MESOPOTAMIA NEW INSIGHT: Sectarianism and Sectarianisation in Iraq: Ambassadorial Appointments as an Exemplar
May 25th, 2021 0 MERI PAPERS – ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dlawer Ala’Aldeen President of MERI.
Sectarianisation of Iraq’s governance has already become a powerful driver of conflict. Left unaddressed, it can become irreversible. Here, ambassadorial appointments are used to underline the depth of sectarian divisions within the legislative and executive institutions, and offer ways forward.
Introduction
Despite on-going attempts, dozens of ambassadorial positions still remain vacant for more than a decade within Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Reasons for the failure to fill these critical posts include many, ranging from administrative, legal and political barriers to poor quality of candidates and the MFA’s inability to validate the candidates’ suitability to represent their country internationally. However, like all other senior government appointments, the biggest barrier for progress relates to disagreements among political and institutional leaders over the exact apportionment of the ambassadorial positions along ethno-sectarian lines.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS KURDISH NORTH IRAQ : BARZANI’S BROTHER WARNS / CONTRA ERDOGAN
Whenever Turkey has occupied a piece of territory, it has never withdrawn from it: Adham Barzani
Adham Barzani, the cousin of KDP party leader Massoud Barzani, Iraqi Kurdistan, 2020.
SULAIMANI, Iraqi Kurdistan region,— Speaking about the ongoing military campaign by Turkey in Iraqi Kurdistan region, former head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) Leadership Council in Sulaimani Adham Barzani said on Saturday that, whenever the Turkish state has occupied a piece of territory, it has never withdrawn from it.
Barzani argued that Iraqi Kurdistan is facing another military occupation and environmental genocide by the Turkish army.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : NO HELPING HAND FOR CHRISTIANS IN NORTH IRAQ !
No Water, No Jobs: Assyrian ISIL Survivors Struggle in Northern Iraq
By https://www.aljazeera.com/ 2021-05-29 23:17 GMT – When Father Ammar Yako, a Syriac Catholic priest in the majority-Assyrian Christian town of Qaraqosh in northern Iraq, returned to his church in 2016 he found its floors covered in rubble and its artwork pillaged.
After two years of control by the armed group ISIL (ISIS), Qaraqosh, including the Great Immaculate Church where Yako preaches, had been subjected to looting and urban warfare before it was recaptured by Iraqi security forces and allied militias.
Five years later with his church rebuilt, Yako’s congregation received a visit from none other than Pope Francis. But two months on from the pontiff’s historic trip, Yako foresees a grim future for his community as it battles a tense security situation and a host of more immediate concerns.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS „UNRUHE IN IRAQ“! – Werden die jungen Schiiten angesichts der zunehmenden Unzufriedenheit den Spieß umdrehen?
von Munqith Dagher, Karl Kaltenthaler 25. Mai 2021 – FIKRA FORUM – Munqith Dagher – Dr. Munqith Dagher ist MENA-Direktorin und Vorstandsmitglied von Gallup International. Dr. Dagher ist Mitwirkender des Fikra Forums.
Karl Kaltenthaler – Karl Kaltenthaler ist Professor für Politikwissenschaft und Direktor für Sicherheitsstudien an der Universität Akron. Kaltenthaler ist Mitwirkender im Fikra Forum.
Die Kadhimi-Regierung muss sich schnell bewegen, wenn sie einen möglichen Volksaufstand unter unzufriedenen Schiiten im Irak vermeiden will.
Laut der im April 2021 durchgeführten Umfrage der Al Mustakilla Research Group (IIACSS)/Gallup International Iraq hat das irakische Schiiten besonders hohe Raten von Unzufriedenheit, Misstrauen und Unzufriedenheit über ihr politisches System gezeigt.
Die IOT ist ein langfristiges Projekt zur Bewertung der Lage der öffentlichen Meinung im Irak in Richtung Demokratie und Regierungsführung im Land. Das übergeordnete Ziel des Projekts ist es, festzustellen, ob sich der Zustand der öffentlichen Meinung im Land auf einem Weg befindet, der einer nachhaltigen und gut funktionierenden pluralistischen Demokratie förderlich ist. Während die erste Umfrage im Rahmen des Projekts im April 2021 durchgeführt wurde, wird das Projekt regelmäßig die wichtigsten Einstellungen im Irak verfolgen, um die gesellschaftlichen Grundlagen der bestehenden politischen Ordnung besser zu verstehen.
MESOPOTAMIA NEW TURMOIL IN IRAQ :
by Munqith Dagher, Karl Kaltenthaler FIKRA NEWS FOUNDATION – May 25, 2021 – Dr. Munqith Dagher is MENA director and a board member of Gallup International. Dr. Dagher is a contributor to Fikra Forum contributor.Karl Kaltenthaler – Karl Kaltenthaler is a professor of political science and director of security studies at the University of Akron. Kaltenthaler is a contributor to Fikra Forum.
