Kurdistan IO Email

[tequila]

Iraqi Kurdistan's downward spiral - Kamal Said Qadir, Middle East Forum.

...

During my trips in Iraqi Kurdistan, I see how grateful ordinary Kurdish citizens are to the U.S. government and American people for the establishment of the safe haven in 1991, the no-fly zone, and Iraq's liberation. But the mood is changing. Today, the Kurdish parties misuse U.S. assistance and taxpayers' money. Rather than support democracy, the Kurdish party leaders use their funding and their militia's operational training to curtail civil liberties. What angers Kurds is the squandered leverage. Instead of demanding rule-of-law, the White House has subordinated democracy to stability not only in Baghdad and Basra, but in Iraqi Kurdistan as well. Rather than create a model democracy, the Iraqi Kurds have replicated the governing systems of Egypt, Tunisia or, perhaps even Syria ....

[Jedburgh]

Written from the perspective of evaluating the situation in Iraqi Kurdistan in the context of Iraqi Kurds seeking asylum in Europe, this paper offers some insights into current conditions in the north:

Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe, 10 Jul 07:

The Socio-Economic Situation in the KRG Administrated Provinces Sulaimaniyah, Erbil and Dohuk

Since the end of the Kurdish civil war (1994-1998) and mostly since the fall of the Ba'athist regime in 2003, the KRG-area is relatively stable and peaceful compared to the rest of Iraq. However, the security situation remains tense and unpredictable due to a number of political factors. Despite the recent unification of the two KRG ad-ministrations, the exercise of joint control between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) still needs to be demonstrated. But there are also socio-economic reasons for the continuing tension. Growing dissatisfaction over corruption, restrictions on human rights, malfunctioning infrastructure, electricity and clean water provision generate regular demonstrations and public unrest across the KRG-administered area......