Tag Archives: Kurdish Affairs Analyst

Mutlu Çiviroğlu 09:15 on September 13, 2014
Tags: Alan Shemo, , , Ezidi Member of the Iraqi Parliament, Gonul Tol, , HDP Representative in Washington, Hisyar Ozsoy, Iraqi Kurdistan, Kadir Ustun, Karwan Zebari, , Kirmanj Gundi, Kurdish Affairs Analyst, Kurdish Situation in Syria, Luqman Barwari, Mehmet Yuksel, Michael Werz, , Najmaldin Karim, Nazan Ustundag, Nazmi Gur, Peace Process in Turkey, PYD Cochair Salih Muslim, , , Ruken Isik, , , Second Kurdish Conference, , Sezgin Tanrikulu, , The Kurdish Situation in Syria: A Democratic Model for the Future, Vian Dakheel, , , , Yezidi Member of the Iraqi Parliament, İkinci Kürt Konferansı   

Countdown to 2nd Kurdish Conference in Washington, DC

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The New Kurdish Reality in the Middle East: Perils, Prospects and Possibilities

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Representative Office in Washington, DC

Friday, September 26, 2014, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

The National Press Club, Holeman Lounge

529 14th St NW Washington, DC 20045

The optimism of the Arab Spring has too rapidly been replaced by a dramatic wave of violence throughout the Middle East. The whole geography stretching from Iraq to Libya has become a battlefield. The war in Syria alone has caused hundreds of thousands of casualties with no promise of peace in sight. Iraq is now fully a part of the Syrian war. While a process of Lebanonization has never been so imminent for Syria and Iraq, Lebanon, too, may be pulled into active warfare if no settlement is secured in these two countries. The latest violence in Israel-Palestine exacerbated the region’s tense political climate. The changing regional order presents opportunities as well as dangers: They carry a potential for instituting democratic citizenship while simultaneously planting the seeds of even more violent and dictatorial regimes.

Within this regional setting, Kurdistan is home to multiple perils, prospects and possibilities. The peace process in Turkey is underway, even if with complications and slow pace. The attacks of the so-called Islamic State on the Kurds in Syria and Iraq have motivated major Kurdish parties to act in relative unity. The “Kurdish problems” in the four Middle Eastern states have become further interconnected and more globalized, rendering the provision of justice for the Kurds essential for securing and sustaining regional peace and stability. Although regional powers and the West have typically viewed the Kurds as a “problem” people, there is now increasing awareness that Kurdish struggles for justice, democracy and sovereignty may, in fact, have much to offer for regional peace in the twenty-first century.

With such a vision, we invite you to our second Washington Conference, which brings together academics, experts and politicians from Turkey, Syria, Iraq and the US to discuss the situation of the Kurds in a rapidly transforming Middle East and to foster dialogue among conference participants as well as with policy makers and the general public in the United States.

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Opening Remarks by Mehmet Yuksel, HDP Representative in Washington, DC

Session I:  Developments in the Iraqi Kurdistan and the Plight of Ezidis

8:30 – 10:00am

Moderator: Kirmanj Gundi, Prof. at Dept. of Educational Administration and Leadership, Tennessee State University

  • Vian Dakheel, Ezidi Member of the Iraqi Parliament
  • Karwan Zebari, Director of Congressional Affairs, KRG Washington Office
  • Ruken Isik, PhD Student Concentrating on Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Maryland (UMBC)

Question & Answer Session

Session II: The Kurdish Situation in Syria: A Democratic Model for the Future   

10:10 am – 12:00pm

Moderator: Gonul Tol, Founding Director of the Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies

  • Alan Shemo, Member of Democratic Union Party (PYD) Foreign Affairs Committee
  • Rusen Cakir, Political Analyst on Turkey and the Middle East
  • Salih Muslim, Co-Chairman of Democratic Union Party (via Skype)
  • Mutlu Civiroglu, Kurdish Affairs Analyst

Question & Answer Session

 

