A British endorsement would help gain international recognition that the suffering endured by Iraq’s Kurds was genocide

By TIM ARANGO

KHANAQIN, Iraq — In January, the dismembered body of Wisam Jumai, a Kurdish intelligence officer, was discovered in a field in Sadiyah, a small town in northeastern Iraq. Soon his family and friends, one after another, received text messages offering a choice: leave or be killed.

Statement by Kurdistan Region Presidency Spokesman

The decision by the authorities in Baghdad to issue a detention order against both Mr Faraj Al-Haidari, the Head of the Independent Electoral High Commission (IHEC) and Mr Karim Al-Tamimi, a member of the IHEC, is a gross violation and a dangerous infringement of the political process in Iraq, and a sign that the democratic process in the country is being undermined.

The international community should support a transition to democracy in Syria, but shouldn't arm the rebel fighters, Kurdistan regional President Masoud Barzani said in Washington Thursday.

Bloomberg News - Kurdish President Masoud Barzani said Iraq risks a return to dictatorship unless its ethnic and political factions resolve their stalemate.

“I have called on all the Iraqi parties and groups to get together and find a solution for this situation” so as not to allow a dictatorship to develop, Barzani said today through an interpreter at a policy group’s luncheon in Washington.

The White House, Office of the Vice President

This afternoon, President Obama joined a meeting between Vice President Biden and Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, at the White House.

By Jackson Diehl, Washington Post

Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, knows trouble: His movement has endured multiple wars, diplomatic betrayals and even chemical weapons attacks on its civilian population in its struggle to survive in the tough territory between Baghdad, Damascus, Tehran and Ankara.

Sofia, Bulgaria (KRP.org) – After arriving in Sofia, Bulgaria, on an official visit on Wednesday, Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani held meetings today with Bulgarian leaders to promote bilateral relations and cooperation.

In a meeting, the President and the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov discussed ways to develop cooperation and investment opportunities in a number of fields including agriculture, energy, water resources and dams, education, health and tourism.

Salahaddin, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRP.org) – In his annual message on the occasion of Newroz, the Kurdish New Year, President Barzani said that power-sharing in Iraq and commitment to the Iraqi Constitution are under threat and that the Kurds will decide their own course of action if these two principles are abandoned.

Salahaddin, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRP.org) – Following the sharp turn of events in Iraq and the issuing of an arrest warrant for Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi, Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani called for an urgent national conference to confront the dangers facing the political process in the country.