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November 11, 2011 - Sulaimaniyah,
Erbil-Hewler, Duhok, Kirkuk, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq'
Bomb near PUK committee
defused
Jalawla: A bomb placed near the committee of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Jalawla
township of Diyala province was defused on Thursday.
Sarchil Adnan, Committee chief, told AKnews the bomb
was placed in a black plastic bag near the
Committee. The bomb disposal squad was called and a
curfew was imposed in order to defuse the bomb
safely. The official added no suspects have been
arrested yet while he believed people from the
security forces are involved in the attempt against
the Committee. Also on Thursday a bomb
attached to the car of a civilian in Jalawla
detonated. The Arab driver lost one of his legs and
two bystanders were seriously injured. The PUK is
led by the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani whose
party along with Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of
Massoud Barzani, Kurdistan president, has branches
in the areas which are disputed between Kurdistan
and Bagdad, including Kirkuk, Jalawla and Khanaqin.
aknews.com
Barzani: "We hope that
everybody would act to fill vacancy, caused by US
withdrawal from Iraq."
Erbil: Constitution, expressing hope that "everybody
would act to fill the vanacy, expected to be caused
by the US withdrawal from Iraq," according to the
electronic site of Erbil government. "Barzani,
during his recent visit to the Representation of the
Arab League in the European Union in Belgium, said
that "solution of all Iraqi problems lie in the
Iraqi Constitution, for which all must respect its
articles," according to the site. As regards to the
expected withdrawal of the American Forces from
Iraq, Barzani said: "We hope that everybody would
act to fill in the gap, expected to be caused by the
American withdrawal from Iraq." Speaking about the
current situation in Iraqi Kurdistan and fields of
progress in all political, economic, trade, cultural
and regional relations of Kurdistan Region and means
of their developing them, he said: "the experience
of Kurdistan Region is considered a successful
experience for all Iraqis." aswataliraq.info
Alternative punishments
under discussion in Erbil
Erbil: Activists and specialists are discussing the
prospect of introducing the alternative forms of
punishment to Kurdistan penal codes, during a
three-day conference which began Friday in Erbil
(Iraqi Kurdistan region capital). Shuwan Saber,
conference supervisor, told AKnews given that most
of the jails and detention facilities in Kurdistan
are over-crowded, holding the conference was
inevitable. Alternative forms of punishment will
ease the crowdedness of the centers. Besides, the
introduction of these codes will be especially
important for those who are charged with small
offences. The alternative penal codes of India, the
U.S, countries in Europe and Africa will be
discussed as models in the conference. The
conference will also deal with the measures of
drawing a line those who have committed a crime and
the rest of the detainees, as a step towards reform
inside the jails. The conference in Hotel Sheraton
of Erbil is organized by the Public Aid Organization
(PAO), the United Nations Office for Project
Services (UNOPS) and the European Union. Nawzad
Jalal, head of POA Secretariat Council said the
conference is to improve the human rights state in
Kurdistan. The organizers have been working on the
project for the past three years. aknews.com
Turkey's Kurdish
politicians meet Iraq's Talabani
Sulaimaniyah: Some of the most prominent figures in
Kurdish politics in Turkey, who have been in the
northern autonomous Kurdistan region for a visit,
met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabanipurportedly
to enlist his help in convincing the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) rebels to initiate a cease-fire
amidst ongoing military operations by the Turkish
military against PKK bases in northern Iraq. Kurdish
politicians such as Ahmet Türk and Aysel Tugluk, who
currently jointly head the Democratic Society
Congress (DTK), a civil society platform that is an
unofficial continuation of the now defunct
Democratic Society Party (DTP), the predecessor of
the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), and the BDP's
Selahattin Demirtaş and Gültan Kişanak met in
Istanbul last week with Massoud Barzani, head of
Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region. The delegation
was in northern Iraq, according to a report in Taraf
on Wednesday, and was scheduled to move on to
Sulaimaniyah to meet Talabani. Taraf reported that
they will try to convince Iraqi leaders to get
involved and convince Turkey to stop its
cross-border operations against PKK bases in
northern Iraq...todayszaman.com
Tourists flood Kurdistan
for Id
Erbil: Around 110,000 tourists visited Kurdistand
Region during the Id al-Adha (Nov. 6-9). That is a
93% rise on the previous year. Mawlawi Jabbar, head
of Kurdistan General Board of Tourism, told AKnews:
"Last year during the four days of the same Id only
57,000 tourists visited Kurdistan." Nader Rosti, a
member of the Board said, 46,000 tourists visited
Erbil province, 39,000 Sulaimaniyah, and 25,000
Duhok. It was not all domestic traffic either. Of
the holidaying hordes 88,000 visitors were from the
Iraq's central and southern provinces and 15,500
entered Kurdistan through the common border points
with Iran and Turkey. Erbil and Sulaimaniyah
airports saw 6,500 visitors touch down. The glut of
holiday makers over the last week is in keeping with
the rest of 2011. In the first three quarters of
this year, 1.15 million tourists have visited
Kurdistan Region. In the whole of the 2010 only
900,000 tourists visited Kurdistan. "The tourism
commission is targeting 4 million tourist annually
from 2015," Jabbar said last week. There are plans
to attract tourists during the winter, through
various activities, festivals and celebrations. One
of the areas the Board has focused on is religious
tourism "because there are several religious
occasions annually during which tourists can be
attracted to religious sites." aknews.com
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