HAAA has close ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which has acted against US interests in Iraq and Syria more than 100 times since October 2023. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski said the HAAA's designation reflects the U.S. commitment to eradicating "Iran's harmful influence and the threats posed by Iran-affiliated militias". The HAAA is also suspected of kidnapping and killing demonstrators affiliated with the 2019 Tishreen popular protest movement, which demanded better job opportunities and social services in Baghdad.
Two months after the municipal elections, the 78 mayors elected on the lists of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM, formerly HADEP) are threatened with dismissal by the Turkish authorities. The government had already attempted to automatically award the mayoralty of Van to the AKP candidate, who came in 30 points behind the elected mayor Abdullah Zeydan, DEM, on the pretext that the latter was "ineligible". In the face of a public outcry against this flagrant denial of democracy and massive demonstrations across Turkey, he was forced to reverse his decision. However, the Turkish president, who was not digesting his electoral defeat, came back with a vengeance, implementing a strategy of "salami slicing" by removing the newly elected Kurdish representatives one by one, under various legal pretexts, in order to replace them with "kayyum", Turkish administrators appointed by Ankara.
Thus, on June 3, the Turkish Ministry of the Interior announced the dismissal of Mehmet Siddik Akis, the Kurdish mayor of Hakkari, a Kurdish town located at the junction of the state borders with Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan. He is accused by the authorities of "belonging to an armed terrorist organization". Arrested in Van on a business trip, he was brought before the Hakkari court, which immediately sentenced him to 20 years' imprisonment for a case dating back to 2009. This expeditious justice system, teleguided by Ankara, decided to imprison the Kurdish mayor without even waiting for a possible appeal to the Court of Appeal. The Turkish Interior Minister immediately replaced him with the city's governor.
In a constitutional state worthy of the name, the electoral commission checks the criminal records of candidates before approving their candidacy. This is what the local Turkish Electoral Commission had done, according to which Mehmet Siddik Akis was perfectly eligible. The summary judgment of a court of first instance, disregarding the rights of the defence, only becomes final once all legal remedies have been exhausted. It is only at the end of this process that, if the mayor is definitively condemned, it is up to the Municipal Council to appoint someone else to replace him or her, or to the government to dissolve the Municipal Council and organize new elections.
In Turkey, it's not the law that prevails, it's the dictates of the Turkish president. The DEM party described the mayor's dismissal as a "coup d'état against the will of the people", accusing the Turkish government of taking revenge for its electoral defeat. Protest demonstrations took place in most Kurdish towns whose mayors know they are in Ankara's crosshairs and are aware that "investigations are currently being carried out against all DEM mayors and that gradually they will all be replaced by Turkish administrators appointed as after the 2015 and 2019 municipal elections. Such is the Turkish colonial order in Kurdistan.
The president of the Republican People's Party (CHP, the main opposition party) Ozgür Ozel, stated on his X account, rejecting a decision that "is based on a ten-year-old case that is still ongoing". He dispatched a delegation from his party, made up of several deputies, to express his solidarity with the local population. For former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, "appointing a kayyum (state administrator) to the Hakkari mayor's office is a totally anti-democratic practice. We've only just come out of the March 31 election. If the arrested mayor is guilty, then why did you allow him to take part in the election? Putting a kayyum is to put the will of the voters under mortgage and encourage the terrorist organization on the ground" (Le Monde June 3).
Le Monde's survey of Kurdish mayors currently in office also reveals that the management of these appointed administrators has been as financially disastrous as it has been politically. The city of Van, for example, with a hole of 9 billion Turkish pounds (250 million euros), has become one of Turkey's most indebted cities. Turkish administrators "left a colossal slate everywhere, deepened the municipal budget debt and transferred a large part of the cities' resources to the state or third parties", notes Le Monde correspondent Nicolas Boursier. According to the co-Mayor of the Kurdish capital Diyarbakir, population 1.8 million, Dogan Hatun, "the people have realized the fakeness of this system of administrators from elsewhere, totally removed from local concerns, and they have closed and barricaded the town hall, dismantled its entire administrative structure and embezzled resources".
