Kurdistan in America

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Kurdistan in America podcast, brought to you by the Kurdistan Regional Government Representation in the United States, host Delovan Barwari takes a closer look at the recent parliamentary elections in Kurdistan, held on October 20th. Delovan is joined by Dr. Mohammedali Yaseen Taha, a former Kurdistan Parliament member, academic, and current adviser to the KRG Prime Minister. With his background in political science, Dr. Taha shares valuable insights i...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Kurdistan in America podcast, host Delovan Barwari is joined by Emma DeCaro and Dr. Karwan Al-Dosakee to discuss the Kurdistan Deaf Human Rights Initiative, a transformative project aimed at advancing the rights and services for the deaf community in Kurdistan. They shed light on the challenges faced by deaf individuals, such as the lack of access to sign language education beyond the 9th grade and the very limited opportunities available from 1st to 9t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the "Kurdistan in America" podcast, host Delovan Barwari talks with Rick Hall, Co-Founder and Educational Director of Prairie Rose Agricultural Institute, and Jihan Brifki, Executive Director of Hanasa Plus. They discuss the environmental challenges in the Kurdistan Region and how the Earth Partnership program can address these issues through education. The Earth Partnership program, started at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1991, focuses on restor...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to the "Kurdistan in America" podcast, the official podcast of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representation in the United States, hosted by Delovan Barwari, Director of Academic Affairs and Strategic Initiatives. In this episode, we delve into the harrowing events of 3 August 2014, when ISIS launched a brutal genocidal campaign against the Yezidi community in Sinjar. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Yezidi Genocide, a tragic event that has l...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to 'The Kurdistan in America' podcast, the official podcast of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representation in the United States. Hosted by Delovan Barwari, the main objective of this podcast is to delve into the rich ties between Kurdistan and the United States. In the fifth episode of season five, we are honored to host Dr. Carolyn Melby, Co-Founder and Treasurer of the Kurdistan Nursing and Midwifery Development Foundation. Carolyn is a distinguished nur...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to 'The Kurdistan in America' podcast, the official podcast of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representation in the United States. In this fourth episode of season five, host Delovan Barwari welcomes Mr. Stephen Fox, a PhD student at the University of Kentucky's Department of Anthropology, where he also serves as a Graduate Teaching Instructor. Stephen's primary focus is on Cultural Anthropology with a particular interest in Kurdish culture and history. ...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to 'The Kurdistan in America' podcast, the official podcast of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representation in the United States. In this episode, host Delovan Barwari welcomes Professor David Romano, the Thomas G. Strong Chair in Middle East Politics at Missouri State University. Dr. Romano is the author of "The Kurdish Nationalist Movement" and the co-editor of "Conflict, Democratization, and the Kurdish Issue in the Middle East" and "The Kurds in the Mid...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to 'The Kurdistan in America' podcast, the official podcast of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representation in the United States. In this second episode of season five, hosted by Delovan Barwari, we are honored to have a very special guest, Mr. Falah Mustafa. Mr. Falah Mustafa, Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs to the President of Kurdistan Region, His Excellency Nechirvan Barzani, delves into the recent visit of the Kurdistan Region Presidency delegati...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to 'The Kurdistan in America' podcast, the official podcast of the KRG Representation in Washington DC, hosted by Delovan Barwari. In the Season Five kickoff episode, we are honored to welcome Dr. Yerevan Saeed, the Mustafa Barzani Scholar in Residence at American University and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute. In this episode, Dr. Saeed shares his academic journey, including his impressive accomplishment of earning a PhD in Peace and Conflict...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to a new episode of the 'Kurdistan in America' podcast, marking our twelfth and final episode of Season Four. We are honored to feature Ms. Bonnie Carroll, the president and founder of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), a non-governmental organization dedicated to supporting families affected by military losses. As we approach the new year, we'd like to take a moment to extend our warm wishes to our audience for a joyous holiday season and a New Yea...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to a new episode of the 'Kurdistan in America' podcast, marking our eleventh episode of Season Four. We are honored to feature retired Brigadier General Ernest C. Audino, a renowned strategic military leader and a seasoned expert in national security and foreign policy. General Audino serves as the District Director for U.S. Congressman Michael Waltz and as a Senior Military Fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy. He is the only U.S. general officer ...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to another insightful episode of the "Kurdistan in America" podcast, our tenth episode of Season Four. We are privileged to have Dr. Michael Knights, a renowned Middle East expert from The Washington Institute, join us. Dr. Knights is the Jill and Jay Bernstein Fellow at The Washington Institute, specializing in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran, and the Gulf states. He also co-founded the Militia Spotlight platform, offering in-depth analysis of the Ir...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to another engaging episode of the Kurdistan in America podcast: our ninth episode of Season Four. We're honored to host a seasoned guest, Myles B. Caggins III. Myles, a retired U.S. Army colonel, has transitioned into a crucial role as the spokesperson for The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan, known as APIKUR. His shift from a military realm to a pivotal voice in Kurdistan's oil sector is truly remarkable. In this episode, we discuss the impactful...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the eighth episode of Season Four of the Kurdistan in America podcast. We are delighted to have Dr. Nahro Zagros, the Editor-in-Chief of Kurdistan Chronicle, as our distinguished guest. Dr. Zagros, previously the Vice President of Soran University, currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy in Washington, D.C. Beyond his academic achievements, he shares his insights on politics and culture through various local and interna...