KAWERGOSK, Kurdistan Region – Zuhur laughs brightly in the little paved yard in front of her breezeblock shelter in Kawergosk Refugee Camp, Erbil province. Although she is Arab by ethnicity, Zuhur insists with an ardent smile she has adopted her late-husband’s Kurdish identity. Originally published on Rudaw.net Dressed in a black hijab decorated with blue […]
Read moreAncient lost city of Mardaman slowly gives up its secrets
DUHOK, Kurdistan Region – Against the fine yellow dust coating the landscape, the brilliant white of a human skeleton juts conspicuously from the earth. Dropped into pits, apparently without ceremony more than 2,000 years ago, the bodies uncovered by archaeologists near the town of Bassetki, Duhok province, are just one of the mysteries slowly emerging […]
Read moreSweden has ‘immense people-to-people contact’ with Kurds: ambassador to Iraq
Iraqi Kurds make up one of the biggest minority communities in Sweden, fostering a special cross-cultural relationship between the two nations. Through its military commitment to the international coalition to defeat ISIS and its support for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Stockholm has a strong interest in Iraq the Region’s stabilization and future prosperity. Pontus […]
Read moreNeanderthal skull, two complete skeletons found in Shanidar Cave
SHANIDAR, Kurdistan Region – British and Kurdish archaeologists have uncovered the fossilised remains of two Neanderthals in Shanidar Cave, northern Kurdistan Region, including a complete skull. Neanderthals, a species of humanoid thought to have gone extinct 40,000 years ago, were first discovered in the cave by American anthropologist Ralph Solecki in the 1950s. He found […]
Read moreFrancis Fukuyama: Trump’s America is in a ‘democratic recession’
Political scientist and author Professor Francis Fukuyama, best known for his controversial 1989 essay “The End of History”, warns that America is stuck in a “democratic recession”. Far from basking in the victory of liberal democracy as the natural conclusion of mankind’s political evolution, Fukuyama says the United States is suffering a crisis of national […]
Read more30 years since Iran-Iraq ceasefire, explosives still take lives and limbs
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – “The human becomes half a human when you lose a leg,” says Khalid Hassan, easing into a plastic lawn chair in the doorway of his carpentry workshop in Choman, near the Iranian border. Like so many in this small town high in the Zagros Mountains, Khalid lost a leg treading on […]
Read moreYezidi women must not face rape stigma: Congolese doctor Mukwege
Photo: Panzi Foundation ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — World renowned gynecologist and women’s rights campaigner Dr Denis Mukwege visited Duhok and Lalish in late June to meet Yezidi women recovering from the ordeal of sexual slavery at the hands of ISIS. Mukwege, 63, who is widely celebrated for his work treating victims of rape […]
Read morePeshmerga survives ISIS war only to fall wounded in Hashd skirmish
Minyar sets aside his walking stick and shakes a can of white spray paint. On a hot afternoon in Kawergosk, a village straddling a Syrian refugee camp northwest of Erbil, the lean 23-year-old sketches a rough target on a bare yellow wall. Adjusting his gauze eyepatch and donning his aviators, he switches the safety off […]
Read moreVIDEO: Iraq’s election: What happens next?
With meeting after meeting of political leaders in Baghdad, boycotts, and protests, here is a brief explainer of what’s going on. Video produced by Robert Edwards, edited by Mehmed Alsafar, voiced by Chris Johannas
Read moreYouth unemployment a major challenge for Iraq’s next government
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s next government has a problem. Almost half the population is under the age of 19 and unemployment among 15-24 year olds already stands at 18 percent. Unless opportunities are created for them, their disillusionment will only grow. According to the latest figures from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the […]
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