by tyler | Apr 23, 2024 | CNN, world
Here’s a look at the life of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Birth date: May 6, 1953
Birth place: Edinburgh, Scotland
Birth name: Anthony Charles Lynton Blair
Father: Leo Charles Blair, lawyer
Mother: Hazel (Corscadden) Blair
Marriage: Cherie (Booth) Blair (1980-present)
Children: Leo, Kathryn, Nicholas and Euan
Education: St. John’s College, Oxford, B.A., 1975
Religion: Roman Catholic
Although born in Scotland, Blair spent most of his childhood in Durham, England.
His son, Leo, was the first baby born to a serving prime minister in 150 years.
In his youth, acted in plays and sang in a rock band.
Blair moved the Labour Party to a more centrist position by reducing influence of trade unions and dropping the Party’s goal of “collective ownership.”
The Labour Party’s first prime minister to serve two successive terms.
READ: The clear lesson of Iraq war
1976-1983 – After finishing his law studies at Oxford, practices as a barrister in London.
1982 – Loses an attempt to win a seat in parliament for the district of Beaconsfield.
1983 – Wins a seat in parliament for Sedgefield, near Durham.
1984-1988 – Front bench spokesman for Labour Party.
1988 – Is promoted to the shadow cabinet as shadow secretary of energy. The shadow party is the main opposition party that monitors and polices the official cabinet.
1992 – Is appointed shadow home secretary.
July 21, 1994 – Becomes the youngest leader of the Labour Party after previous leader John Smith dies of a heart attack.
May 1997 – Blair leads the Labour Party to win 419 seats in the House of Commons and its first electoral victory since 1979. Blair becomes prime minister, succeeding John Major.
June 7, 2001 – Reelected.
October 19, 2003 – Blair is hospitalized after suffering irregular heart rhythms.
May 5, 2005 – Reelected to a third term.
December 14, 2006 – Blair becomes the first serving prime minister questioned as part of a criminal inquiry; police speak with Blair regarding a “cash for honors” inquiry, in which political parties are accused of loans from donors in return for political appointments. Blair is questioned as a witness.
May 3, 2007 – Blair’s Labour party suffers losses in local elections in England as well as national elections in Scotland and Wales.
May 10, 2007 – Blair announces he will resign in June.
June 24, 2007 – Blair hands over leadership of the Labour Party to Gordon Brown during a conference of party members. Brown will become prime minister when Blair tenders his resignation to the Queen.
June 27, 2007 – Tenders his resignation to Queen Elizabeth. Hours later, Blair is appointed by the Quartet (the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations) as special envoy to the Middle East.
2008 – Establishes the Africa Governance Initiative.
March 7, 2008 – Yale University announces that Blair has been named the Howland Distinguished Fellow for the 2008-2009 school year. He will participate in seminars and on-campus activities throughout the year.
May 30, 2008 – Blair launches The Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Its goal is to encourage “inter-faith initiatives to tackle global poverty and to improve understanding of the great religions through education at every level.”
January 13, 2009 – Is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President George W. Bush.
February 2009 – Opens an economic and political consulting firm called Tony Blair Associates.
January 29, 2010 – Blair is questioned by Britain’s Iraq Inquiry about decisions he made leading up to the US-led invasion of Iraq. Blair defends his decision to support the war.
September 1, 2010 – Publishes his memoir, “A Journey.”
January 21, 2011 – Blair testifies before the Iraq Inquiry for a second time to clear up inconsistencies in his previous testimony.
May 27, 2015 – Writes to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to say he will be stepping down from his Middle East envoy post.
October 25, 2015 – On CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, Blair says he’s sorry for “mistakes” made in the US-led invasion of Iraq, but he doesn’t regret bringing down dictator Saddam Hussein.
July 6, 2016 – The results of the UK’s inquiry into the invasion of Iraq are released. The report finds that the war was based on flawed intelligence and was launched before diplomatic options were exhausted. Chairman John Chilcot says Blair was warned of the risks of regional instability and the rise of terrorism before the invasion of Iraq, but pressed on regardless.
December 31, 2021 – It is announced that Blair is being appointed a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
by tyler | Apr 23, 2024 | CNN, world
Here’s a look at the death of Osama bin Laden.
On May 2, 2011, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US Special Forces during an early morning raid at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
– Built in approximately 2006.
– Significantly larger than other homes in the area, and worth a reported $1 million.
– Lacked telephone and internet service.
– Residents burned their trash rather than having it picked up.
– Approximately 24 people lived at the house.
– Surrounded by 12- to 18-foot walls topped by barbed wire.
– Had two security gates.
– Bin Laden and his family’s living quarters were on the second and third levels.
– The third floor terrace had a seven-foot privacy wall.
– Located only about a mile from the Pakistan Military Academy.
US forces retrieved numerous items from bin Laden’s compound, including 10 hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks, DVDs and thumb drives, according to a senior US official.
2007 (approx.) – US intelligence uncovers the name of one of bin Laden’s most trusted couriers.
2009 (approx.) – Intelligence sources identify the area of Pakistan where the courier and his brother live.
August 2010 – US intelligence sources identify the Abbottabad compound as the home of the courier and his brother, who have no obvious means of affording a $1 million home.
September 2010 – The CIA informs President Barack Obama that bin Laden may be living in the Abbottabad compound. They base this on the size and price tag of the compound as well as the elaborate security.
February 2011 – The intelligence on the Abbottabad compound is considered strong enough to begin planning action.
March 14, 2011 – President Obama chairs the first of five National Security Council meetings to discuss an operation to raid bin Laden’s compound.
March 29, 2011 – Second National Security meeting.
April 12, 2011 – Third meeting.
April 19, 2011 – Fourth meeting.
April 28, 2011 – Last of the National Security Council meetings on the bin Laden raid.
April 29, 2011 – At 8:20 a.m. ET, President Obama gives the order to raid bin Laden’s compound.
May 2, 2011 – In the early morning hours (mid-afternoon on May 1 in the United States), a group of 25 Navy Seals raid the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
– They arrive outside the compound in two Black Hawk helicopters.
– The operation takes 40 minutes total.
– US Special Forces breach the outer walls of the compound before fighting their way through the ground floor of the three-story building. The firefight then moves to the second and third floors.
– In the last 5-10 minutes of the firefight, bin Laden is killed by a gunshot wound to the head.
– Three men, including a son of bin Laden, are killed as well as one woman.
– Bin Laden’s body is identified by one of his wives. Facial recognition is also used.
May 2, 2011 – Bin Laden is buried at sea off the deck of the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea.
– He is buried within 24 hours according to Islamic law.
– The hour-long ceremony aboard the USS Carl Vinson is conducted according to Islamic law.
May 2, 2011 – A DNA test is done on a sample from the body, confirming that it is bin Laden.
May 3, 2011 – Attorney General Eric Holder declares the raid “lawful, legitimate and appropriate in every way.”
May 3, 2011 – White House Press Secretary Jay Carney offers new details on the raid. He clarifies that the woman killed was on the first floor, not with bin Laden, and was killed in the crossfire. Carney also says that bin Laden was not armed but did put up resistance.
May 3, 2011 – A congressional source tells CNN that bin Laden had approximately $745 and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing.
May 3, 2011 – Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mojahed releases a statement, “Obama has not got any strong evidence that can prove his claim over killing of the Sheikh Osama bin Laden… And secondly, the closest sources for Sheikh Osama bin Laden have not confirmed” the death.
May 4, 2011 – White House Press Secretary Carney announces that President Obama has decided not to release photos of bin Laden’s body.
May 6, 2011 – Al Qaeda confirms bin Laden’s death, in a statement on jihadist forums.
