Global Voices Online

Iraqi Election Madness! As Iraq prepares for the December 15th parlimentary elections, the Kurdish bloggers are preparing as well. Vahal Abdulrahman from Dear Baghdad announced the formation of a new blog devoted strictly to the new elections, it is aptly named The Iraqi Vote. Vahal gives us details on the candidates and the districts represented. His overall prediction is that the Kurds will fair remarkably well and that for Kurdistan and Iraq nothing less than a liberal democracy should be considered for government.

Nerzad from Iraqi Kurdistan cautions Kurdish leadership in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan to stop pandering to the Arabs and pay more attention to their own people and the corruption currently in their government.

Kurdo from Kurdo's World is not optimistic about the upcoming elections and has stated that he will not participate in the elections. He notes an ideological change among Kurds now wanting democracy more than independence. Other items noted on this blog include comments on the allegations of US troops using chemical weapons on Iraqis and further abuse and corruption in Iraq. Similar reports were addressed on the blog Bleak Blogorrhea as to the use of white phosphorous by the Americans.

You may remember from last week Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes gave his election predictions for the Iraqi election, this week he continues with translations and analysis on individual party manifesto's, the first covered is KIU-the Kurdistan Islamic Union. He also answers various questions sent to him about the validity of corruption claims in the Kurdish government in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan. Hiwa also addresses news about escalating violence in Turkey, as well as resurgance of violence in Mahabad Iran.

Xosh Hal from Beardie's World of Crap comments harshly on George Galloway's support of the Syrians Baathists and also reaffirming the rights of the Kurds in Iraq, in so doing alienating the Kurds of Syria and the oppression the Syria government metes on them.

Pearls of Iraq has an excellent piece analysizing the situation in Turkey with its Kurdish populations and its (Turkey's) relations with Iraq. Miriam points out that Turkey is at a crossroads and that for the benefit of the country is should strike a fair deal with its Kurdish populations, by not doing this they are creating a worse situation by allowing possible terrorist ideals to fester within the country. She also comments that Turkey lets pretty much anyone through into the border of Iraq and that it also might create a worse situation down the line.

A word to the Turkish government, whatever you do, stop approving entry and exit visas to “Islamic” jihadists and passing them off to the Iraqis. Come to an agreement with your 14 million Kurdish brothers and sisters and you will have strong support against transnational terrorists including al-Qaeda. This is the year 2005; progress and take serious the current situation. The Kurds are the solution and a good one.

The Kurdistan Bloggers Union revisits the topic of The Other Iraq ad campaign in the United States and gives an analysis of American reactions. For more information on The Other Iraq campaign review last week's addition of Global Voices.

Piling of Roj Bash writes about the recent arrival at the Institut Kurde de Paris of the book entitled “The Dark Book of Saddam” by Chris Kutschera, which she describes as:

It could be used to as an indicment against 35 years of reign of the bloodiest dictator of the Middle East, as well as an analysis of the reasons which made that all the Western countries, the Arab countries and others, have supported a totalitarian government which made 2 million victims.

Vladimir from From Holland to Kurdistan posts on such a regular basis and has such high quality posts that he could be considered as a news service unto himself. Not wanting to provide a disservice to him (I suggest that everyone bookmark his blog and visit it frequently or subscribe to his RSS feed) I will list only one link from him this week. I highly recommend reading his mammoth post on all aspects of Turkey and Kurdistan, it covers a very wide selection of topics.

Land of the Sun recently posted an interesting tutorial on Kurdish rugs and their history.

Kardox writes about the recent admission of Kurdish artist Ibrahim Tatilses that he is not Kurdish but Turkish, contrary to previous public statements. Kardox also gives an impassioned plea for the murdered Kurdish children of Turkey.

Finally, annoucing this week a new blog with a Kurdish focus the Is-Ought Problem which focuses (currently) on issues of the Kurds in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan. Recent posts have included The Other Iraq ad campaign and the possibly of Kurdistan declaring independence.