Did Russia empower Iran’s attack on Erbil?

Iran’s attack on Erbil using a dozen large ballistic missiles is a major escalation. The missiles targets key areas, such as a new US Consulate being built. They are a message that Iran can do a lot more damage. Had Iran wanted to, it could have aimed more at the airport runways or targeted civilian areas more heavily. It’s clear Iran was sending a message of its power more than...


Author: Seth J. Frantzman [read full article]

Attack on Kurdish Language

In recent years, Kurdish culture has been under brutal attack on all fronts from the use of its language to the education of children. Kurds have had to fight for their rights to demonstrate their culture without fear from governments of the Middle East in Iran and Turkey  In Iran, the simple act of using the Kurdish Language and teaching it to children is a crime punishable by...


Author: Gabriel Rousseau [read full article]

The Kurdish right to statehood

A promise represents an assurance that an entity will do a particular thing. It is by definition irrevocable et immutable. On August 10th, 1920, the treaty of Sevres was signed, officially dissolving the Ottoman Empire, and creating the foundation of a sovereign Kurdish state and territory. All is well until a newly empowered nationalist government in Turkey threatened to completely exit the treaty if Kurdistan was granted the...


Author: Gabriel Rousseau [read full article]

Rudaw: Four year old child loses leg in suspected Turkish attack

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A four-year-old child lost his leg in a suspected Turkish attack on the Kurdish town of Kobane in northern Syria on Saturday. The attack targeted around 15 villages in the countryside of Kobane, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), killing one and wounding twelve others, including women and children.  A photo of the four year old Abdou Mustafa Hanifi, who lost a leg...


Author: Dilan Sirwan [read full article]