Brief Analysis
The Kadhimi government must move quickly if it wants to avoid a potential popular uprising among dissatisfied Shias in Iraq.
According to the Al Mustakilla Research Group (IIACSS)/Gallup International Iraq recent Opinion Thermometer (IOT) poll conducted in April 2021, Iraqi Shia are showing particularly high rates of dissatisfaction, distrust, and unhappiness regarding their political system when compared to Iraqi Sunnis and Kurds.
The IOT is a long-term project to assess the state of public opinion in Iraq towards democracy and governance in the country. The overarching goal of the project is to determine whether the state of public opinion in the country is on a trajectory conducive to sustainable and well-functioning pluralistic democracy. While the first survey in the project was conducted in April 2021, the project will periodically track key attitudes in Iraq in order to better understand the societal foundations of the existing political order.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS :ERDOGAN BOMBS NORTH IRAQ – Turkish army warns Duhok villagers they could be targeted along with PKK fighters
Karwan Faidhi Dri – 29 May 2021 – ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish soldiers questioned a number of villagers in Duhok province on Friday, warning them they could be subject to Turkish bombardment if fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) stage attacks from their village, area residents told Rudaw.
“We were irrigating our farm and suddenly heard someone calling us in Turkish,” Abbas Mustafa, a resident of Hirore village told Rudaw on Friday. “There were three or four of them.”
Mustafa said a Kurdish village guard from Turkey, who was working for the soldiers, joined them to translate.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS HIGHLIGHT – Shia Militias’ Violation of Rule of Law in Iraq Outrages US
Basnews English 2021/05/28 – ERBIL — The US State Department said on Thursday that it was outraged by the militias who violate Iraq’s sovereignty and rule of law.
State Department’s Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement that Washington was also concerned that peaceful demonstrators who took to the streets to urge reforms were met with threats and brutal violence.
The statement came after clashes between the security forces and protesters in Baghdad left at least one dead and several others injured.
Also, the statement addresses a recent escalation between government’s security forces and the Hashd al-Shaabi in Baghdad in the wake of the arrest of a Shia militia commander by the Iraqi government.
Hashd al-Shaabi deployed hundreds of armed men to besiege Baghdad’s Green Zone to pressure PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi to free the commander who was arrested in relation with the killing of activists and attacks on Ain al-Assad airbase.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Turkey Bombs Assyrian (CHRISTIAN) Villages in North Iraq
By Seth J. Frantzman JERUSALEM POST 2021-05-26 16:26 GMT
Turkey continued its campaign of bombarding villages in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region this week, reportedly damaging homes and a church of local Christian minorities.
Ankara claims it is fighting “terror” although there have been no major terror attacks in Turkey for many years. The real terror, according to the locals, comes from Turkey’s bombardment using drones, aircraft and even artillery.
The Assyrian Policy Institute noted that “yesterday, Mar Yousip Assyrian Church of the East in the Assyrian village of Musaka in Barwar, northern Iraq was damaged during a Turkish aerial campaign targeting suspected PKK positions in the area.”
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS OUTCRY : ‘Where’s my killer?’: Iraqis call for accountability in protesters’ deaths
Halgurd Sherwani – ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A new slogan has surfaced in the most recent wave of demonstrations in Iraq’s ongoing protest movement across several Iraqi provinces, including the capital on Tuesday, calling for the end of impunity for the killings of civil society activists and protestors.
Crowds held up signs showing the faces of dozens of fallen comrades, with the words, “Where’s my killer?,” sometimes translated as “Who killed me?”
Groups of protestors, many of them from southern Iraqi provinces, came together in central Baghdad’s Nisour Square on Tuesday to call attention to the government’s inability or unwillingness to rein in militias and affiliated political parties behind the abduction or targeted assassination of some 70 protesters in the past year and a half.
Since the demonstrations against poor public services, a low standard of living, and institutional corruption began in October 2019, hundreds of others have died as well at the hands of riot police and Iranian-backed militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : KURDISH PKK UNDER FIRE ! Turkish airstrike on PKK convoy in Duhok leaves 4 dead
Halgurd Sherwani – One of the vehicles allegedly operated by the PKK targeted by a Turkish airstrike on Thursday night, May 20, 2021. ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An airstrike on a convoy of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) carried out by Turkish forces in Duhok province left four dead, a local official told Kurdistan 24.
The strike targeted the convoy at 10:05 pm on Thursday night in Mangesh town, which is 35 kilometers away from the center of Duhok province.
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