May 12, 2011 – US officials confirm to CNN that US authorities have interviewed three of bin Laden’s wives.
May 13, 2011 – It is revealed that a large amount of pornography was seized from the Abbottabad compound during the raid. It is unclear to whom it belonged.
May 13, 2011 – A US military official tells CNN the Navy Seal team who carried out the bin Laden raid wore helmet-mounted digital cameras that recorded the mission.
May 17, 2011 – Senator John Kerry announces that Pakistan will return the tail of the US helicopter damaged during the raid.
May 18, 2011 – Admiral Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates tell reporters there is no evidence that the senior Pakistani leadership knew of bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan.
May 26, 2011 – A team of CIA forensic specialists is granted permission by the Pakistani government to examine the compound.
June 15, 2011 – Pakistan’s intelligence agency arrests several people suspected of assisting the CIA before the raid.
June 17, 2011 – The US Justice Department formally drops terrorism-related criminal charges against bin Laden.
July 11, 2011 – Pakistani security forces detain a doctor suspected of helping the CIA attempt to collect the DNA of bin Laden’s family members through a vaccination drive.
October 6, 2011 – Pakistan’s information ministry says the doctor suspected of helping the CIA target bin Laden will be charged with treason. Also, bin Laden’s compound will be turned over to city officials.
February 2012 – Pakistani authorities begin to demolish the compound.
May 9, 2012 – Citing that it is of national security interest, a federal judge has denies Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information request regarding the release of bin Laden death photos.
May 23, 2012 – Shakeel Afridi, the Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA track down bin Laden, is fined $3,500 for spying for the United States and sentenced to 33 years in prison for treason by a tribal court.
September 4, 2012 – The memoir “No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden” by former US Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette, written under the name Mark Owen, is published.
February 11, 2013 – Conflicting information about which Navy SEAL killed bin Laden appears when Esquire magazine reports on an unnamed former Navy SEAL who says he fired the kill shot, not the point man as told in Bissonette’s book “No Easy Day.”
May 21, 2013 – A three-judge federal appeals court panel rejects an appeal from a conservative legal group, ruling that the release of post-mortem images of bin Laden’s body could result in attacks on Americans.
October 31, 2014 – Adm. Brian Losey, head of the Naval Warfare Special Command, releases an open letter warning Navy SEALs against betraying their promise of secrecy. This is in advance of two upcoming interviews from SEALs involved in the bin Laden mission.
November 7, 2014 – Former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill says in an interview with The Washington Post that he was the one who fired the shot that killed bin Laden.
May 10, 2015 – In a published report, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh contends the Obama Adminstration lied about the circumstances surrounding the killing of bin Laden. The White House later dismisses the report as “baseless.”
May 20, 2015 – The Office of the Director of National Intelligence begins releasing and declassifying documents recovered in the raid in May 2011.
March 1, 2016 – A second batch of recovered documents is released by the DNI. Included in the materials are bin Laden’s personal letters and will.
August 2016 – Bissonnette agrees to pay the US government all past and future proceeds of the book “No Easy Day,” settling a lawsuit by the government for “breach of contract” by violating a non-disclosure agreement.
November 1, 2017 – The CIA announces the release of thousands of files it says came from the bin Laden raid. Among them is the deceased al Qaeda founder’s personal journal.
April 2023 – Newly released photos, obtained from the Obama Presidential Library via a Freedom of Information Act request by The Washington Post, offer a window into the meticulous planning – and tension – among the highest-ranking members of the US government on May 1, 2011.
by tyler | Apr 23, 2024 | CNN, world
Here’s a look at WikiLeaks and the trial of Chelsea Manning.
WikiLeaks is purportedly an organization that facilitates the anonymous leaking of secret information through its website.
It was founded in 2006 by Julian Assange, activist, computer programmer and hacker.
Chelsea Manning (born Bradley Manning), a former Army intelligence analyst who provided WikiLeaks with classified documents, was convicted of violating the Espionage Act in 2013 and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Her sentence was later commuted by President Barack Obama.
December 2007 – WikiLeaks posts the US Army manual for soldiers dealing with prisoners at Camp Delta, Guantánamo Bay.
March 2008 – WikiLeaks posts internal documents from the Church of Scientology.
September 2008 – WikiLeaks posts emails from the Yahoo email account of Sarah Palin.
November 2008 – WikiLeaks posts a list of names and addresses of people it claims belong to the far-right British National Party.
November 2009 – WikiLeaks posts what it claims are 500,000 messages sent during the September 11, 2001 attacks.
April 5, 2010 – A classified military video is posted by WikiLeaks. It shows a US Apache helicopter firing on and killing two journalists and a number of Iraqi civilians in 2007. The military claimed that the helicopter crew believed the targets were armed insurgents, not civilians.
May 2010 – The US military detains Manning for allegedly leaking US combat video, including the US helicopter gunship attack posted on WikiLeaks, and classified State Department records. Manning was turned in by Adrian Lamo, a former hacker, who Manning confided in about leaking the classified records.
July 6, 2010 – The military announces it has charged Manning with violating army regulations by transferring classified information to a personal computer and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system and of violating federal laws of governing the handling of classified information.
July 25, 2010 – WikiLeaks posts more than 90,000 classified documents relating to the Afghanistan war in what has been called the biggest leak since the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. The documents are divided into more than 100 categories and touch on everything from the hunt for Osama bin Laden to Afghan civilian deaths resulting from US military actions.
October 22, 2010 – WikiLeaks publishes nearly 400,000 classified military documents from the Iraq War, providing a new picture of how many Iraqi civilians have been killed, the role that Iran has played in supporting Iraqi militants and many accounts of abuse by Iraq’s army and police.
November 28, 2010 – WikiLeaks begins publishing approximately 250,000 leaked State Department cables dating back to 1966. The site says the documents will be released “in stages over the next few months.”
November 28, 2010 – The WikiLeaks website suffers an attack designed to make it unavailable to users. A Twitter user called Jester claims responsibility for the attack.
December 1, 2010 – Amazon removes WikiLeaks from its servers.
April 24, 2011 – Nearly 800 classified US military documents obtained by WikiLeaks reveal details about the alleged terrorist activities of al Qaeda operatives captured and housed in Guantánamo Bay.
September 2, 2011 – WikiLeaks releases its archive of more than 250,000 unredacted US diplomatic cables.
October 24, 2011 – WikiLeaks announces that it is temporarily halting publication to “aggressively fundraise.” Assange states that a financial blockade by Bank of America, VISA, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union has cut off 95% of WikiLeaks’ revenue.
December 16, 2011 – Manning’s Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing that will determine whether enough evidence exists to merit a court-martial, begins.
February 23, 2012 – Manning is formally charged with aiding the enemy, wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the Internet, transmitting national defense information and theft of public property or records.
February 26, 2012 – WikiLeaks begins releasing what it says are five million emails from the private intelligence company, Stratfor, starting with a company “glossary” that features unflattering descriptions of US government agencies. The authenticity of the documents can’t be independently confirmed.
July 5, 2012 – WikiLeaks begins publishing more than 2.4 million emails from Syrian politicians, government ministries and companies dating back to 2006.
February 28, 2013 – Manning pleads guilty to some of the 22 charges against him, but not the most serious charge of aiding the enemy, which carries a life sentence.
June 3, 2013 – Manning’s court-martial begins.
July 30, 2013 – Manning is acquitted of aiding the enemy, but found guilty on 20 other counts, including violations of the Espionage Act.
August 21, 2013 – A military judge sentences Manning to 35 years in prison.
August 22, 2013 – Through a statement read on NBC’s Today show, Manning announces he wants to live life as a woman and wants to be known by his new name, Chelsea Manning. She later formally changes her name.
