Iraqi Kurdistan News in brief – August 26, 2017

Kirkuk provincial council puts referendum on agenda for Tuesday meeting

Kirkuk: Kirkuk Governor Najmaldin Karim has officially called on the Provincial Council to vote in favour of holding a referendum in the city, along with Iraqi Kurdistan Region on September 25. The council will consider the subject in its next meeting on August 29. “Through an official letter, we have asked the Provincial Council to vote for the referendum to be held in Kirkuk, too,” said Karim. Asked what rights would the people of Kirkuk gain from the referendum, Karim said the vote is not for Kirkuk to join a possibly independent Kurdistan state, but will ensure that the people have the opportunity to express their opinion on the issue. “This [referendum] is not for incorporation into the state of Kurdistan… This is just participation,” Karim, said, adding that another later referendum will allow the people of Kirkuk to decide their fate. rudaw.net

One peshmerga killed, five others wounded in a blast west of Kirkuk.

Kirkuk: A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter was killed and six others Peshmerga were wounded on Saturday when an explosive device went off on the side of a road west of Kirkuk, according to a security source. The device was planted on the side of a road near Sakhra village on the edge of Mala Abdullah district when a vehicle owned by the Peshmerga Ministry passed. NRT reported. one Peshmerga was killed and five others were injured in the blast. Ekurd.net

500 bodies found in Iraq mass graves

Baghdad: Iraqi military investigators discovered two mass graves containing the remains of some 500 decapitated bodies near the city of Mosul. The two graves were found on Friday near Badoush prison site in the northwest of Mosul, where one contained 470 bodies and the other contained 30, the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement. The bodies are believed to be prisoners executed by Islamic State (IS) militants, reports Xinhua news agency. The Badoush prison is known as the site of an IS massacre of more than 600 inmates on June 10, 2014, when the terrorist group was sweeping the northern province of Nineveh. IANS

Turkey’s Kurdish HDP condemns Turkish expulsion of PUK representative

Diyarbakir: Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Democratic Peoples’ Party on Thursday blasted the Turkish authorities for deporting the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (YNK) representative in Ankara Behroz Gelali. “We as the HDP condemn in the strongest terms possible the expulsion of Gelali,” said the HDP, Kurdistan 24 reported. In a press release on its website, the HDP described Gelali’s expulsion as unlawful, arbitrary and in contravention of diplomatic practices. “It is the latest example of the intolerance toward the Kurdish people and their representatives by the Turkish government,” said the HDP. “The reason for the closure is due to strong links between the [PUK] and HDP against the Turkish government,” Gelali told reporters yesterday after arriving in his party’s stronghold city of Sulaimani. kurdpress.ir

Kurdish diaspora and friends rally for referendum in Germany

Cologne: A large festival to support the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum, set to be held in less than a month, will be held Tuesday afternoon in the German city of Cologne. Attendees are coming from across Europe in support of the historical vote. A number of Kurdish friends including writers and German politicians will also deliver speeches at the event that will include Kurdish music. Rudaw Media Network is sponsoring of the festival and will feature live coverage throughout the day. The festival will open at 3pm Erbil time with the national anthem, Ey Reqib. rudaw.net

Duhok film festival 2017 edition ‘inspired by hope’

Duhok: The program of the fifth edition of the Duhok International Film Festival (Duhok IFF) “is inspired by hope,” said the festival’s artistic director Shamal Sabri announcing the opening selection of the festival, Zer. Zer, a film by Kurdish director Kazim Oz, follows a young man raised in New York as he traces his routes to find the song his grandmother sang to him on her deathbed. His grandmother was a survivor of the Dersim massacre, where thousands were killed in a Turkish military campaign to suppress a rebellion in 1937 and 1938. The festival is held annually in the northern Kurdistan Region city of Duhok.  Duhok IFF runs from September 9 through 16. rudaw.net

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