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Never mind the negotiations with Iran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear weapons program. Far more urgent developments are afoot. While the foreign ministers were busily counting how many centrifuges could spin in Iranian facilities, President Obama and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have arranged a working relationship throughout the Middle East that effectively puts American policy at the service of Iran.Long the goal of Obama, who sent a private emissary to Tehran as early as the 2008 election campaign to tell the Khamenei regime he wanted to be their friend, there is now a de facto alliance between the two...

Hakan Fidan, Undersecretary of Turkey’s secret intelligence MIT, and Qasem Soleimani, Commander of the Iranian Qods Forces, took part in the operation of the Iraqi army and the Hashd al-Shaabi forces against Kirkuk, PUK Spokesperson Sadi Ehmed Pire said. Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Spokesperson Sadi Ehmed Pire organized a press conference in Hewler and answered the questions of journalists concerning the operations against Kirkuk by the Iraqi army and Hashd al-Shaabi forces on October 16. The PUK Spokesperson stated that the attacks against Kirkuk were promoted by both Major-General Qasem Soleimani, Commander of the Qods Forces of the Islamic...

PUK MP Mihemed Hecî Osman spoke about Erdoğan’s comments that Kurds “have no right there, they are in an occupying position” and said: “These are words of malign intent. If they are considering an invasion, here we are, they are welcome." Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Kirkuk MP in the Iraqi Parliament Mihemed Hecî Osman responded to Erdoğan’s comments that Kurds “have no right there, they are in an occupying position”. Mihemed Hecî Osman spoke to the ANF about Erdoğan’s comments and said: “These are the first words of malign intent. If they are considering an invasion, here we are,...

PUK spokesman Sedi Ehmed Pirê said his Ankara representative, Bahroz Galalî, had been deported because of an "operation that the Turkish MİT wanted to carry out against the PKK in Sulaymaniyah, but failed." Sedi Ehmed Pirê, a spokesman and member of the PUK Political Office, spoke with Dengê Emerîka (Voice of America - VOA Kurdî) about the deportation of PUK Ankara representative Bahroz Galalî on August 24 and said that Turkey held the PUK responsible Failure of the operation they attempted within the borders of the city of Sulaymaniyah against the PKK. It was a malfunction of MIT Sedî Ehmed...

In the safe haven of Iraqi Kurdistan, the Jews and Israel are remembered fondly,if increasingly vaguely. "THEY CALL That lack of restraint?" the former Iraqi army officer exclaimed, while watching the BBC’s coverage of the Al-Aqsa Intifada on satellite TV last winter. "If this demonstration were held in Baghdad, there’d be 10,000 bodies in the street," said the Arab from Baghdad who now teaches in Iraqi Kurdistan. Almost 4 million people live in the safe haven of northern Iraq. A de facto autonomous region, it has been administered by the Kurds since 1991 when Saddam Hussein withdrew his administration in ...

The local Kurdish media is reporting that four former spies were re-elected to the leadership of the Jalal Talabani’s PUK. Various Kurdish media sources are reporting this story, which has shaken the PUK grassroots organisation and Kurdish society, prompting outrage and statements that both spies and patriots are working together to lead the PUK. According to local reports, Saadi Ahmad Pira, Aso Almani, Mustafa Chawrash and Shalaw Ali Askari were discovered to be working for the former Iraqi regime while acting as high ranking officials within the PUK. Dismay and anger has been the response of many Kurds upon hearing...

Twenty Bodies Found in Tigris Near Baghdad SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer Insurgents assassinated a Kurdish member of parliament and police found 20 bodies shot to death and dumped in the Tigris River north of the capital, where there was no major violence Sunday for the first time in five days. Faris Nasir Hussein, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, was killed along with his brother and their driver in an ambush 50 miles north of Baghdad. A second Kurdish lawmaker, Haidar Shanoun, was wounded in the attack near the town of Dujail. Police and PUK officials...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents killed a Kurdish member of Iraqi parliament, his brother and the driver of his car and wounded a second lawmaker in an ambush on their convoy north of Baghdad , police and officials said Sunday. Faris Nasir Hussein, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, was killed in the attack Saturday night, along with his brother and their driver, said Peshro Ibrahim, a National Assembly official. Ibrahim said another PUK lawmaker, Haidar Shanoun, was wounded in the same attack near the town of Dujail, 50 miles north of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Monday that he and the other top Kurdish leaders have agreed to changes on the draft constitution concerning the country's ties with the Arab League (AL). "We have decided to support the draft and agreed to some changes which we think necessary for the country's ties with the Arab League, as Iraq is a founding member in the AL," Talabani told reporters in a news conference. Talabani was referring to a statement issued after a meeting between the political offices of the two major Kurdish parties in northern Iraq, the...