July 22, 2016 – WikiLeaks releases nearly 20,000 emails from Democratic National Committee staffers. The emails appear to show the committee favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the US presidential primary.
October 7, 2016 – More than 2,000 hacked emails from Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta are published by WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks claims that it has more than 50,000 of Podesta’s emails and pledges to continue releasing batches of documents during the weeks leading up to the election.
January 3, 2017 – During an interview on the Fox News Network, Assange says that Russia did not give WikiLeaks hacked emails.
January 12, 2017 – WikiLeaks tweets that Assange will agree to be extradited to the United States if Obama grants clemency to Manning.
January 17, 2017 – Obama commutes Manning’s sentence, setting the stage for her to be released on May 17.
March 7, 2017 – WikiLeaks publishes what they say are thousands of internal CIA documents, including alleged discussions of a covert hacking program and the development of spy software targeting cellphones, smart TVs and computer systems in cars. In a statement, Assange says that the website published the documents as a warning about the risk of the proliferation of “cyber weapons.” In 2024, Joshua Schulte, a former CIA employee, is sentenced to 40 years in prison for leaking the documents.
April 20, 2017 – Authorities tell CNN that they are taking steps to seek the arrest of Assange, preparing criminal charges against the WikiLeaks founder. The investigation of Assange and WikiLeaks dates back to 2010 but prosecutors struggled with the question of whether the First Amendment protected Assange. Now, they reportedly have found a way to proceed but offered no details on the nature of the charges they plan to file.
May 3, 2017 – During a Senate hearing, FBI Director James Comey refers to WikiLeaks as “intelligence porn,” declaring that the site’s disclosures are intended to damage the United States rather than educate the public.
May 17, 2017 – Manning is released from prison.
September 15, 2017 – Harvard Kennedy School withdraws an invitation to Manning to be a visiting fellow.
October 2017- CNN reports that in 2016 a Cambridge Analytica executive reached out to WikiLeaks requesting access to Clinton emails. Assange confirmed the exchange in a tweet, saying “I can confirm an approach by Cambridge Analytica [prior to November last year] and can confirm that it was rejected by WikiLeaks.”
May 31, 2018 – The US Army Court of Criminal Appeals upholds Manning’s 2013 court-martial conviction. Although Manning’s sentence was commuted, her conviction under the Espionage Act, still stands.
September 26, 2018 – WikiLeaks appoints Kristinn Hrafnsson as its new editor-in-chief, replacing Assange, who has been unable to communicate for months while taking refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Assange will stay on as publisher.
March 5, 2019 – A federal judge denies Manning’s effort to quash a subpoena and avoid testifying before a grand jury in Virginia. It is not publicly known what the grand jury in Virginia is investigating and what prosecutors’ interest in Manning is.
March 8-May 9, 2019 – Manning spends 62 days in federal custody for refusing to testify about her disclosures to WikiLeaks. A group of Manning supporters called Chelsea Resists issues a statement claiming Manning is being kept in her cell for 22 hours a day, which they say constitutes solitary confinement and surmounts to “torture.”
April 11, 2019 – Assange is arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London on an extradition warrant from the US Justice Department. He is charged with conspiracy to attempt to hack a computer in connection with the 2010 release of classified military info obtained via Manning. Assange’s attorney says the indictment is troubling because of its implications for freedom of the press.
May 16, 2019 – Manning is again found in contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury and returns to jail.
March 11, 2020 – Manning is hospitalized after attempting suicide. The next day, Federal District Court judge Anthony Trenga orders Manning to be released from jail after being held for 10 months.
January 4, 2021 – A British judge rejects a US request to extradite Assange, but the decision is overturned in December. On March 14, 2022, the UK Supreme Court denies Assange’s appeal against the extradition decision. A formal extradition order is issued on April 20. On June 17, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel signs off on the order. On February 20, 2024, Assange’s legal team returns to London’s High Court for a two-day hearing that will examine whether Assange should be granted leave to appeal the 2022 extradition decision. In a March 26 ruling, a panel of two UK judges said Assange, an Australian citizen, would not be extradited immediately and asked the US for more assurances around Assange’s First Amendment rights, and that he would not receive the death penalty.
October 18, 2022 – Manning’s book “README.txt: A Memoir” is published.
by tyler | Apr 11, 2024 | CNN, world
Here’s a look at Kurdish people. Kurds do not have an official homeland or country. Most reside within countries in the Middle East including northern Iraq, eastern Turkey, western Iran and small portions of northern Syria and Armenia.
Area: Roughly 74,000 sq mi
Population: approximately 25-30 million (some Kurds reside outside of Kurdistan)
Religion: Most are Sunni Muslims; some practice Sufism, a type of mystic Islam
Kurds have never achieved nation-state status, making Kurdistan a non-governmental region and one of the largest stateless nations in the world.
Portions of the region are recognized by two countries: Iran, where the province of Kordestan lies; and northern Iraq, site of the autonomous region known as Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) or Iraqi Kurdistan.
Kurds were mostly nomadic until the end of World War I and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.
Kurds make up about 10% of the population in Syria, 19% of the population of Turkey, 15-20% of the population of Iraq and are one of the largest ethnic minorities in Iran.
The Peshmerga is a more than 100,000-strong national military force which protects Iraqi Kurdistan, and includes female fighters.
October 30, 1918 – (TURKEY) The Armistice of Mudros marks the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I.
November 3, 1918 – (IRAQ) With the discovery of oil in the Kurdish province of Mosul, British forces occupy the region.
August 10, 1920 – (TURKEY) The Treaty of Sèvres outlines the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, with Turkey renouncing rights over certain areas in Asia and North Africa. It calls for the recognition of new independent states, including an autonomous Kurdistan. It is never ratified.
July 24, 1923 – (TURKEY) The Allies and the former Ottoman Empire sign and ratify the Treaty of Lausanne, which recognizes Turkey as an independent nation. In the final treaty marking the conclusion of World War I, the Allies drop demands for an autonomous Turkish Kurdistan. The Kurdish region is eventually divided among several countries.
1923 – (IRAQ) Former Kurdish Governor Sheikh Mahmud Barzinji stages an uprising against British rule, declaring a Kurdish kingdom in Sulaimaniya in northern Iraq.
1924 – (IRAQ) British Forces retake Sulaimaniya.
1943-1945 – (IRAQ/IRAN) Mustafa Barzani leads an uprising, gaining control of areas of Erbil and Badinan. When the uprising is defeated, Barzani and his forces retreat to Kurdish areas in Iran and align with nationalist fighters under the leadership of Qazi Muhammad.
January 1946 – (IRAN) The Kurdish Republic of Mahābād is established as a Kurdish state, with backing from the Soviet Union. The short-lived country encompasses the city of Mahābād in Iran, which is largely Kurdish and near the Iraq border. However, Soviets withdraw the same year and the Republic of Mahābād collapses.
August 16, 1946 – (IRAQ) The Kurdish Democratic Party of Iraq (KDP) is established.
1957 – (SYRIA) 250 Kurdish children die in an arson attack on a cinema. It is blamed on Arab nationalists.
1958 – (SYRIA) The government formally bans all Kurdish-language publications.
1958 – (IRAQ) After Iraq’s 1958 revolution, a new constitution is established, which declares Arabs and Kurds as “partners in this homeland.”
1961 – (IRAQ) KDP begins a rebellion in northern Iraq. Within two weeks, the Iraqi government dissolves the Kurdish Democratic Party.
