News
Professor Hassan has published the following Op-Ed in the Globe and Mail
November 21, 2019
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
opinion/article-the-many-misconceptions-about-the-kurds
May 22, 2019
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-progress-in-iraq-but-the-democracy-will-be-tested
The many misconceptions about the Kurds
November 21, 2019
Zheger Hassan has served as an observer for Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission.
Recent events in Syria have thrust the Kurds into the international media spotlight. Yet, most of the analysis perpetuates several misunderstandings about the Kurds and the Turkish assault in northern Syria; these need to be corrected.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-many-misconceptions-about-the-kurds
Professor Maya Shatzmiller gave the keynote address in the Research Initiative on the Economics of the Middle East, fourth workshop, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
November 14, 2019
Progress in Iraq, but democracy will be tested
On May 12, millions of Iraqis voted in the first election since the defeat of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria less than one year ago. The vote comes at a critical time for Iraq and serves as a yardstick for evaluating the progress of Iraqi democracy. The outcome of the election underscores the important progress Iraq has made since 2005 and it also highlights the continuing challenges facing the country.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-progress-in-iraq-but-the-democracy-will-be-tested
(Interview) Kurdish Canadians feel betrayed amid Turkey's takeover of Afrin
May 3, 2018
Yara Polo loves the peace she has found in Canada, but since January, the Kurdish immigrant has been at the forefront of weekly protests in Toronto.
Could Canada de-escalate tensions between the Kurds and Baghdad?
November 22, 2017
After a failed independence referendum and subsequent military clashes with Baghdad, Iraqi Kurdistan is lobbying the international community to intervene in an ongoing dispute between it and the central government in Baghdad. At the 2017 Halifax International Security Forum, Falah Mustafa, one of two Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representatives, implored Ottawa to intervene in Iraq.
Canada caught in a web of competing Kurdish factions in Iraq
July 7, 2017
Last month, a violent skirmish took place in Sinjar, Iraq, between Kurdish peshmerga and Sinjar Resistance Units. The peshmerga involved in the violent clashes are not the same peshmerga that Canada is training and arming. Canada's support for the Kurdish region of Iraq and its peshmerga continues to expand, yet it is not clear that Canadian officials recognize the important differences and connections between the principal Kurdish group receiving Canadian military support and other Kurdish groups in Iraq and those from neighbouring Syria and Turkey.
The real battle for Mosul begins when Islamic State is defeated
APRIL 11, 2017
Canada has been providing military support to the Kurdish Peshmerga in northern Iraq since August, 2014 by assisting, training and advising them against the Islamic State. It was no surprise, then, when Canada extended its commitment to include the liberation of Mosul.
