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2019-01-01 Iraq
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Recap 2018: Kurdistan's biggest stories
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[Rudaw] Elections in the Kurdistan Region, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
, and Iraq grabbed international headlines for 2018. It was a time for reestablishing relations for the Kurdistan Regional Government with capitals following the internationally opposed independence referendum, Kirkuk events, and international flight ban in late-2017.
With political tensions high, protests rocked sweltering Basra through the summer. It was also a time for Kurdish mathematician Caucher Birkar to be awarded the Fields Medal and Yezidi activist Nadia Murad to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Continued from Page 2
Iraq and the Kurdistan Region continue to form their new governments under the watchful eyes of Iran and the West. The former head of the largest pro-Kurdish party in Turkey defiantly led a presidential campaign and helped to increase the number of HDP politicians in the Ottoman Turkish parliament.
In Syria, the predominately Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continued to progress areas once controlled by ISIS in eastern Syria; however, their main force, the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), lost control of the northwest canton of Afrin after an assault by the Ottoman Turkish military and their proxy fighters went unchecked by Russia and the US-led coalition.
Baghdad ordered the closure of all international airports in the Kurdistan Region on September 29, 2017. Kurds saw this as overly heavy payback for holding their independence referendum.
There was hope that flights would continue at the start of the new year, but Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi extended the ban for another three months. It wasn't until Iraq's interior ministry sent technical teams to Erbil in March when actual progress was made. A joint committee with the KRG's interior ministry was formed to administer all international points of entry.
Things returned to relative normality for passengers at Erbil International Airport in March. However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
Turkey has refused to open its airspace to flights bound to or for Sulaymaniyah International Airport. Ankara claims a PKK presence in the province makes flying conditions unsafe.
SADR SOARS, INCUMBENT PM ABADI SHUT OUT OF NEW IRAQI GOVERNMENT
Iraq held its first post-ISIS parliamentary election on May 12. The race was perceived as a tug-of-war between incumbent PM Haider al-Abadi, who was perceived to be closer to Western interests, and various other Shiite politicians who had links to Iran. Abadi and former PM Nouri al-Maliki ‐ both Dawa Party members ‐ ran on split tickets.
 Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
formed an unlikely alliance with the Communist Party and won 54 of 329 seats. The results of the election were disputed, in particular by smaller parties in the Kurdistan Region which alleged voter fraud, however a partial manual recount and their approval by the Federal Court in Baghdad and the former president left the results largely unchanged.
In the Kurdistan Region , the Kurdistan Democratic Party increased its seat count to 25. The PUK regained its stature as the second-largest in Kurdistan with 21. Gorran picked up a mere 5 seats. Upstart New Generation took 4 seats, while Barham Salih's Coalition for Democracy and Justice managed just 2.
Salih would later leave CDJ and rejoin PUK to become Iraq's third Kurdish president ‐ a move criticized by many of his followers. KDP took the seat of the second deputy in parliament with Bashar al-Haddad. Sunni politician Mohammed al-Halbousi, the former governor of Anbar, became speaker. After months of delays and political dealings, Adil Abdul-Mahdi won the majority in parliament to be elected as prime minister.
Turkey in April announced snap presidential parliamentary elections to be held on June 24. The move was seen as politically expedient for President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
 ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
. The year before Turkey passed constitutional reforms via referendum to change the country from a parliamentary to a presidential system following the election.
Selahattin Demirtas has been nabbed
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
since November 2017 on various charges including supporting the banned PKK. Demirtas denied the charges and led a spirited campaign for the pro-Kurdish HDP from behind prison bars often tweeting through his lawyer.
The international community criticized fair media coverage for the candidates. Despite the difficulties, the HDP won 65 seats ‐ six more than in the previous election and more importantly won 10 percent of the overall vote to secure their seats in parliament. Erdogan won 52.59 percent of the votes, while the CHP's candidate took 30.64.
CHALDEAN PATRIARCH SAKO ELEVATED TO CARDINAL AT THE VATICAN
Pope Francis announced in May that Louis Raphael I Sako, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon, would be among 14 clergy to be elevated to cardinal. The new cardinals came from regions where Christians are a small minority like Japan, Pakistain and Iraq.
At the consistory at Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on June 28, Sako chose to forgo wearing the traditional red robes, instead wearing black as is customary in the Chaldean Church. Sako was born in 1948 in Zakho, a city in northwest Iraq, which is now a part of the Kurdistan Region.
"A patriarch also has a red habit just like the cardinals. And our Chaldean church is a deaders' church through the whole history. Even now we are giving deaders. And I do hope that the blood of the deaders will be fertile, will bring us a new situation," he said, vowing to use the new position to help improve relations between Iraq's Christian and Moslem communities.
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Posted by trailing wife 2019-01-01 01:34||
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