Protests against the dismissal of the mayor of Hakkari spread to the Turkish parliament, where deputies from the government's AKP party and those from the Dems came to blows. Reacting to the anger and indignation, the Turkish president declared on June 5 that "no one should be embarrassed by the verdict in Hakkari, as justice has decided according to the law" and that "there was no point in attacking the town hall left and right with placards" (Le Monde, June 7).
As part of its policy of harassing and suffocating Kurdish municipalities, the Turkish government wants to prevent them from making contact with their European counterparts and developing partnerships. A dozen Kurdish mayors, including the co-mayor of Diyarbakir, Ms Serra Bucak, were banned from leaving the country on June 25. Others are likely to follow soon.
On June 21, vegetation fires claimed at least 12 lives, killed hundreds of animals and devastated numerous villages in a region between Diyarbakir and Mardin. According to the Turkish Interior Minister, the fire was caused by stubble burning. Local residents and elected representatives blame faulty power lines and the Turkish electricity company for the devastating fire. They also denounce the carelessness of the state emergency services, which took their time before intervening with derisory means, as they had neither helicopters nor water bombers at their disposal. Their request for an independent inquiry, backed by the Diyarbakir Bar Association, to establish the facts and responsibilities and compensate the victims, was met with indifference by the Turkish government, which has a long tradition of burying embarrassing cases.
It should also be noted that, according to a report published on June 14 by the International Trade-Union Confederation (ITUC) on May 14, Turkey is now among the 10 worst countries where political and trade union rights are not respected. It is now in this group with countries such as Belarus, Myanmar, Guatemala, Bangladesh and Tunisia. A sad commentary for a member of the Council of Europe and NATO, which is supposed to represent the great family of democracies.
The International Trade Union Confederation brings together trade unions from 167 countries, with almost 200 million members.
Iranians were called to the polls on June 28 to elect a successor to President Raissi, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19.
From the 80 or so candidates who applied, the Council of Guardians of the Constitution, an unelected body dominated by ultra-conservatives, selected 6 candidates "compatible with the values of the Islamic Republic". Candidates who are in any way independent or reformist, or conservatives who, like former President Ahmadinajat, are no longer in the good graces of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, were not allowed to stand (Le Monde June 9).
The successful candidates are obviously men, and with the exception of one, all ultra-conservatives belonging to the regime's hard wing, including parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibat, Tehran mayor Ali Reza Zakani, Said Jalil, former nuclear negotiator Amir Hussein Ghazizadeh, head of the Martyrs' Foundation, and former interior minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi. A moderate "reformist" candidate, Massoud Pezeshkian, MP for Tabriz, was also endorsed to give an ounce of diversity and, above all, avoid a massive boycott of the polls and ensure a minimum of popular participation. This heart surgeon, who was Minister of Health under the reformist President Mohammed Khatami, who in his time had raised hopes of change, enjoys the discreet support of certain figures in the moderate camp, including former Foreign Minister Zarifi, architect of the nuclear agreement signed in Vienna in 2015. He promises to engage in dialogue with the West to obtain, if not the lifting, at least the easing of sanctions that are hitting the Iranian economy hard. He also promised domestic appeasement, publicly questioning the relevance of the compulsory veiling of women and suggesting that, if elected, he would put an end to it. Throughout his election campaign, he also tried to reach out to "minorities", i.e. the non-Persian peoples of Iran who are often discriminated against and harshly repressed by the regime. Born in the emblematic Kurdish city of Mahabad to Azeri parents, he is fluent in Kurdish and Azeri. In his rallies in Iranian Kurdistan, he addressed voters in Kurdish, promising them greater consideration for their language and culture, as well as increased allocation of resources for the region's development. He ended his harangue in the Kurdish metropolis of Kermanshah with a rousing "Bijî Kurdistan" (Long live Kurdistan), a first not only in the history of the Islamic Republic but also in the recent history of Iran.
