Kenney Auditorium, 1740 Massachusetts Ave NW, 20036 Washington, D.C.
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Agenda
Welcome Remarks:
Sasha Toperich, CTR-SAIS Senior Fellow, Director of the Mediterranean Basin Initiative
Panelists
Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, KRG Representative to the United States
Haitham Hussein‘s latest novel, A Weed in Paradise (July 2017 Masciliana Editions), traces the footprints of the Kurds who fled their towns and villages in the north of Syria for the suburbs of the capital Damascus after the 2004 Qamishli uprising, which resulted in dozens of dead and thousands in prison:
Vecdi Erbay
Etimesgut subprefect Cumali Atilla who had been appointed as kayyım [*] to Diyarbakır in November 2016 had de facto shut down the City Theater by not renewing the agreements of the 31 actors/actresses of the theater. In the time being, the actors/actresses of Diyarbakır City Theater weren’t able to perform the plays that they’d prepared for the new season. They also went through hard times economically.
On Friday, September 16th The 4th edition of Duhok turned off its large screens with the announcement of the festival’s awards. Once again Duhok city witnessed the biggest cultural event in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. More than thousand people attended at the closing ceremony when two Kurdish films topped the awards, Ahu Ozturk’s “Dust Cloth” and “Rauf” by Baris Kaya and Soner Caner.
A Kurdish girl from the city of Kirkuk has become the first miss Iraq since 1972.
The jury chose Shaymaa Abdelrahman, a tall, green-eyed 20-year-old from Iraq's multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk.
The decision was popular with those in attendance, especially in the back rows, where young men with hipster beards and tight blazers had been standing on their chairs shouting her name.
Born and later imprisoned in Syria, Kurdish director Mano Khalil found asylum in Switzerland where he befriended a fellow refugee: a beekeeper. As his own family faces the twin threats of Assad and Isis, he tells both their stories
When Mano Khalil’s documentary The Beekeeper screened in cities across Australia as part of the 2015 Human Rights Arts and Film festival, the Kurdish director toured with it. In Sydney, he spoke about the film’s story – and his own:
Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality has organised International Kurdistan Art Days jointly with the Kayapınar, Bağlar, Sur and Yenişehir district municipalities in support of Rojava. Gathering together under the slogan “Rojava is the perspective for freedom and equality”, artists from all over the world will exhibit their works in various disciplines.
The Erbil Citadel is considered among the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the world. Photo: AP
The Erbil Citadel has won the battle to get on the coveted UNESCO World Heritage List, thanks to active support by Algeria, Lebanon and Turkey.
The listing was decided during the current session of the World Heritage Committee in the Qatari capital, Doha.
Hosting three internationally renowned Kurdish filmmakers and a range of awarded films, theLondon Kurdish Film Festivalis delighted to announce its 8thFestival from 15th to 24th November 2013.
This year’s opening gala is crowned with the UK premiere of Before Snowfall, a thought provoking and poignant film about honour killing, by the multi-award winning director HishamZaman, who will also be attending the festival.
WASHINGTON DC - Earlier this month, at the Virginia hospital where he has been in a life-and-death struggle for a month, I went to visit Khalaf Zebari, whose voice is known to many Kurds around the world from Kurdish-language broadcasts of the Voice of America (VOA).
His wife Chiman, who was beside him at the intensive care unit, told me that doctors had told her he would not survive, and they should let him go. “No, I told them angrily,” she said. “I told them, ‘do everything you can.’”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pMwx8I9hLY
This spring and summer, National Geographic Young Explorer Julia Harte is traveling along the Tigris River from Southern Iraq to Southeastern Turkey, documenting ancient sites and modern communities along the river before they are transformed by the Ilısu Dam, an 11 billion-cubic-meter hydroelectric dam that will generate 2 percent of Turkey’s power.
The ROJ TV trial in Denmark resumed at Copenhagen Municipal Court on Wednesday.
The Court revoked the license of all satellite channels of Mesopotamia Broadcasting, including MMC, NUCE TV and ROJ TV. Three Kurdish channels were also punished by a pecuniary penalty of five million DKR.
Speaking about the court's decision, journalist Amed Dicle said lawyers of the company would soon object to the decision.
Under the emblem "We ask for the implementation of Girona Manifesto on languages in our country", the 8th Congress of Kurdish PEN Centre was held on 18- 19/05/2013 in Amed (Diyarbakir),
American Newspaper ,An independent Kurdistan is now more feasible than ever.Today, Iraqi Kurds have an autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a military with a civilian commander-in-chief, and modern state institutions. Kurdistan has attracted billions in foreign investment, and is the only place in Iraq where Westerners truly feel safe.
The Kurdish case, which considered the biggest issue since founding the Turkish Republic till the day. Failur
e to resolve the Kurdish issue will not only create an economical or social problems but will also weaken the regional geopolitical role of Turkey.
In fact, the last Turkish governments have tried over the years to suppress the Kurdish uprisings and deny the existence of the Kurdish people in various ways, but could not satisfy itself nor the Turkish public opinion.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Due to her Kurdish looks, actress Aveen Ahmed has many times played the role of a young foreigner in Swedish films.
The Swedish-born actress, 22, says that Kurds are now part of Swedish society and the roles she plays must reflect that.
“We are a part of this society now. I was born and raised here, and I am a Swede,” she says.
U.S. magazine: The Kurds enjoy relative peace and stability compared with the rest of the country
An essay written by Joost R. Hiltermann and was published in the U.S. magazine Foreign Affairs in, pointed to the independence dream of the Kurds of Iraq and factors to achieve this dream.
The title of the essay is “the Revenge of the Kurds”
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—With the withdrawal of the Syrian army from the cities and towns in Kurdish regions of the country, some Syrian Kurdish filmmakers in exile feel confident enough to return home and make movies.
This month has been the most violent month since the Syrian revolution began in March 2011, with /13/journalists and media activists being killed in September2012, according to the Media Freedoms Committee in the Syrian Journalists Association, which is monitoring violations against journalists and media activists in Syria.
The number of journalists and media activists who have been killed in Syria has risento /78/ since March 2011.
Heval Sulaiman Miro- Turkey is experiencing serious difficulties in overcoming her systemic problems due to the bureaucratic nature of the political institutions that have been shaped since the creation of the Republic in 1923. As a result of these conditions, Turkey is increasing unable to keep up with the complex changing structure, needs, and demands of the Turkish society.
A few weeks ago, the Syrian National Council (SNC) – the largest Syrian opposition group – elected Dr. Abdulbasit Sieda, a Kurd, as its new chief. Born in 1956 in the Kurdish town of Amude, northeast Syria, Sieda is a philosophy professor and prominent opposition figure, known for his political activism. He was one of the founders of the SNC, and as leader has emphasized the importance of unifying Syrian opposition groups against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. He picked up this theme in a conversation with Rudaw.
The recent events in the Syrian National Council are concerning, where the majority of the Kurd members have withdrew from the Council as their demands were ignored.
The Kurdish demands in Syria after the fall of Assad's regime are the following:
