Catalogne: Poutine critique le "deux poids deux mesures" des Européens

Le président russe Vladimir Poutine a qualifié jeudi la crise catalane d'"affaire intérieure" à l'Espagne tout en s'en prenant à la politique de "deux poids, deux mesures" des Européens face aux velléités d'indépendance des peuples.

Turkey’s Parliament Bans the Use of the Terms "Armenian Genocide", “Kurdistan,” and “Kurdish regions.”

As part of a package of measures aimed to change internal procedural rules of the Turkish parliament, the legislature’s constitutional committee on Thursday approved a provision banning the use of the word “Armenian Genocide” from being used in legislative body.

Kurds reject Iraqi call for them to stop Mosul advance

The Kurdish government is rejecting calls from the Iraqi government for the Peshmerga to stop advancing towards the city of Mosul in the battle against the Islamic State.

PKK rebels attack military units in Turkey

Rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) have targeted military positions in southeastern Turkey, the Turkish military said on Monday.

Turkey security forces kill 5 PKK militants in firefight

Five militants of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed Saturday in clashes with the Turkish security forces in Agri province of eastern Turkey, the Turkish military said in a statement.

Four Turkish Troops Wounded in Clashes in Southeast

Four Turkish troops were wounded on Saturday in clashes with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the southeast of the country, the army said.

52 civilians killed by Kurdish group in Syria

 HASAKAH, Syria. --At least 52 people, including women and children, were killed Sunday in northeastern Syria by a group with links to outlawed terrorist organization PKK , according to a coalition of Syrian opposition groups.

The victims were killed by People's Protection Units, the official armed wing of the Kurdish Supreme Committee, the governing body of so-called Syrian Kurdistan, according to the Syrian Revolution General Commission. The Kurdish Supreme Committee was formed in 2012.

US considers "air strikes and food drops" in Iraq. (US President Barack Obama is considering....)

US President Barack Obama is considering ordering US air strikes against Sunni extremists in northern Iraq and humanitarian food drops to beleaguered civilians, according to reports.

US media, citing senior White House officials, said Mr Obama was weighing military options after jihadists from the so-called "Islamic State" attacked Christian and Yazidi minority communities.
"There could be a humanitarian catastrophe there," an official told the New York Times, warning that a decision on military action was expected "imminently - this could be a fast-moving train".

ISIS seizes Iraq’s largest Christian town

Iraq’s largest Christian town, Qaraqosh, was seized by jihadists militants when Kurdish troops withdrew overnight, fleeing residents and Christian clerics told Agence France-Presse Thursday.
“I now know that the towns of Qaraqosh, Tal Kayf, Bartella and Karamlesh have been emptied of their original population and are now under the control of the militants,” Joseph Thomas, the Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, told AFP.

No room for Christians in Iraq anymore, fleeing residents say

Alive but not at peace, Iraqi Christians who have fled the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS) in Mosul are recounting their nightmares about the group, while also lamenting the ostensible end of a place for their community in Iraq.

Thousands fled the violence after ISIL, which now calls itself the Islamic State (IS), took control of Mosul, and many others who were left behind were forced to flee the city last week under the threat of forced conversion or execution by jihadists. Not only were the Christians harried, but their heritage that is thousands of year old was destroyed while their homes and possessions were confiscated by the militants led by ISIL.

Iraqi Kurds slam senior PKK member’s ISIL statements. (“not to undermine the union of the Kurdistan peoples”)

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Iraq has dismissed claims that its leader, Masoud Barzani, is planning to take control of Mosul with the help of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Sunni Arabs.

The KDP released a statement on its website directly rejecting the claims of Cemil Bayık, a senior member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

It cited a report in daily Özgür Gündem and the Fırat News Agency (ANF), two media outlets known to be close to the PKK, saying it “targeted Masoud Barzani and the KDP” and describing it as “a script totally made up of lies.”

Kurdish leader orders independence referendum (independent electoral commission that would start organising a referendum)

Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq are to press ahead with an independence referendum that could see Iraq divided between a Kurdish north and Arab south.

Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud Barzani on Thursday instructed Kurdish lawmakers to prepare a referendum.