March 1970 – (IRAQ) A peace agreement between Iraqi government and Kurds grants the Kurds autonomy. Kurdish is recognized as an official language, and an amendment to the constitution states: “the Iraqi people is made up of two nationalities: the Arab nationality and the Kurdish nationality.”
March 6, 1975 – (ALGERIA) Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran sign a treaty. Iraq gives up claims to the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, while Iran agrees to end its support of the independence seeking Kurds.
June 1975 – (IRAQ) Former KDP Leader Jalal Talabani, establishes the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The following year, PUK takes up an armed campaign against the Iraqi government.
1978 – (IRAQ) KDP and PUK forces clash, leaving many dead.
1978 – (TURKEY) Abdullah Öcalan forms the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group.
Late 1970s – (IRAQ) The Baath Party, under Hussein’s leadership, uproots Kurds from areas with Kurdish majorities, and settles southern-Iraqi Arabs into those regions. Into the 1980s, Kurds are forcibly removed from the Iranian border as Kurds are suspected of aiding Iranian forces during the Iran-Iraq War.
1979 – (IRAQ) Mustafa Barzani dies in Washington, DC. His son, Massoud Barzani, is elected president of KDP following his death.
1980 – (IRAQ) The Iran-Iraq War begins. Although the KDP forces work closely with Iran, the PUK does not.
1983 – (IRAQ) PUK agrees to a ceasefire with Iraq and begins negotiations on Kurdish autonomy.
August 1984 – (TURKEY) PKK launches a violent separatist campaign in Turkey, starting with killing two soldiers. The conflict eventually spreads to Iran, Iraq and Syria.
1985 – (IRAQ) The ceasefire between Iraq and PUK breaks down.
1986 – (IRAQ) After an Iranian-sponsored reconciliation, both KDP and PUK receive support from Tehran.
1987 – (TURKEY) Turkey imposes a state of emergency in the southeastern region of the country in response to PKK attacks.
February-August 1988 – (IRAQ) During Operation Anfal (“spoils” in Arabic), created to quell Kurdish resistance, the Iraqi military uses large quantities of chemical weapons on Kurdish civilians. Iraqi forces destroy more than 4,000 villages in Kurdistan. It is believed that some 100,000 Kurds were killed.
March 16, 1988 – (IRAQ) Iraq uses poison gas against the Kurdish people in Halabja in northern Iraq. Thousands of people are believed to have died in the attack.
1990-1991 – (IRAQ) The Gulf War begins when Hussein invades Kuwait, seeking its oil reserves. There is a mass exodus of Kurds out of Iraq as more than a million flee into Turkey and Iran.
February 28, 1991 – (IRAQ) Hussein agrees to a ceasefire, ending the Gulf War.
March 1991 – (IRAQ) Kurdish uprising begins, and in two weeks, the Kurdish militia gains control of Iraqi Kurdistan, including the oil-rich town of Kirkuk. After allied support to the Kurds is denied, Iraq crushes the uprising. Two million Kurds flee, but are forced to hide out in the mountains as Turkey closes its border.
April 1991 – (IRAQ) A safe haven is established in Iraqi Kurdistan by the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Iraqi forces are barred from operating within the region, and Kurds begin autonomous rule, with KDP leading the north and PUK leading the south.
1992 – (IRAQ) In an anti-PKK operation, 20,000 Turkish troops enter Kurdish safe havens in Iraq.
1994-1998 – (IRAQ) PUK and KDP members engage in armed conflict, known as the Fratricide War, in Iraqi Kurdistan.
1995 – (IRAQ) Approximately 35,000 Turkish troops launch an offensive against Kurds in northern Iraq.
1996 – (IRAQ) Iraq launches attacks against Kurdish cities, including Erbil and Kirkuk.
October 8, 1997 – (TURKEY) The United States lists PKK as a terrorist group.
1998 – (IRAQ) The conflict between KDP and PUK ends, and a peace agreement is reached. This is brokered by the United States, and the accord is signed in Washington.
1999 – (TURKEY) PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is captured in Nairobi, Kenya, by Turkish officials.
2002 – (TURKEY) Under pressure from the European Union, Turkey legalizes broadcasts and education in the Kurdish language. Turkish forces still combat PKK, including military incursions into northern Iraq.
May 2002 – (TURKEY) The European Union designates the PKK as a terrorist organization.
February 1, 2004 – (IRAQ) Two suicide bombs kill more than 50 people in Erbil. The targets are the headquarters of KDP and PUK, and several top Kurdish officials from both parties are killed.
March 2004 – (SYRIA) Nine people are killed at a football (soccer) arena in Qamishli after clashes with riot police. Kurds demonstrate throughout the city, and unrest spreads to nearby towns in the following days, after security forces open fire at the funerals.
June 2004 – (TURKEY) State TV broadcasts Kurdish-language programs for the first time.
April 6-7, 2005 – (IRAQ) Kurdish leader Talabani is selected the country’s president by the transitional national assembly, and is sworn in the next day.
July 2005 – (TURKEY) Six people die from a bomb planted on a train by a Kurdish guerrilla. Turkish officials blame the PKK.
2005 – (IRAQ) The 2005 Iraqi constitution upholds Kurdish autonomy, and designates Kurdistan as an autonomous federal region.
August-September 2006 – (TURKEY) A wave of bomb attacks target a resort area in Turkey, as well as Istanbul. Separatist group Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAC) claims responsibility for most of the attacks and threatens it will turn Turkey into “hell.”
December 2007 – (TURKEY) Turkey launches attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan, targeting PKK outposts.
2009 – (TURKEY) A policy called the Kurdish Initiative increases Kurdish language rights and reduces military presence in the mostly Kurdish southeast.
September 2010 – (IRAN) A bomb detonates during a parade in Mahābād, leaving 12 dead and dozens injured. No group claims responsibility for the attack, but authorities blame Kurdish separatists. In 2014, authorities arrest members of Koumaleh, a Kurdish armed group, for the attack.
April 2011 – (SYRIA) Syria grants citizenship to thousands in the Kurdish region. According to Human Rights Watch, an exceptional census stripped 20% of Kurdish Syrians of their citizenship in 1962.
October 2011 – (SYRIA) Meshaal Tammo, a Syrian Kurdish activist, is assassinated. Many Kurds blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for the assassination.
October 19, 2011 – (TURKEY) Kurdish militants kill 24 Turkish troops near the Iraqi border, a PKK base area.
June 2012 – (TURKEY) Turkish forces strike PKK rebel bases in Iraq after a PKK attack in southern Turkey kills eight Turkish soldiers.
July 2012 – (SYRIA) Amid the country’s civil war, Syrian security forces retreat from several Kurdish towns in the northeastern part of the country.
August 2012 – (TURKEY) Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warns that any attempts by the PKK to launch cross-border attacks from Syria would be met by force; the Turkish Army then performs a large exercise less than a mile from border villages now controlled by the Syrian Kurdish group Democratic Union Party (PYD).
December 2012 – (TURKEY) Erdogan announces the government has begun peace talks with the PKK.
January 10, 2013 – (FRANCE) Three Kurdish women are found shot dead in Paris, one of whom was a founding member of the PKK.
March 21, 2013 – (TURKEY) Imprisoned PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan calls for dialogue: a letter from him is read in the Turkish Parliament, “We for tens of years gave up our lives for this struggle, we paid a price. We have come to a point at which the guns must be silent and ideas must talk.”
March 25, 2013 – (TURKEY) Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani negotiate a framework deal that includes an outline for a direct pipeline export of oil and gas. The pipeline would have the Kurdish crude oil transported from the Kurdish Regional Government directly into Turkey, allowing the KRG to be a competitive supplier of oil to Turkey.
