Dive into the archives.
- Iraqi Kurdistan: The End of Turkey’s EU Dreams?
With weekly threats from Turkey to invade Iraqi Kurdistan, it seems the situation is becoming progressively worse. While the PKK is a problem, it is of course only the ostensible reason. In fact, free Kurds make Turkey nervous and rightly so. During my visit to Turkish Kurdistan this March, the excitement about Iraq was palpable. [...]
- Bombs Continue in Turkey
Diyarbakir, March 2007
One tends to noticed bombs in places he’s been. A few weeks ago there was a bomb in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan which I’d recently visited. Today, although unsurprising, there’s been a bombing in Diyarbakir, the unofficial capital of Turkish Kurdistan.DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – A bomb exploded at a bus station [...]
- A Vote for Kurdistan
Via Barnett and Robb
It seems as if Chirol’s Rebalancing the Middle East post has echoed throughout DC. According to the LA Times
WASHINGTON — President Bush would like to see the U.S. military provide long-term stability in Iraq as it has in South Korea, where thousands of American troops have been based for more than half [...]
- Iraq Travel Guide
Here’s a short travel guide for anyone who wishes to visit Iraqi Kurdistan now.
Getting there
The best route in is via Turkey from which you have two options. Many people fly to Diyarbakir and take a taxi for around 150 USD to the border. If you are traveling the area anyway and wish to see other [...]
- Day 4 in Diyarbakir
I began my last day in Diyarbakir by taking my second and last dose of Dukoral. I waited outside my hotel for about half an hour for my friend who was late. When an acquaintance from a tea house walked by, he invited me to come with him on his banking errands to talk and [...]
- Day 3 Diyarbakir
I woke up this morning and headed to the Assyrian Church who promptly let me in at 9am. In a pleasant oriental mix, the church floor was covered in carpets making it necessary to remove one’s shoes. Granted people still sat in pews, it was a comfortable change. Women sat on the left with their [...]
- Day 2 in Diyarbakir
I woke up this morning around 9am from under my four blankets and wearing all my clothes. The heating doesn’t work and although the windows are intact, it feels like they are open. Thank god for the four massive blankets, dirty or not. I wandered around the city today seeing mosques and churches. Most were [...]
- History Hour Continued: The Accidental Kurdistan II
[Part I]
In part one of my series on the unintentional creation of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, I focused on the Gulf War and its immediate aftermath. Since that war ended, the Kurds were cut adrift, slowling developing their own government, culture, and ultimately de facto country. By the coalition invasion of Iraq in 2003, the [...]
- The Unintentional Creation of Iraqi Kurdistan
One thing Americans, Turks and Arabs all have in common is that they are opposed to the creation of an independent Kurdish state. Yet, another thing is that they have all played an important role in doing exactly that.
Gather round ye Cominganarchy readers for it’s History Hour with Chirol!
Our story begins shortly after the first [...]
- Barzani in WaPo
President of the Kurdish Regional Government Massoud Barzani has an article in the Washington Post of interest:
A Kurdish Vision of Iraq
By Massoud BarzaniIn recent weeks Iraq has passed three important milestones. The constitutional referendum on Oct. 15 was a powerful demonstration of Iraqis’ desire to establish democracy and save a country still recovering from its [...]
