Northern Iraq may refer to:
The Kurdish languages constitute a dialect continuum, belonging to the Iranian language family, spoken by Kurds in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora. The three Kurdish languages are Northern Kurdish, Central Kurdish, and Southern Kurdish.
Kurdistan or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurdish people form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. Geographically, Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.
Kurdish may refer to:
Ansar al-Islam or Ansar al-Islam fi Kurdistan, also referred to as AAI, is a Sunni Muslim insurgent group in Iraq and Syria. It was established in northern Iraq by former al-Qaeda members in 2001 as a Salafist Islamist movement that imposed a strict application of Sharia in villages it controlled around Biyara to the northeast of Halabja, near the Iranian border. Its ideology follows a literal interpretation of the Quran and promotes a return to what it claims is the example of the first Muslims (Salaf). Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the group became an insurgent group which fought against the Kurdish government, American led forces and their Iraqi allies. The group continued to fight the Iraqi government following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and sent members to Syria to fight the government following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.
Human rights in post-invasion Iraq have been the subject of concerns and controversies since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Concerns have been expressed about conduct by insurgents, the U.S.-led coalition forces and the Iraqi government. The U.S. is investigating several allegations of violations of international and internal standards of conduct in isolated incidents by its own forces and contractors. The UK is also conducting investigations of alleged human rights abuses by its forces. War crime tribunals and criminal prosecution of the numerous crimes by insurgents are likely years away. In late February 2009, the U.S. State Department released a report on the human rights situation in Iraq, looking back on the prior year (2008).
Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Kurdistan, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, and northwestern Iran. Much of the geographical and cultural region of Iraqi Kurdistan is part of the Kurdistan Region (KRI), an autonomous region recognized by the Constitution of Iraq.
The Anfal campaign, also known as the Anfal genocide or the Kurdish genocide, was a genocidal counterinsurgency operation carried out by Ba'athist Iraq that killed between 50,000 and 182,000 Kurds in the late 1980s. The Iraqi forces were led by Ali Hassan al-Majid, on the orders of President Saddam Hussein, against Iraqi Kurdistan in northern Iraq during the final stages of the Iran–Iraq War. The campaign's purpose was to eliminate Kurdish rebel groups as well as to Arabize strategic parts of the Kirkuk Governorate.
The Peshmerga, is the Kurdish branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces. They are the military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Since the Iraqi Army is forbidden by Iraqi law to enter the Kurdistan Region, the Peshmerga, along with their security subsidiaries, are responsible for the security of Kurdistan Region. These subsidiaries include Asayish, Parastin u Zanyarî and the Zeravani (Gendarmerie). The Peshmerga predates Iraq, starting out as a strictly tribal pseudo-military border guard under the Ottomans and Safavids and later changing to a well-trained, disciplined guerrilla force in the 19th century.
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq, also known as Iraqi Kurdistan, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Dohuk, Erbil, Halabja, and Sulaymaniyah and bordering Iran, Syria, and Turkey. The Kurdistan Region encompasses most of Iraqi Kurdistan but excludes the disputed territories of Northern Iraq, contested between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the central Iraqi government in Baghdad since Kurdish autonomy was realized in 1992 in the aftermath of the Gulf War. The Kurdistan Region Parliament is situated in Erbil, but the constitution of the Kurdistan Region declares the disputed city of Kirkuk to be the capital of the Kurdistan Region. When the Iraqi Army withdrew from most of the disputed areas in mid-2014 because of the ISIL offensive in Northern Iraq, Kurdish Peshmerga entered the areas and held control there until Iraq retook the areas in October 2017.
Masoud Barzani is a Kurdish politician who has been leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979, and was President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from 2005 to 2017. Barzani was born in the self-declared Republic of Mahabad, and succeeded his father Mustafa Barzani as leader of the KDP in 1979.
The 2004 Erbil bombings was a double suicide attack on the offices of Iraqi Kurdish political parties in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan on 1 February 2004. The attackers detonated explosives strapped to their bodies as hundreds gathered to celebrate Eid Al-Adha in Erbil.
Operation Northern Iraq was a cross-border operation by the Turkish Armed Forces into northern Iraq between 12 October and 1 November 1992 against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which is listed as a terrorist organization internationally by a number of states and organizations, including the United States, NATO and the EU. More than 37,000 people have been killed in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict since 1984.
The Iraqi Kurdish Civil War was a civil war that took place between rival Kurdish factions in Iraqi Kurdistan during the mid-1990s, mostly between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Over the course of the conflict, Kurdish factions from Iran and Turkey, as well as Iranian, Iraqi and Turkish forces, were drawn into the fighting, with additional involvement from American forces. Between 5,000 and 8,000 fighters and civilians were killed.
Asayish, the Kurdish term for "security", or Asayesh may refer to:
The Iraqi–Kurdish conflict consists of a series of wars and rebellions by the Kurds against the central authority of Iraq during the 20th century, which began shortly after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and lasting until the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some put the marking point of the conflict beginning to the attempt by Mahmud Barzanji to establish an independent Kingdom of Kurdistan, while others relate to the conflict as only the post-1961 insurrection by the Barzanis. The conflict lasted until the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, though tensions between the Kurdish autonomy and the central Iraqi government have continued.
The problem of Kurdish refugees and displaced people arose in the 20th century in the Middle East, and continues today. The Kurds, are an ethnic group in Western Asia, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
The disputed territories of Northern Iraq are regions defined by article 140 of the Constitution of Iraq as being Arabised during Baath Party rule in Iraq. Most of these regions are inhabited by non-Arabs, including Kurds, Assyrians, Yazidis, Turkmens/Turkomans, and Shabaks.
An independence referendum for Kurdistan Region of Iraq was held on 25 September 2017, with preliminary results showing approximately 92.73 percent of votes cast in favour of independence. Despite reporting that the independence referendum would be non-binding, the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) characterised it as binding, although they claimed that an affirmative result would trigger the start of state building and negotiations with Iraq rather than an immediate declaration of independence of Kurdistan. The referendum's legality was rejected by the federal government of Iraq.
Bulgaria–Kurdistan Region relations are bilateral relations between Bulgaria and the Kurdistan Region. Bulgaria is represented in Kurdistan Region through a commercial office in Erbil since 2014, while Kurdistan Region has no representation in Bulgaria. In 2012, Kurdish President Massoud Barzani travelled to Bulgaria on an official visit and met with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. In May 2017, President Barzani met with President Boyko Borislov on an official visit to Bulgaria.
Germany–Kurdistan Region relations are bilateral relations between Germany and Kurdistan Region. Germany has a consulate general in Erbil since 2012, and Kurdistan Region has a representation in Berlin since 1992. Many high-level meetings have been held between the two parties, including a visit to Berlin by Kurdish President Masoud Barzani in 2009, where he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. In 2014, President Barzani described Germany as "one of Kurdistan Region’s staunch allies in the war against the Islamic State." German Consul General Marc Eichhorn described the relations as "excellent".