Travels in the Kurdish Blogosphere · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

New this week…. Kurdo from Kurdo's World was interviewed by The Kurdistani, a Kurdish news agency posting out of the United Kingdom. Kurdo's World is considered as the first Kurdish blog that has focused on Kurdish political issues. After his blog has achieved a measureable amount of success, he started a new project, the Kurdistan Bloggers Union and then later the Northern Iraq project. In the interview  Kurdo discusses why he started to blog, his inspirations and his projects aimed at fostering more interest in the plight of the Kurds and Kurdistan.
With the recent ideological split between the Kurdistan Bloggers Union and the Northern Iraq Project, a new rival blog to KBU has been started called Roj Bash (Good Morning). Still in its infancy it promises to be a blog of note. While the infighting between the two projects is lamentable, the expansion of more open forum blogs on Kurdistan is a step in a positive direction.
Mentioned on both Kurdo's World and on the Kurdistan Bloggers Union is the new ad campaign begun by the Kurdistan Development Corporation, the investment corporation sponsered by the Kurdistan Regional Government in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan. The ad campaign is part of a new project called The Other Iraq which aims to change American and British public opinion on the people of Iraq, and to spur more economic investment in the region. The “Thank You for Democracy” commericals have begun to air on television stations in the US.
A new Kurdish Blog has been found this week called Bleak Blogorrhea, which on its first post has a link to the Google Print book “Mustafa Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement” by Massoud Barzani, which should be of interest to anyone studying Kurdish liberation movements.
Two bloggers have come back from a brief hiatus: Simko from Sulaimaniya, who has posted a flight departure table from an airport with the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government as destination, a new phenomenon in Iraq. Sami from Iraqi Thoughts is also back, and in his most recent post  expresses his condolances to those that lost their lives in the recent hotel bombings in Jordan.
Vladimir from From Holland to Kurdistan focused primarily on the Kurds within the borders of Turkey. A bookstore bombing in the Southeast of the country was originally blamed on PKK terrorists, however in the Turkish media it has come out that Turkish Military Intelligence might be behind the blast, based on evidence found so far. Other posts include an article from Dr Ahmad Faruqui, which discusses Ataturk's Legacy.
Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes writes this week in support of a recent protest against corruption in Erbil (Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan). He also gives his predictions regarding the new Iraqi legislative election this December. Hiwa predicts:
What I think will happen is, there will be a greater Shiite turnout. There will be a greater Sunni turnout as well as they will say well this is going to be for four years so we would rather exist than not exist in the government as it is now taking a form. But there will be a less Kurdish turnout due as PUK and KDP are not keeping their promises and the corruption happening all around Kurdistan. I think if they do something about Kurdistan government within these weeks they might be able to make a big difference in the turnout.
He is confident that change is coming, and that it will come from the people.