June 2014 – (IRAQ) Refugees flee fighting and flood into Iraqi Kurdistan to the north as ISIS militants take over Mosul. Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) closes then reopens, with restrictions, border crossings used by those fleeing ISIS.
June 23, 2014 – (IRAQ) Iraqi Kurdistan President Barzani says that “Iraq is obviously falling apart, and it’s obvious that the federal or central government has lost control over everything.”
Early August 2014 – (IRAQ) Reportedly 40,000 Yazidi, a minority group of Kurdish descent, flee to a mountainous region in northwestern Iraq to escape ISIS, after the group storms Sinjar, a town near the Syrian border. Also, 100,000 Christians flee to Erbil, after Kurdish leadership there promises protection in the city.
August 11, 2014 – (IRAQ) Kurdish fighters in Kurdistan, who are called Peshmerga, work with Iraqi armed forces to deliver aid to Yazidis stranded on Mount Sinjar after fleeing ISIS fighters.
August 12, 2014 – (IRAQ) Some Yazidi tell CNN that PKK fighters control parts of the mountain, and have offered food and protection from ISIS.
December 2, 2014 – (IRAQ) The government of Iraq and the government of Iraqi Kurdistan sign an agreement to share oil revenues and military resources. Iraq will now pay the salaries of Peshmerga fighters battling ISIS and act as an intermediary to deliver US weapons to Kurdish forces. The Kurdistan government will deliver more than half a million barrels of oil daily to the Iraqi government. Profits from the sale of the oil will be split between the two governments.
January 26, 2015 – (SYRIA) After 112 days of fighting, the YPG, Kurdish fighters also known as the People’s Protection Units, take control of the city of Kobani from ISIS.
March 21, 2015 – (TURKEY) In a letter read to thousands during a celebration in the city of Diyarbakir, imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan urges fighters under his command to lay down their arms, stop waging war against the Turkish state and join a “congress.”
May 18, 2015 – (TURKEY) In the run-up to parliamentary elections on June 7, an explosion rocks the office of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in Adana, in southeastern Turkey. Six people are injured.
June 7, 2015 – (TURKEY) Three-year-old fledgling party Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) receives more than 13% of the vote, winning 80 seats in the 550-seat parliament.
June 16, 2015 – (SYRIA) Kurdish forces in the Syrian town, Tal Abyad say they have defeated ISIS fighters and taken back the town on the Turkish border.
June 23, 2015 – (SYRIA) Kurdish fighters announce that they have taken back the town of Ain Issa, located 30 miles north of the ISIS stronghold, Raqqa, a city proclaimed to be the capital of the caliphate. A military base near Ain Issa, which had been occupied by ISIS since last August, is abandoned by the terrorist group the night before the Kurdish forces seize the town.
February 17, 2016 – (IRAQ) Turkish airstrikes target some of the PKK’s top figures in northern Iraq’s Haftanin region. Airstrikes come after a terrorist attack in Turkey kills 28, although no Kurdish group has claimed responsibility for those attacks.
March 13, 2016 – (TURKEY) A car bomb attack kills at least 37 people in Ankara. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK – an offshoot of the Kurdish separatist group PKK – takes responsibility for the attack.
March 17, 2016 – (SYRIA) Kurds declare that a swath of northeastern Syria is now a separate autonomous region under Kurdish control. The claim stirs up controversy, as Syrian and Turkish officials say it goes against the goal of creating a unified country after years of civil war.
July 20, 2016 – (TURKEY) Following a failed coup attempt, President Erdogan declares a state of emergency. In the first three months, pro-Kurdish media outlets are shut down, and tens of thousands of civil servants with alleged PKK connections are dismissed or suspended. The purge includes ministers of parliament, military leaders, police, teachers and mayors, including in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir.
September 25, 2017 – (IRAQ) Iraqi Kurds vote in favor of declaring independence from Iraq. More than 92% of the roughly 3 million people vote “yes” to independence.
March 23, 2019 – (SYRIA) Kurdish forces announce they have captured the eastern Syrian pocket of Baghouz, the last populated area under ISIS rule.
October 9, 2019 – (TURKEY/SYRIA) Turkey launches a military offensive into northeastern Syria, just days after US President Donald Trump’s administration announced that US troops would leave the border area. Erdogan’s “Operation Peace Spring” is an effort to drive away Kurdish forces from the border, and use the area to resettle around two million Syrian refugees. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who operate in the region are Kurdish-led, and still hold thousands of ISIS fighters captured in battle.
October 17, 2019 – (TURKEY/SYRIA) US Vice President Mike Pence announces that he and Erdogan agreed to a ceasefire halting Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria. The Turkish government insists that the agreement is not a ceasefire, but only a “pause” on operations in the region.
November 15, 2019 – (TURKEY/SYRIA) Turkey’s decision to launch a military operation targeting US-Kurdish partners in northern Syria and the Trump administration’s subsequent retreat allowed ISIS to rebuild itself and boosted its ability to launch attacks abroad, the Pentagon’s Inspector General says in an Operation Inherent Resolve quarterly report.
March 24, 2020 – (SYRIA) The SDF releases a statement calling for a humanitarian truce in response to a United Nations appeal for a global ceasefire to combat the coronavirus.
July 30, 2020 – (SYRIA) During a US Senate committee hearing, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirms the Trump administration’s support for the Delta Crescent Energy firm’s deal to develop and modernize oil fields in northeast Syria under control of the SDF. The following week, Syria’s foreign ministry calls the deal an attempt to “steal” the oil.
February 8, 2021 – (SYRIA) Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby is questioned about the Delta Crescent Energy deal during a press conference. He says that the US Department of Defense under the Joe Biden administration is focused on fighting ISIS. It is not aiding a private company.
January 20-26, 2022 – (SYRIA) ISIS lays siege to a prison in northeast Syria, in an attempt to break out thousands of the group’s members who were detained in 2019. In coordination with US-led coalition airstrikes, SDF regains control of the prison. This is believed to be the biggest coordinated attack by ISIS since the fall of the caliphate three years prior.
September 16, 2022 – (IRAN) Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, dies after being detained by “morality police” and taken to a “re-education center,” allegedly for not abiding by the country’s conservative dress code. Public anger over her death combines with a range of grievances against the Islamic Republic’s oppressive regime to fuel months of nationwide demonstrations, which continue despite law makers urging the country’s judiciary to “show no leniency” to protesters.
November 12, 2022 – (IRAN) The Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO) group claims Iranian security forces have killed at least 326 people since nationwide protests erupted two months ago. Authorities have unleashed a deadly crackdown on demonstrators, with reports of forced detentions and physical abuse being used to target the country’s Kurdish minority group.
by tyler | Apr 11, 2024 | CNN, world
Here is a look at the life of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former International Monetary Fund Director.
Birth date: April 25, 1949
Birth place: Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Birth name: Dominique Gaston Andre Strauss-Kahn
Father: Gilbert Strauss-Kahn, a legal and tax advisor
Mother: Jacqueline Fellus, a journalist
Marriages: Myriam L’Aouffir (October 2017-present); Anne Sinclair (1991-2013, divorced); Brigitte Guillemette (1984-date unavailable publicly, divorced); Helene Dumas (1967-date unavailable publicly, divorced)
Children: with Brigitte Guillemette: Camille; with Helene Dumas: Vanessa, Marine and Laurin
Education: HEC Paris (École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris), Public Law, 1971; Paris Institute of Political Studies (Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris), Political Science, 1972; University of Paris, Ph.D., Economics, 1977
His 2010 IMF salary was tax free, amounting to more than $500,000 with perks.
Taught economics at the prestigious Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, commonly known as Sciences Po, and at Stanford University in California.
