BAGHDAD, June 20 (AFP) - 15h33 - Iraq's Kurdish regional president Massoud Barzani said on Monday that the entire country should be called the Federal Republic of Iraq and that name inscribed in a constitution now under discussion.

BAGHDAD, June 20 (AFP) - 11h17 - The president of Iraqi Kudistan, Massoud Barzani, on Monday disputed a US press report that minority Iraqi Arabs and Turkomen had been been mistreated in northern provinces.

Compiled by Daily Star staff
Monday, June 20, 2005


Syrian Authorities have arrested 60 Kurds during a demonstration in northern Syria protesting the death of a prominent Kurdish cleric, and some of the detainees were tortured, two Kurdish parties claimed. The protest was held June 5 in the mainly Kurdish city of Qamishli, four days after the body of Kurdish Islamic scholar Mohammad Mashouk al-Khaznawi was found in a hospital morgue.

ANKARA, June 15 (AFP) - 13h24 - Turkey on Wednesday termed "meaningless" the selection of Massoud Barzani as president of Iraqi Kurdistan before a new Iraqi constitution outlining the country's new administrative system is drawn up and approved at a popular vote.

ARBIL, Iraq, June 12 (AFP) - 12h18 - Massoud Barzani, son of the father of Kurdish nationalism Mullah Mustafa Barzani, was formally selected Sunday as president of Iraqi Kurdistan at a landmark event attended by dignitaries from home and abroad.

Sun Jun 12, 2005 09:45 AM ET - By Shamal Aqrawi

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - The Kurdish parliament in northern Iraq on Sunday elected veteran leader Masoud Barzani as president of the region, giving the group greater autonomy after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein.

ARBIL, Iraq, June 11 (AFP) - 16h45 - Iraq's three autonomous Kurdish provinces were preparing on Saturday for the swearing-in of Massoud Barzani as the region's president, with his former rival Jalal Talabani already national president.

Edward Wong, New York Times - Thursday, June 9, 2005

Baghdad -- The rift between Iraq's government and disgruntled Sunni Arabs widened further on Wednesday as Iraq's leaders came out in support of sectarian militias that Sunnis fear could be used against them.

DAMASCUS, June 8 (AFP) - 6h02 - Spurred by the Kurds' political advance in Iraq, the Kurdish minority in Syria is hoping the Baath party congress in Damascus will help resolve their problems, which have been compounded by the recent murder of one of their leaders.

By Robin Wright — Washington Post Staff Writer — Wednesday, June 8, 2005; A15

In an attempt to end two years of diplomatic tensions, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold talks with President Bush today and push for a joint counterterrorism crackdown on a Turkish rebel group now operating from northern Iraq.