In a parliamentary session, Barzani assessed the latest repercussions of ISIL’s advance in northern Iraq. After the Iraqi army withdrew, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters stepped in and took control of some areas that the Iraqi government in Baghdad considers under its jurisdiction, including oil-rich Kirkuk.

Iraq PM rejects Kurdish claims in disputed areas

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday rejected the claims by the semi- autonomous Kurdish region to control the disputed areas, which are now in the hands of the Kurdish security forces.

"No one has the right to exploit the events that occurred to impose a fait accompli, like what happened in some of the actions of the Kurdistan region. This is a rejected act," Maliki said in his televised weekly speech.

Maliki's comments came as an answer to Kurdish regional leader Massud Barzani's comments that the Kurds do not need the Iraqi constitution to resolve the problem over disputed areas, as the Peshmerga (Kurdish security forces) have now controlled the disputed city of Kirkuk, the last part of the disputed areas described in the constitution.

Netanyahu calls for supporting Kurdish independence

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu voiced support for Kurdish statehood on Sunday, citing the Kurds' political stability in contrast to the sectarian break-up of Iraq.
"We should ... support he Kurdish aspiration for independence," he told a security conference in Tel Aviv.

Kurdish oil flow continues in defiance of Baghdad’s legal move (Turkish energy minister)

Kurdish oil from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to the southern Turkish port of Ceyhan continues at 100,000 to 120,000 barrels, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has said.

Shipments of oil pumped from the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq and stored in Ceyhan began on the night of May 22, sparking reaction from the central Iraqi government, which insists it has the sole right to export the crude oil and describes the Kurdish sales as “smuggling.”

Iraqi Kurds slam Baghdad legal action over oil shipment

Iraq's Kurdish region slammed legal action filed by the central government against Turkey, saying Sunday it was illegitimate and likely to fail, the latest in worsening ties between Baghdad and Kurdistan.
The Kurdish Ministry of Natural Resources statement came just days after Baghdad's Oil Ministry filed a request for arbitration against Ankara at the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce after crude from Kurdistan was exported to international markets via a Turkish port.

Turkey: Kurdish oil will go to Italy, Germany

Kurdish oil -- 1.4 million barrels of it -- stored in the southeastern Turkish port of Ceyhan was loaded onto ships Thursday night, said Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz on Friday.

The oil has been stored in Ceyhan for the last six months in line with an agreement signed between Turkey and the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq.

The central government in Baghdad, meanwhile, opposed the sale of the Kurdish oil stored in Ceyhan, claiming it would bypass the country’s national State Oil Marketing Company and violate Iraq’s constitution.

Washington concerned over Arbil’s oil exports (State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki)

Washington is concerned over the export of northern Iraqi Kurdish oil to global markets via Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki has said.

“Our position has long been that we don’t support exports without the appropriate approval of the federal Iraqi government, and certainly we do have concerns about the impact of those [exports] continuing,” Psaki said during a press briefing May 22.

Earlier in the day, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız announced that 1 million barrels of Kurdish Iraqi crude oil was being loaded onto a tanker in Ceyhan, without specifying the names of buyers.

Iraq to punish Turkey, Kurds over 'smuggled' oil exports: Minister

Iraq will take legal and other measures to punish Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as foreign companies, for any involvement in Kurdish exports of “smuggled” oil without Baghdad’s consent, the oil minister said on Jan. 17.

Abdul Kareem Luaibi told reporters the government was preparing legal action against Ankara and would blacklist any companies dealing with oil piped to Turkey from Iraq’s autonomous northern region without permission from Baghdad. The Kurdistan Regional Government said last week that crude had begun to flow through the pipeline, and exports were on track to start at the end of January, inviting bidders to register with the Kurdistan Oil Marketing Organisation.

Iraqi Kurdish prime minister heads to Baghdad to solve oil row

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced a delegation led by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani will visit Baghdad to iron out the problems caused by oil exports to Turkey.

The statement announcing the plans to visit for the upcoming days was sent to the Anadolu Agency by the KRG spokesperson Safeen Dizayee a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatened to cut central government funding for Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region if the Kurds pursued a drive to pipe oil exports to Turkey without Baghdad’s approval.

“This is a constitutional violation which we will never allow, not for the [Kurdistan] region, nor the Turkish government,” al-Maliki told Reuters in an interview Jan. 12.