Was considered to be the leading contender to run against Nicolas Sarkozy for the 2012 presidency of France.
1981-1986 – Deputy Commissioner of the Economic Planning Agency.
1986 – Wins election to France’s National Assembly – the lower house of parliament.
1988-1991 – Chairs the Finance Commission.
1991- 1993 – Minister of Industry and International Trade under President Francois Mitterrand.
1997-1999 – Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry. Resigns amid allegations that as a practicing lawyer he was involved in party campaign funding irregularities. Strauss-Kahn is later cleared of the charges.
2001-2007 – Elected three times to the French National Assembly.
2006 – Loses to Segolene Royal for the Socialist Party’s presidential nomination.
November 1, 2007-May 18, 2011 – Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
2008 – Is reprimanded by the IMF for a relationship with a subordinate, Piroska Nagy.
May 14, 2011 – Is escorted off an Air France flight headed to Paris and taken to a New York police station for questioning about the alleged sexual assault of a Sofitel Hotel housekeeping employee. The hotel employee says that Strauss-Kahn attempted to force himself on her when she came to clean his room. By the time police officers arrived, Strauss-Kahn had already left the Manhattan hotel.
May 14, 2011 – Is charged with attempted rape and imprisonment of the hotel employee.
May 16, 2011 – Is denied bail and transferred to New York’s Rikers Island jail.
May 18, 2011 – Resigns his position with IMF. His 2007 contract includes a severance package with a $250,000 one-time payout and a smaller annual pension.
May 19, 2011 – Is indicted on seven counts: two counts of a criminal sexual act, two counts of sexual abuse, and one count each of attempt to commit rape, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.
May 19, 2011 – Is granted bail based on these conditions: home confinement, the surrender of his travel documents, and the posting of $1 million in cash bail and a $5 million bond.
June 6, 2011 – Pleads not guilty to all seven charges.
July 1, 2011 – Is released from house arrest after prosecutors disclose that the accuser admitted to lying about certain details.
July 4, 2011 – French journalist Tristane Banon’s lawyer says that Banon will be filing a complaint claiming Strauss-Kahn attempted to rape her in 2003. In anticipation of the filing, Strauss-Kahn files a counterclaim against Banon for “false declarations.”
July 5, 2011 – Banon files a criminal complaint against Strauss-Kahn, alleging attempted rape.
August 8, 2011 – Nafissatou Diallo, the Manhattan maid who accused Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, files a civil lawsuit against him.
August 23, 2011 – All sexual assault charges against Strauss-Kahn, related to Diallo, are dismissed at the request of the prosecutor.
September 3, 2011 – Leaves New York to return to France.
September 18, 2011 – In an interview with French television station TF1, Strauss-Kahn says the incident at the Sofitel Hotel was “not only an inappropriate relationship, but more than that – an error, a mistake, a mistake concerning my wife, my children, my friends, but also a mistake that the French people placed their hope in change on me.”
October 13, 2011 – French prosecutors announce that charges will not be filed against Strauss-Kahn for the alleged sexual assault of Banon due to a lack of sufficient evidence and a statute of limitations that applies to the case.
February 21-22, 2012 – Is questioned by French police about an alleged prostitution ring possibly operated out of luxury hotels.
March 26, 2012 – Strauss-Kahn is warned that he is under investigation for “aggravated pimping” for his alleged participation in a prostitution ring.
May 14, 2012 – Files a countersuit for at least $1 million against Diallo, the Manhattan maid who accused him of sexual assault.
May 21, 2012 – A French investigation into Strauss-Kahn’s alleged involvement in a prostitution ring widens. Authorities say that police will open a preliminary inquiry into acts that allegedly took place in Washington, DC, in December 2010, which they believe could constitute gang rape.
October 2, 2012 – A French prosecutor drops the investigation connecting Strauss-Kahn to a possible gang rape in Washington, DC. The testimony on which the investigation is based has been withdrawn and the woman is declining to press charges.
December 10, 2012 – Diallo and Strauss-Kahn reach a settlement in her civil lawsuit against him. Terms of the settlement are not released.
July 26, 2013 – Prosecutors announce that Strauss-Kahn will be tried on charges of “aggravated pimping” for his alleged participation in a prostitution ring.
September 17, 2013 – It is announced that Strauss-Kahn has been appointed as an economic adviser to the Serbian government.
February 2, 2015 – The trial concerning “aggravated pimping” charges against Strauss-Kahn begins.
February 17, 2015 – A prosecutor tells a French criminal court that Strauss-Kahn should be acquitted of aggravated pimping charges because of insufficient evidence. The Lille prosecutor’s office said in 2013 that evidence didn’t support the charges, but investigative magistrates nevertheless pursued the case to trial.
June 12, 2015 – Strauss-Kahn is acquitted of charges of aggravated pimping.
June 2016 – Strauss-Kahn and seven others are fined in civil court after the anti-prostitution group Mouvement du Nid appeals the June 2015 acquittal. Strauss-Kahn is ordered to pay more than $11,000 in damages to the group.
December 7, 2020 – Netflix releases “Room 2806: The Accusation,” a documentary series covering the 2011 sexual assault case involving Strauss-Kahn and Diallo.
December 15, 2022 – Le Monde reports that French authorities are investigating Strauss-Kahn for potential tax fraud related to his consulting activities in Morocco. Strauss-Kahn was one of dozens whose financial secrets and offshore dealings were released in the “Pandora Papers” by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in 2021.
by tyler | Apr 10, 2024 | CNN, world
Here’s a look at Kurdish people. Kurds do not have an official homeland or country. Most reside within countries in the Middle East including northern Iraq, eastern Turkey, western Iran and small portions of northern Syria and Armenia.
Area: Roughly 74,000 sq mi
Population: approximately 25-30 million (some Kurds reside outside of Kurdistan)
Religion: Most are Sunni Muslims; some practice Sufism, a type of mystic Islam
Kurds have never achieved nation-state status, making Kurdistan a non-governmental region and one of the largest stateless nations in the world.
Portions of the region are recognized by two countries: Iran, where the province of Kordestan lies; and northern Iraq, site of the autonomous region known as Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) or Iraqi Kurdistan.
Kurds were mostly nomadic until the end of World War I and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.
Kurds make up about 10% of the population in Syria, 19% of the population of Turkey, 15-20% of the population of Iraq and are one of the largest ethnic minorities in Iran.
The Peshmerga is a more than 100,000-strong national military force which protects Iraqi Kurdistan, and includes female fighters.
October 30, 1918 – (TURKEY) The Armistice of Mudros marks the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I.
November 3, 1918 – (IRAQ) With the discovery of oil in the Kurdish province of Mosul, British forces occupy the region.
August 10, 1920 – (TURKEY) The Treaty of Sèvres outlines the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, with Turkey renouncing rights over certain areas in Asia and North Africa. It calls for the recognition of new independent states, including an autonomous Kurdistan. It is never ratified.
July 24, 1923 – (TURKEY) The Allies and the former Ottoman Empire sign and ratify the Treaty of Lausanne, which recognizes Turkey as an independent nation. In the final treaty marking the conclusion of World War I, the Allies drop demands for an autonomous Turkish Kurdistan. The Kurdish region is eventually divided among several countries.
1923 – (IRAQ) Former Kurdish Governor Sheikh Mahmud Barzinji stages an uprising against British rule, declaring a Kurdish kingdom in Sulaimaniya in northern Iraq.
1924 – (IRAQ) British Forces retake Sulaimaniya.
1943-1945 – (IRAQ/IRAN) Mustafa Barzani leads an uprising, gaining control of areas of Erbil and Badinan. When the uprising is defeated, Barzani and his forces retreat to Kurdish areas in Iran and align with nationalist fighters under the leadership of Qazi Muhammad.
