Monthly Archives: May 2012

Litter Bugs and Boy Racers Spoil Kurdistan

The construction boom across Kurdistan inevitably creates ugly building sites but they soon go and landscaping can blend the new build into the environment. Sadly other eyesores just seem to go on forever. Kurds are fiercely patriotic judging by all … Continue reading

The Kurdish-Turkish Courtship Takes Off

Some years back a young Iraqi Kurdish woman had to pass through Turkey but knew that talking Kurdish or mentioning Kurdistan could be awkward. The problem was that her first name was Kurdistan. When asked her name at passport control … Continue reading

Robert Halfon MP: The British Government should formally recognise historic atrocities against the Iraqi Kurds

Robert Halfon is the Conservative MP for Harlow and a Vice-Chair of the APPG on the Kurdistan Region. Follow Rob on Twitter. The British Government should formally recognise historic atrocities against the Iraqi Kurds as genocide according to a report … Continue reading

Fact-finding in Kurdistan

Have you heard the one about two Christians, two Jews and two Muslims in a hotel in Iraqi Kurdistan? None of us on the recent parliamentary delegation there devised a witty answer but we did establish that all are welcome … Continue reading

Iraqi Kurdistan is a Gift Horse We Have Been Looking In the Mouth

We keep saying that UK Plc should help its economic prospects by exporting our goods and services and investing in places with a pent-up demand for quality. One such place, which has been impossible to access for many years but … Continue reading

Kurdistan: the final frontier for oil?

The recent inaugural Oil and Gas conference in Erbil, the capital of the largely autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq, attracted 600 people including senior politicians and executives from across the world in what is likely to be a regular feature … Continue reading

Robert Halfon MP outlines the case for recognising the Kurdish Genocide

“There is another Iraq, buried under Iraq”. So said the head of the Kurdistan Mass Graves Commission as she explained to me her work during my recent visit to Kurdistan with the All-Party Parliamentary Kurdistan Group. Travelling around Iraq, her … Continue reading

Higher Education links between UK and the Kurdistan Region

An education system that encourages critical thinking and mines the gold in people’s heads is the hallmark of societies to find a niche in the global economy and reduce reliance on finite raw products such as hydrocarbons. The Kurdistan Region … Continue reading

Democracy in the cradle of civilisation

I’ve had a couple of weeks to reflect on the short time I spent in northern Iraq. I am one of those many Labour party members who backed Tony Blair over Iraq. In retrospect, I can see what all the … Continue reading

Iraqi Kurdistan – Reform, Renewal And Rejoining The International Community

Report Of The Sixth Fact-Finding Delegation To Iraqi Kurdistan – By The All-Party Parliamentary Group In February 2012. This report is released on 16 May. Click here to download the report