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s security services “Asaysh” has arrested some former members of the militant group, Ansar al-Islam, reported the Sulaimani based Kurdish newspaper, Aso, in its today’s edition. Aso said that sources within “Asaysh” have said on the condition of anonymity that following the twin suicide bombings in Hewler (Irbil) and Halabja, many former members of Ansar al-Islam and some current members of the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komall) were arrested for interrogation.

Barham Salih: We are not ready to compromise on "Article 58" Saturday, 11 June 2005 In an unannounced visit the Iraqi Planning Minister and the former Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Suleimani, Dr. Barham Salih arrived in Kirkuk, reported the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's online news journal "PUKMedia.com". 11/06/2005 TheKurdistani.com In an unannounced visit the Iraqi Planning Minister and the former Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Suleimani, Dr. Barham Salih arrived in Kirkuk, reported the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's online news journal "PUKMedia.com". Dr. Barham Salih met the Kurdish governer of Kirkuk, Abdulrahman Mustafa...

The two main Kurdish parties in Iraq have given their conditional go-ahead for a parliamentary coalition with interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, well-placed Kurdish sources have revealed. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) asked, in swap, for Allawi’s backing for PUK leader Jalal Talabani to be elected president, the sources told Al-Quds Press Friday, February 11. During a surprise visit by Allawi to Arbil on Thursday, February 10, Kurdish officials further asked that Arabs in Kirkuk be regarded as “refugees” who must be deported gradually to allow the return of Kurds allegedly forced to...

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KIRKUK: A policeman was shot dead on Friday in Kirkuk, where the bullet-riddled body of a Kurdish peshmerga fighter was discovered, Iraqi police said. The shooting took place in an area of the city where tensions are high between Arabs, Kurds and Turks, and where police units have come under frequent attack. Captain Sarhad Qader also said police found the body of a peshmerga of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in the south of Kirkuk with several bullet wounds in the head and abdomen. In violence elsewhere, 13 people were wounded in clashes between insurgents and US soldiers Friday...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded Tuesday in central Baghdad outside the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, killing three people and injuring 20, the military said. A roadside bomb also exploded near the U.S. military base in Beiji in northern Iraq, killing 11 Iraqis — including seven members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps — and wounding 23 others. Two U.S. 1st Infantry Division Soldiers were wounded and evacuated to a combat hospital, together with 16 Iraqis who were hurt. The Baghdad blast ripped through the building in the early afternoon, shortly after a party attended by...

Yemeni Arrested in Connection with Iraq Bombs, TV Reports ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish television said Iraqi police in Kirkuk had arrested a man with a Yemeni passport who they believe may be connected with twin suicide bombings that killed more than 100 people in Iraq (news - web sites)'s northern Kurdish region. Suicide bombers attacked the offices of Kurdistan's two main political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (KDP), in Arbil Sunday. Kurdistan Television said late Wednesday that a taxi driver in Kirkuk, 50 miles south of Arbil, had contacted police there after...

Wolfowitz: Iraq Attacks Show U.S. Efforts Succeeding Reuters / 2-02-04 By Tabassum Zakaria KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Attacks in Iraq (news - web sites) like the Arbil suicide bombings show efforts to build a new Iraq are succeeding and that extremists are using violence to stop the process, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said on Monday. "The most discouraging news in the last couple of the days is the bombing in Arbil," said Wolfowitz, who is on his third trip to Iraq since the war ended last April. "They took advantage of the Muslim holiday when people relaxed," he...

The US-led coalition in Iraq has vowed to punish those responsible for coordinated suicide bombings which have killed at least 56 people in the northern city of Arbil. The twin blasts injured more than 100 other people. In a statement, Iraq's US administrator, Paul Bremer, described the attack as cowardly and said those responsible for the acts would be brought to justice. The twin bombings took place within minutes of each other at the headquarters of rival Kurdish political parties - the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The offices were crowded with people visiting the...

By Shamal Aqrawi ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers strapped with explosives blew themselves up in nearly simultaneous attacks on offices of two Kurdish parties in Iraq Sunday, killing and wounding as many as 200 people, officials said. "According to what I have been told the number of wounded and martyrs at the two headquarters may approach 200," an official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said. Among the dead were the deputy governor of Arbil province and the city's police commander, witnesses said. Party sources said at least some of those killed were senior officials. The blasts...

Iraq Blasts May Have Killed More Than 100 6 minutes ago By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI, Associated Press Writer IRBIL, Iraq - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the offices of two rival Kurdish parties in this northern Iraqi city. Kurdish officials said casualties were still being counted, but one minister said the death toll could rise above 100. The dead included the governor of the region, ministers in the local administration and several senior officials, Mohammed Ihsan, the human rights minister for the Kurdish regional government told The Associated Press. "These figures are estimates but I believe about 60 people...