January 1946 – (IRAN) The Kurdish Republic of Mahābād is established as a Kurdish state, with backing from the Soviet Union. The short-lived country encompasses the city of Mahābād in Iran, which is largely Kurdish and near the Iraq border. However, Soviets withdraw the same year and the Republic of Mahābād collapses.
August 16, 1946 – (IRAQ) The Kurdish Democratic Party of Iraq (KDP) is established.
1957 – (SYRIA) 250 Kurdish children die in an arson attack on a cinema. It is blamed on Arab nationalists.
1958 – (SYRIA) The government formally bans all Kurdish-language publications.
1958 – (IRAQ) After Iraq’s 1958 revolution, a new constitution is established, which declares Arabs and Kurds as “partners in this homeland.”
1961 – (IRAQ) KDP begins a rebellion in northern Iraq. Within two weeks, the Iraqi government dissolves the Kurdish Democratic Party.
March 1970 – (IRAQ) A peace agreement between Iraqi government and Kurds grants the Kurds autonomy. Kurdish is recognized as an official language, and an amendment to the constitution states: “the Iraqi people is made up of two nationalities: the Arab nationality and the Kurdish nationality.”
March 6, 1975 – (ALGERIA) Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran sign a treaty. Iraq gives up claims to the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, while Iran agrees to end its support of the independence seeking Kurds.
June 1975 – (IRAQ) Former KDP Leader Jalal Talabani, establishes the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The following year, PUK takes up an armed campaign against the Iraqi government.
1978 – (IRAQ) KDP and PUK forces clash, leaving many dead.
1978 – (TURKEY) Abdullah Öcalan forms the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group.
Late 1970s – (IRAQ) The Baath Party, under Hussein’s leadership, uproots Kurds from areas with Kurdish majorities, and settles southern-Iraqi Arabs into those regions. Into the 1980s, Kurds are forcibly removed from the Iranian border as Kurds are suspected of aiding Iranian forces during the Iran-Iraq War.
1979 – (IRAQ) Mustafa Barzani dies in Washington, DC. His son, Massoud Barzani, is elected president of KDP following his death.
1980 – (IRAQ) The Iran-Iraq War begins. Although the KDP forces work closely with Iran, the PUK does not.
1983 – (IRAQ) PUK agrees to a ceasefire with Iraq and begins negotiations on Kurdish autonomy.
August 1984 – (TURKEY) PKK launches a violent separatist campaign in Turkey, starting with killing two soldiers. The conflict eventually spreads to Iran, Iraq and Syria.
1985 – (IRAQ) The ceasefire between Iraq and PUK breaks down.
1986 – (IRAQ) After an Iranian-sponsored reconciliation, both KDP and PUK receive support from Tehran.
1987 – (TURKEY) Turkey imposes a state of emergency in the southeastern region of the country in response to PKK attacks.
February-August 1988 – (IRAQ) During Operation Anfal (“spoils” in Arabic), created to quell Kurdish resistance, the Iraqi military uses large quantities of chemical weapons on Kurdish civilians. Iraqi forces destroy more than 4,000 villages in Kurdistan. It is believed that some 100,000 Kurds were killed.
March 16, 1988 – (IRAQ) Iraq uses poison gas against the Kurdish people in Halabja in northern Iraq. Thousands of people are believed to have died in the attack.
1990-1991 – (IRAQ) The Gulf War begins when Hussein invades Kuwait, seeking its oil reserves. There is a mass exodus of Kurds out of Iraq as more than a million flee into Turkey and Iran.
February 28, 1991 – (IRAQ) Hussein agrees to a ceasefire, ending the Gulf War.
March 1991 – (IRAQ) Kurdish uprising begins, and in two weeks, the Kurdish militia gains control of Iraqi Kurdistan, including the oil-rich town of Kirkuk. After allied support to the Kurds is denied, Iraq crushes the uprising. Two million Kurds flee, but are forced to hide out in the mountains as Turkey closes its border.
April 1991 – (IRAQ) A safe haven is established in Iraqi Kurdistan by the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Iraqi forces are barred from operating within the region, and Kurds begin autonomous rule, with KDP leading the north and PUK leading the south.
1992 – (IRAQ) In an anti-PKK operation, 20,000 Turkish troops enter Kurdish safe havens in Iraq.
1994-1998 – (IRAQ) PUK and KDP members engage in armed conflict, known as the Fratricide War, in Iraqi Kurdistan.
1995 – (IRAQ) Approximately 35,000 Turkish troops launch an offensive against Kurds in northern Iraq.
1996 – (IRAQ) Iraq launches attacks against Kurdish cities, including Erbil and Kirkuk.
October 8, 1997 – (TURKEY) The United States lists PKK as a terrorist group.
1998 – (IRAQ) The conflict between KDP and PUK ends, and a peace agreement is reached. This is brokered by the United States, and the accord is signed in Washington.
1999 – (TURKEY) PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is captured in Nairobi, Kenya, by Turkish officials.
2002 – (TURKEY) Under pressure from the European Union, Turkey legalizes broadcasts and education in the Kurdish language. Turkish forces still combat PKK, including military incursions into northern Iraq.
May 2002 – (TURKEY) The European Union designates the PKK as a terrorist organization.
February 1, 2004 – (IRAQ) Two suicide bombs kill more than 50 people in Erbil. The targets are the headquarters of KDP and PUK, and several top Kurdish officials from both parties are killed.
March 2004 – (SYRIA) Nine people are killed at a football (soccer) arena in Qamishli after clashes with riot police. Kurds demonstrate throughout the city, and unrest spreads to nearby towns in the following days, after security forces open fire at the funerals.
June 2004 – (TURKEY) State TV broadcasts Kurdish-language programs for the first time.
April 6-7, 2005 – (IRAQ) Kurdish leader Talabani is selected the country’s president by the transitional national assembly, and is sworn in the next day.
July 2005 – (TURKEY) Six people die from a bomb planted on a train by a Kurdish guerrilla. Turkish officials blame the PKK.
2005 – (IRAQ) The 2005 Iraqi constitution upholds Kurdish autonomy, and designates Kurdistan as an autonomous federal region.
August-September 2006 – (TURKEY) A wave of bomb attacks target a resort area in Turkey, as well as Istanbul. Separatist group Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAC) claims responsibility for most of the attacks and threatens it will turn Turkey into “hell.”
December 2007 – (TURKEY) Turkey launches attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan, targeting PKK outposts.
2009 – (TURKEY) A policy called the Kurdish Initiative increases Kurdish language rights and reduces military presence in the mostly Kurdish southeast.
September 2010 – (IRAN) A bomb detonates during a parade in Mahābād, leaving 12 dead and dozens injured. No group claims responsibility for the attack, but authorities blame Kurdish separatists. In 2014, authorities arrest members of Koumaleh, a Kurdish armed group, for the attack.
April 2011 – (SYRIA) Syria grants citizenship to thousands in the Kurdish region. According to Human Rights Watch, an exceptional census stripped 20% of Kurdish Syrians of their citizenship in 1962.
October 2011 – (SYRIA) Meshaal Tammo, a Syrian Kurdish activist, is assassinated. Many Kurds blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for the assassination.
October 19, 2011 – (TURKEY) Kurdish militants kill 24 Turkish troops near the Iraqi border, a PKK base area.
June 2012 – (TURKEY) Turkish forces strike PKK rebel bases in Iraq after a PKK attack in southern Turkey kills eight Turkish soldiers.
July 2012 – (SYRIA) Amid the country’s civil war, Syrian security forces retreat from several Kurdish towns in the northeastern part of the country.
