Iraqi Kurdistan

Geographic Advantages, Disadvantages, and Natural Resources of Iraqi Kurdistan The purpose of this research is to identify the distinct geographic advantages and disadvantages Iraqi Kurdistan currently possess in order to develop strategies for resource sharing, stability, governance and regional stability to a unified Iraq. The primary focus of selecting key geographic advantages and disadvantages is to have the ability to apply one or all of the lessons learned to effect change in Iraq and the region. The desired end state is Middle East regional stability achieved by focusing the U.S. diplomatic, information, military, economic, financial, intelligence and law enforcement (DIMEFIL) elements of national power to bear on the region with the…

Imagine a small, yet strong group of people living in mountainous regions in the Middle East. For centuries, these people have developed their own culture and identity. Yet, they are not acknowledged as their own sovereign and the nation that lays claim to them viciously persecutes them. For the Kurdish people of northern Iraq, the disdain of their neighbors has plagued them for centuries. On March 16, 1988, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ordered a series of chemical attacks on the Kurdish…

Friedman argues that, “the great achievement of capitalism,” unlike what its critics claim, has not been “accumulation of property” but instead “the opportunities it has offered to men and women to extend and develop and improve their capacities” (Friedman, 2002: 169). Neoliberal advocates at the World Bank who draw from Friedman’s promises of freedom of choice and progress, have developed a promising “all inclusive” Kurdistan Vision 2020. They too argue their vision is for the greater good of…

The film is based on the Kurdish people and their long history fighting for a national identity which can be seen in their history. The Kurdish people are Sunni Muslim people, who have their own language and traditions, living on the mountainous borders of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Armenia. They are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East but they are still considered “nationless”. The traditional Kurdish life was nomadic until World War 1 and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.…

sectarian differences had come to a head after subsequent battles between the great empires in the Middle East and Islamic movements in response to European colonial exposure. The Naqshbandi Order’s popularity in Kurdistan is a testament to these factors. For instance, Shaykh Khalid, the 19th century Kurdish Naqshbandi shaykh responsible…

to survive the chemical attack on Halabja in 1988. On a hot august day in 2016, I accompanied Frishta and another mutual friend for a drive around the city. She asked our friend to pull over for what came to be a very long smoke break. We sat in a small green lawn in front of a crowded four-intersection traffic light. It was a very unusual place for two women and a man to sit but Frishta remains steadfast to her ways and decisions. During her long smoke break, Frishta informed us about another…

He too mentions oil exports from the Kurdistan region but relates Anti Kurd-Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al -Shahristani approved of the pipelines, (Gunter 2011, 1626-1627). Thus, Gunter would disagree with Stansfield, in that it was more national than international issues, which caused prevention of a Kurdish state. A major issue for the Kurds was the enforcement of both the Iraqi Constitution and Federalism. Gunter points out, while the Kurds initially had a majority of the seats in their region…

Indeed, it can be explained that Kurdish feudalism played a major role in promoting the notion and taking over the leadership in Kurdistan. Even though the Kurds did group themselves in various political societies during the later parts of the 19th century and in early 20th century, it was in December 1918 that the groupings of the Kurds turned political and started demanding independence through the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (SPK). Nevertheless, the feudalist aspirations of the leadership…

Everyday narratives: Living in uncertainty in Suleimani This chapter focuses on ethnographic vignettes from ordinary people from the city of Suleimani, Kurdistan. I specifically analyse narratives highlighting living under uncertainty, as part of the bigger theme of everyday politicizing narratives addressed in my thesis. The everyday narratives have resulted from intermittent fieldwork conducted in 2015 and 2016, supplemented by previous reflections and encounters from 2011 in the city of…

production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilization into their midst; i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image” (Marx and Engels, 1992: 7). The Kurdish leaders having “no other alternative,” jumped on the capitalist-neoliberal wagon, so they too could get ahead. The story of the “Other Iraq” was pitched in international and local media presenting Kurdistan and its ruling class as friends of Westerners and embracers of free market…