In his election rallies in Azerbaijan, candidate Pezeshkian, commonly known as "the doctor", addressed his voters in Azeri and succeeded in creating a certain momentum in his favor. However, he never ceased to pledge his loyalty to the Supreme Guide. How far this balancing act can go is anyone's guess. Some observers wonder whether this is not a trial balloon on the part of the Islamic regime, aimed at calming its conflicting relations with "minorities".
However, the effect of this "reformist" dynamic, without an articulated program, has remained measured on disillusioned Iranian voters who, from Khatami to Rouhani, have seen candidates comfortably elected with promises of reform who, once elected, have not honored their commitments. With the bulk of power held by the unelected Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guards, who control the country's foreign policy, defense and economy, an elected president's room for maneuver remains very limited, especially when the Majlis (parliament) is dominated by ultra-conservatives.
From the depths of her prison, Nobel Peace Prize winner Nargès Mohammadi, sentenced on June 18 (AFP) to a further one-year prison term for "propaganda", denounced "a sham election". Another opposition figure, Mir Hossein Moussavi, leader of the Green Movement and winner of the 2009 presidential elections fraudulently attributed to Mahmoud Ahmadinajat, who has since been placed under house arrest, refused to accept the ballot box that the authorities had brought to the door of his home (Le Monde June 30). Ayatollah Khamenei's solemn appeal on June 25 mobilized only his followers. The vast majority of disenchanted Iranian voters boycotted the polls. The official abstention rate was 60%, the highest for a presidential election since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
The "reformist" candidate Massoud Pezeshkian came out on top with 44% of the vote, against 38% for the ultra-conservative Mr. Jalili. They will meet again in the second round of the election, scheduled for July 5. The head of parliament, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, who has been an unsuccessful candidate in several previous elections, suffered a crushing defeat, no doubt due to the numerous corruption scandals in which this former head of the Revolutionary Guards is implicated.
During the election campaign, several candidates openly spoke of the need for the Iranian regime to acquire nuclear weapons. And some Iranian leaders are now dropping their insistence on the "peaceful" nature of the country's nuclear program, notes the New York Times in its June 27 issue, following a wide-ranging investigation. For its part, the International Atomic Energy Agency affirms that Iran is continuing to increase its nuclear capacity (AFP June 14). According to the IAEA, Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium to the high level of 60% - very close to weapons-grade - while continuing to accumulate large stocks. The IAEA informed its members on June 14 that Teheran had notified it that it was installing more enrichment cascades at its Natanz and Fordow nuclear facilities. The Agency's Board of Governors adopted a resolution criticizing Teheran's lack of cooperation. France, Germany and the UK condemned Iran's latest measures, a symbolic condemnation with no real consequences (Le Monde June 15).
In other Iranian news, on June 15, Iran and Sweden negotiated a prisoner exchange agreement. The exchange included European Union diplomat Jonah Floredus for Sweden. Iran welcomed Hamid Nouri, a judicial official who had been convicted by Swedish courts of war crimes and the mass execution of 5,000 dissidents in 1988. The Swedish hostages had been charged and convicted on trumped-up charges, including espionage and collusion against Iranian national security. Nouri, a convicted war criminal, received a hero's welcome in Iran and promptly issued a terse warning to "terrorists, dissidents": "My name is Hamid Nouri, I am in Iran, I am with my family.... Where are you, you despicable people? You said that not even God could free Hamid Nouri, and then you saw that he did (Le Monde June 15).