August 2012 – (TURKEY) Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warns that any attempts by the PKK to launch cross-border attacks from Syria would be met by force; the Turkish Army then performs a large exercise less than a mile from border villages now controlled by the Syrian Kurdish group Democratic Union Party (PYD).
December 2012 – (TURKEY) Erdogan announces the government has begun peace talks with the PKK.
January 10, 2013 – (FRANCE) Three Kurdish women are found shot dead in Paris, one of whom was a founding member of the PKK.
March 21, 2013 – (TURKEY) Imprisoned PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan calls for dialogue: a letter from him is read in the Turkish Parliament, “We for tens of years gave up our lives for this struggle, we paid a price. We have come to a point at which the guns must be silent and ideas must talk.”
March 25, 2013 – (TURKEY) Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani negotiate a framework deal that includes an outline for a direct pipeline export of oil and gas. The pipeline would have the Kurdish crude oil transported from the Kurdish Regional Government directly into Turkey, allowing the KRG to be a competitive supplier of oil to Turkey.
June 2014 – (IRAQ) Refugees flee fighting and flood into Iraqi Kurdistan to the north as ISIS militants take over Mosul. Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) closes then reopens, with restrictions, border crossings used by those fleeing ISIS.
June 23, 2014 – (IRAQ) Iraqi Kurdistan President Barzani says that “Iraq is obviously falling apart, and it’s obvious that the federal or central government has lost control over everything.”
Early August 2014 – (IRAQ) Reportedly 40,000 Yazidi, a minority group of Kurdish descent, flee to a mountainous region in northwestern Iraq to escape ISIS, after the group storms Sinjar, a town near the Syrian border. Also, 100,000 Christians flee to Erbil, after Kurdish leadership there promises protection in the city.
August 11, 2014 – (IRAQ) Kurdish fighters in Kurdistan, who are called Peshmerga, work with Iraqi armed forces to deliver aid to Yazidis stranded on Mount Sinjar after fleeing ISIS fighters.
August 12, 2014 – (IRAQ) Some Yazidi tell CNN that PKK fighters control parts of the mountain, and have offered food and protection from ISIS.
December 2, 2014 – (IRAQ) The government of Iraq and the government of Iraqi Kurdistan sign an agreement to share oil revenues and military resources. Iraq will now pay the salaries of Peshmerga fighters battling ISIS and act as an intermediary to deliver US weapons to Kurdish forces. The Kurdistan government will deliver more than half a million barrels of oil daily to the Iraqi government. Profits from the sale of the oil will be split between the two governments.
January 26, 2015 – (SYRIA) After 112 days of fighting, the YPG, Kurdish fighters also known as the People’s Protection Units, take control of the city of Kobani from ISIS.
March 21, 2015 – (TURKEY) In a letter read to thousands during a celebration in the city of Diyarbakir, imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan urges fighters under his command to lay down their arms, stop waging war against the Turkish state and join a “congress.”
May 18, 2015 – (TURKEY) In the run-up to parliamentary elections on June 7, an explosion rocks the office of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in Adana, in southeastern Turkey. Six people are injured.
June 7, 2015 – (TURKEY) Three-year-old fledgling party Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) receives more than 13% of the vote, winning 80 seats in the 550-seat parliament.
June 16, 2015 – (SYRIA) Kurdish forces in the Syrian town, Tal Abyad say they have defeated ISIS fighters and taken back the town on the Turkish border.
June 23, 2015 – (SYRIA) Kurdish fighters announce that they have taken back the town of Ain Issa, located 30 miles north of the ISIS stronghold, Raqqa, a city proclaimed to be the capital of the caliphate. A military base near Ain Issa, which had been occupied by ISIS since last August, is abandoned by the terrorist group the night before the Kurdish forces seize the town.
February 17, 2016 – (IRAQ) Turkish airstrikes target some of the PKK’s top figures in northern Iraq’s Haftanin region. Airstrikes come after a terrorist attack in Turkey kills 28, although no Kurdish group has claimed responsibility for those attacks.
March 13, 2016 – (TURKEY) A car bomb attack kills at least 37 people in Ankara. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK – an offshoot of the Kurdish separatist group PKK – takes responsibility for the attack.
March 17, 2016 – (SYRIA) Kurds declare that a swath of northeastern Syria is now a separate autonomous region under Kurdish control. The claim stirs up controversy, as Syrian and Turkish officials say it goes against the goal of creating a unified country after years of civil war.
July 20, 2016 – (TURKEY) Following a failed coup attempt, President Erdogan declares a state of emergency. In the first three months, pro-Kurdish media outlets are shut down, and tens of thousands of civil servants with alleged PKK connections are dismissed or suspended. The purge includes ministers of parliament, military leaders, police, teachers and mayors, including in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir.
September 25, 2017 – (IRAQ) Iraqi Kurds vote in favor of declaring independence from Iraq. More than 92% of the roughly 3 million people vote “yes” to independence.
March 23, 2019 – (SYRIA) Kurdish forces announce they have captured the eastern Syrian pocket of Baghouz, the last populated area under ISIS rule.
October 9, 2019 – (TURKEY/SYRIA) Turkey launches a military offensive into northeastern Syria, just days after US President Donald Trump’s administration announced that US troops would leave the border area. Erdogan’s “Operation Peace Spring” is an effort to drive away Kurdish forces from the border, and use the area to resettle around two million Syrian refugees. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who operate in the region are Kurdish-led, and still hold thousands of ISIS fighters captured in battle.
October 17, 2019 – (TURKEY/SYRIA) US Vice President Mike Pence announces that he and Erdogan agreed to a ceasefire halting Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria. The Turkish government insists that the agreement is not a ceasefire, but only a “pause” on operations in the region.
November 15, 2019 – (TURKEY/SYRIA) Turkey’s decision to launch a military operation targeting US-Kurdish partners in northern Syria and the Trump administration’s subsequent retreat allowed ISIS to rebuild itself and boosted its ability to launch attacks abroad, the Pentagon’s Inspector General says in an Operation Inherent Resolve quarterly report.
March 24, 2020 – (SYRIA) The SDF releases a statement calling for a humanitarian truce in response to a United Nations appeal for a global ceasefire to combat the coronavirus.
July 30, 2020 – (SYRIA) During a US Senate committee hearing, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirms the Trump administration’s support for the Delta Crescent Energy firm’s deal to develop and modernize oil fields in northeast Syria under control of the SDF. The following week, Syria’s foreign ministry calls the deal an attempt to “steal” the oil.
February 8, 2021 – (SYRIA) Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby is questioned about the Delta Crescent Energy deal during a press conference. He says that the US Department of Defense under the Joe Biden administration is focused on fighting ISIS. It is not aiding a private company.
January 20-26, 2022 – (SYRIA) ISIS lays siege to a prison in northeast Syria, in an attempt to break out thousands of the group’s members who were detained in 2019. In coordination with US-led coalition airstrikes, SDF regains control of the prison. This is believed to be the biggest coordinated attack by ISIS since the fall of the caliphate three years prior.
September 16, 2022 – (IRAN) Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, dies after being detained by “morality police” and taken to a “re-education center,” allegedly for not abiding by the country’s conservative dress code. Public anger over her death combines with a range of grievances against the Islamic Republic’s oppressive regime to fuel months of nationwide demonstrations, which continue despite law makers urging the country’s judiciary to “show no leniency” to protesters.
November 12, 2022 – (IRAN) The Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO) group claims Iranian security forces have killed at least 326 people since nationwide protests erupted two months ago. Authorities have unleashed a deadly crackdown on demonstrators, with reports of forced detentions and physical abuse being used to target the country’s Kurdish minority group.