Session III: The Peace Process in Turkey

1:00 – 2:50pm

Moderator:  Hisyar Ozsoy, Assistant Prof. of Sociocultural Anthropology, University of Michigan-Flint

  • Nazan Ustundag, Assistant Prof. of Sociology, Bogazici University; Researcher at SAMER
  • Kadir Ustun, Research Director at SETA Foundation, Washington
  • Nazmi Gur, Deputy Chairman of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)

Question & Answer Session

Session IV: The United States, the Kurds, and the Future of the Middle East

3:00 – 5:00pm

Moderator: Luqman Barwari, President of Kurdish National Congress of North America

  • Michael Werz, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
  • Sezgin Tanrikulu, Deputy Chairman of Republican People’s Party (CHP)
  • Najmaldin Karim, Governor of Kirkuk, Iraq
  • Selahattin Demirtas, Co-Chair of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)

Question & Answer Session

Please RSVP at hdp.washington@gmail.com to confirm your participation

Mutlu Çiviroğlu 04:26 on April 4, 2014
Tags: , , , , Islamic State of Iraq and Sham, , Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Koban, , , Kurdish Affairs Analyst, , , ,   

Major Reasons of ISIS Offensive on Kobane?

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ISIS attacks against Kobane (Ain al-Arab) very significant for several reasons:

First, ISIS wants to expand its control over a larger geography but Kobane in the middle of ISIS dominated areas, stands as a big obstacle in front of this goal. ISIS currently controls Girsespi (Tab Abyad), Jarablus and Raqqah. It desperately wants Kobane to connect the areas under its control and seize the border gate with Turkey as well.

ISIS also wants to cut Kobane from Kurdish Mountain Region which Afrin is the center and Jazira (Hasakah). As of now, moving between three Kurdish Cantons is difficult. If Kobane falls to ISIS, the situation for Kurds will get much worse. Such a development will also demoralize Kurds psychologically, and will provide advantage to pursue its further goals. ISIS does not hesitate to use any means to seize the city that’s why they even cut off the water of the city.

One other factor to remember is that Kobane is the first city in Rojava to be freed from Assad regime. Therefore, it has a special meaning for Kurds in Rojava. Taking control of such an important city will enable Kobane to seize new territories from east and west direction.

Such an ISIS achievement will also be a message for Kurds that ISIS [and its regional supporters] will not allow Kurdish autonomy in Syria.

ISIS Attack on Kobane and Hasakah

In the long run reaching Hasakah is one of major goals of ISIS. But, Hasakah currently controlled by three different forces YPG (in Kurdish side of the city), Assad and opposition. So, it is not that easy for ISIS to control Hasakah, but they certainly want to expand their control in Syria.

Hasakah City is the administrative center of the Hasakah governorate. It is an important road junction near the Turkish and Iraqi borders. It is also an important agricultural region; wheat, rice, cotton etc. It is also close to oil fields in north (Ramalan area). In a way, controlling Hasakah will provide any group an important advantage over the others.

However, given YPG’s superior military capabilities, discipline and large popular support makes it very difficult for ISIS to defeat YPG and control Kobane.

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Mutlu Çiviroğlu 22:48 on January 31, 2014
Tags: , Kantonên Kurd, Kurdish Affairs Analyst, Kurdish Autonomy in Syria Presented by Mutlu Civiroglu Guests: Premier of Cizire (Qamishli) Canton Ekrem Heso, , Kurdsh Cantons in Syria, ,   

Bernameya Taybet ya ser Kantonên Kurdî li Rojava (Special Program on Kurdish Autonomy in Syria)

Hello Washington Show of VOA Kurdish on Kurdish Autonomy in Syria Presented by Mutlu Civiroglu
Guests: Premier of Cizire (Qamishli) Canton Ekrem Heso, Premier of Kobane (Ain al-Arab) Canton Anwar Muslim

Also with their comments Mustafa Reshid, Hemin Kurdaghi and Mesiri Bekes