In Kurdistan, the Iranian regime arrested a number of Kurdish activists in June, including Zara Nabizadeh in Mehabad, Hataw Akrami and Afsaneh Shahii in Bokan, Hamidreza Arovaneh in Dehloran, Sajjad Moradivandan in Abdanan, Osman Galawezhi in Piranshahr, Massud Dalawand in Khurmawa, Adel Khalani in Sardasht. Other detainees are Matin Mehdizadeh in Shinno, Seyad Amhedian in Takab and Houshmand Moradi in Tehran. Many of the detainees are accused of mocking the death of former Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi. The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reports that the Iranian regime had arrested 141 people by May, including 80 Kurds. Meanwhile, Iranian border guards killed a 19-year-old Kurdish border porter (kolbar) near Baneh and wounded two others near Marivan and Shinno. Another kolbar died after falling into a river while trying to escape the Iranian authorities in Sardasht.
A young Kurd, Farhad Beigi Garousi, committed suicide following state intimidation. He was 21 years old. Garousi was arrested in 2022 in the province of Kermanshah after participating in the nationwide "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests. At the time of his death, he had been temporarily released on bail. In addition, the Iranian Supreme Court upheld the death sentence handed down to a Kurdish imam from Bokan, who had been charged with making speeches in support of the demonstrations. On June 6, Iranian border forces shot dead Hajir Mahmoudpour, a 24-year-old Kurdish border porter (kolbar), at the Nowsud border crossing. The incident occurred just one day after another kolbar was shot dead by Iranian border guards in the Marivan border area.
Iranian forces cracked down on Kurdish activists, arresting many prominent figures. Heydar Fattahi, Mohammad Mohammadi and Farid Badidest were recently arrested. They come from different regions and districts. Many were arrested in connection with publications or demonstrations organized following the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raïsi in mid-May. There has been no news since their arrest and their places of detention are unknown. On June 11, Iranian border forces seriously wounded kolbar Arman Hosseini, a 26-year-old Kurd, near Baneh. This incident is the latest in a series of shootings against kolbars who earn their living transporting goods from Iraqi Kurdistan to Iran. Their work is high-risk, involving crossing treacherous terrain and exposure to hostile border guards.
The exodus of Syrian Kurds to neighboring countries and Europe since the start of the civil war in 2011 is gradually emptying the region of its Kurdish population. These are the findings of a field study carried out by the European Center for Kurdish Studies and The Institute for Foreign Relations (IFR), supported by the German government.
According to the study, which was carried out in 10 towns and 880 villages in the region, and whose main findings were quoted on the Kurdish website RUDAW on June 12, according to Syrian statistics from 2010, one year before the war, these territories had a population of 1,287,161. By 2023, 549,681 had left the region. In some places, displaced Arabs have taken their place. As a result, the Kurds who were once in the majority have become a minority in the villages surrounding the towns of Qamishli, Jindires, Amouda and Dêrik. Qamishli, the main city of the Djezireh region, called "duck's beak" by geographers of the French Mandate era, had a population of 464,333 in 2010. By 2023, the population will have dwindled to 233,472. In Serê Kaniyê (Ras al-Ain) and Girê Spî (Tell Abyad), once predominantly Kurdish towns now under Turkish occupation, there are virtually no Kurds left. In Afrin, another town where over 80% of the population was Kurdish until the Turkish occupation in 2018, the Kurds became a minority, their land and property seized and offered as spoils of war to relatives of Sunni Arab militias supporting the Turkish army. The small town of Jindires in Afrin canton has seen its Kurdish population plummet from 13,611 to 3,081, and 23,469 Arabs, often from the Islamist suburbs of Damascus, have been settled there by the Turkish occupiers. In the 33 villages around Jindires studied in this survey, the Kurdish population fell in just a few years from 19,288 to 5,822. These villages have undergone a dramatic demographic change with the installation of 19,558 Arab settlers with the financial support of Qatar and the encouragement of the Turkish occupying power.
These forced demographic changes constitute war crimes, regularly documented and denounced by local and international human rights NGOs. In August 2023, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against two pro-Turkish militias involved in war crimes: the Sulaiman Shah Brigade, made up of Turkmen, and the Hamza Division, made up of Sunni Arab jihadists. Sanctions which remained largely symbolic, as these militias are armed and financed by Turkey, the occupying power, which is hardly worried by its NATO allies.
The low-key war continues both in Rojava and in Syrian territories under the control of the Damascus government. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDM) since the end of the territorial Islamic State and its military defeat by Kurdish forces in 2019, ISIS has been able to regroup, restructure and gradually resume its activities. Since its territorial defeats in 2019 it has killed nearly 4,100 people according to counts compiled by the OSDH (AFP June 29).
Its operations mainly target the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces (FDS), often with the support of pro-Turkish militias. In June, terrorist attacks by the Islamic State (ISIS) intensified in the Syrian desert (Badia), notably in Deir Ez Zor. At least sixteen Syrian soldiers were killed by a ISIS minefield in Badia, an area known as the triangle of death, located between Raqqa, Homs and Deir ez Zor. Russia has launched several airstrikes, but this has not prevented ISIS attacks on Syrian regime soldiers. In the Hajin sub-district of Deir Ez Zor, ISIS terrorists killed two members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on June 20. This comes as the SDF released a confession video of two terrorists responsible for the attacks. In addition, at least four Daesh terrorists were arrested by the SDF in the Shaheel and Tel Hamis districts. In the US, an American jihadist named Abdelhamid Al-Madioum was sentenced to ten years in prison for fighting alongside ISIS in Syria and providing "material support". According to the Department of Justice, the terrorist joined ISIS after leaving the US to travel to Morocco and Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the US-led international coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) conducted several joint operations in June to counter the increased operational tempo of the Islamic State (ISIS) in northeastern Syria. The US also intercepted a drone launched by Iranian-backed militias targeting the al Tanf garrison on June 22. That said, ISIS jihadists killed at least one SDF member in the town of Bahra in Deir ez Zor governorate. ISIS also killed six Assad regime soldiers and a colonel in the Syrian region of Badia. Similarly, the Nord news agency reported that members of ISIS seized a shipment of weapons when they ambushed an Assad regime convoy traveling from Palmyra to the T4 military base on June 30.
Meanwhile, the High Electoral Commission (HEC) for the administration of northern and eastern Syria has postponed the local elections scheduled for June 11. "The postponement came in response to requests from political parties and alliances participating in the electoral process," says an HEC statement. Four Kurdish parties requested a postponement of the elections, and the HEC said that the delays were intended to ensure that the electoral process would take place "in a democratic manner". However, the elections came under intense pressure, mainly from Turkey, which repeatedly threatened military invasion. At the same time, the United States disapproved of the process, and media reports suggested that Russia was also threatening to withdraw from the Turkish-Russian security agreement, which would give the green light for a Turkish invasion of the region. It remains to be seen whether elections will be held in August, as announced by HEC.
Finally, AANES has issued a statement against the Qatar Red Crescent and Kuwaiti institutions for their role in "demographic changes" in the Turkish-occupied Afrin region. Several settlements have been built on Kurdish land and property by Qatari and Kuwaiti organizations for displaced Arabs since 2018, when Turkey and pro-Turkish Sunni Arab militias occupied Afrin. AANES stressed that it would work at all levels as part of an "international investigation and hold accountable those involved in such unethical policies".
Two young Kurdish women were elected to the European Parliament in the June 7 elections held in the member states of the European Union.
The first is Evîn Incir, a Kurdish-Swedish woman running on the Social Democratic Party list. She was already a brilliant and appreciated Euro-MP during the previous mandate. She has just been re-elected.
German-Kurdish MEP Ozlem Demirel was elected on the list of the left-wing Die Linke party. She was also re-elected for a further five-year term.
Five other Kurdish candidates stood for election, but were unsuccessful.