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the seventh episode of Season Four of the Kurdistan in America podcast. We are honored to have Minister Safeen Muhsin Dizayee, Kurdistan Region's top diplomat and head of the Department of Foreign Relations, as our special guest. With an impressive track record, Minister Dizayee previously served as the Chief of Staff to the former KRG Prime Minister, as well as the Spokesperson and Head of the Department of Media and Information, and the Minister of Education. He...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the United States, as its guest in episode 6 of season four. Ms Abdul Rahman was appointed the KRG envoy to the United States in 2015 and is about to embark on a new chapter of her career in public service by taking on the role of advisor to Prime Minister Masrour Barzani for foreign affairs and climate change. In this interview, Ms Abdul Rahman r...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is proud to present an interview with two special and distinguished guests, a father and son, in the fifth episode of Season Four. We are honored to have Ariel Sabar, an acclaimed author, and Professor Yona Sabar, the central figure of Ariel’s book, ‘My Father's Paradise.’ In this episode, we hope to deepen our understanding of the history of the Jews in Kurdistan and explore the vibrant diversity and cultural heritage of Kurdistan, with its ...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is proud to present an interview with two distinguished guests in the fourth episode of Season Four. We are honored to have on our show Minister Mohammad Shukri, Chairman of the Kurdistan Board of Investment, and Ms. Carez Dargallay, Head of the Board’s Foreign Direct Investment Unit. Through our discussion, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of Kurdistan’s economic potential and the efforts being made to attract investment to...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Lieutenant Colonel Eric Howard as our guest in the third episode of Season Four. In this special episode, we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Iraq. March 20th, 2003 marked the beginning of the Second Gulf War. For the Kurdish people and the vast majority of Iraqis, it was a moment of hope as they looked to the future with optimism. As the former commander of Advanced Operations Base 040 in t...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Nashville Mayor John Cooper as our guest in the second episode of Season Four. Nashville is often referred to as Little Kurdistan for its large and vibrant Kurdish community. Mr. Cooper was elected Mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County in 2019, having previously served as an At-Large Member of Metro Council from 2015. He holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a maste...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Ms. Jennifer Gavito as our guest in the first episode of Season Four. Ms. Gavito is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran, Iraq, and Public Diplomacy at the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. She previously served as the Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the US Embassy in London. She has spent most of her Foreign Service career working in and on the Middle East. The discussion is centered on her role at the Depart...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Mr. Martin Manna as our guest in the twelfth episode of Season Three. Mr. Martin Manna is the President of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce and Chaldean Community Foundation. The Chaldean Chamber of Commerce represents the estimated 25,000 Chaldean-owned businesses in Michigan. The Chaldean Community Foundation provides social services to more than 40,000 New Americans annually. Mr. Manna shares his personal...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Mr. Jonathan Lord as its guest in the eleventh episode of Season Three. Mr. Lord is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. He previously served as the Iraq country director in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy as well as a political-military analyst in the Department of Defense. He holds an M.A. in security studies from G...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Dr. Marianna Charountaki as its guest in the tenth episode of Season Three. Dr. Charountaki is an expert on U.S. Foreign Policy toward Kurds. She is currently a Research Fellow at Soran University in the Kurdistan Region and a Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Lincoln. She is a BRISMES trustee and convenor of the BISA Foreign Policy Working Group. Previously, she was the Director of the Ku...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Dr. Lori Mason as its guest in the ninth episode of Season Three. Dr. Lori Mason is a Senior Technical Expert for IREX, a global development and education organization. She has over twenty years of experience leading a wide range of education programming, with nearly a decade in the Kurdistan Region. Dr. Mason has designed programs to improve the overall relevance of higher education, institutionalizing changes withi...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Ms. Xeyal Qertel as its guest in the eighth episode of Season Three. Ms. Qertel is the President and Founder of the New York Kurdish Cultural Center. She founded the organization in 2017 to provide a safe space for diaspora Kurds in New York to reclaim and celebrate their cinema, poetry, literature, and music—and to introduce non-Kurds to Kurdish culture and art. She directs the annual New York Kurdish Film and Cultural Fes...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Mr. Hadi Pir as its guest in the seventh episode of Season Three. This special episode comes just one week before the 8th anniversary of the genocide committed by ISIS, or Daesh, against the Yazidis in 2014. On August 3, 2014, members of the terrorist organization Daesh, also known as ISIS, unleashed a savage attack against Yazidis in the Sinjar district, massacring 5,000 Yazidi men and abducting about 7,000 Yazidi ...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Brigadier General Hazhar Ismail as our guest in the sixth episode of Season Three. General Hazhar Ismael is a Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs. He followed in his father's footsteps by joining the peshmerga forces three decades ago. He helped establish the Freedom Battalion, the first Iraqi battalion created after the liberation of Iraq in 2003. He is also a co-founder and member of the Management Board o...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Dr. Adhid Miri as our guest in the fifth episode of Season Three. Dr. Miri is the Director of Projects at the Chaldean Community Foundation, the non-profit arm of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce in Michigan. He has had leadership roles across various programs, including the resettlement and integration of refugees. Dr. Miri shares his experience living in Iraq and migrating to the United States and sheds li...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Ms. Dilman Yasin and Ms. Wan Rashid, Kurdish-American activists from the Kurdish diaspora in Nashville, as its guests this month. Dilman was born in Kuremay, a village outside of Duhok City, and came to America with her family at the age of five. She is currently a Performance Manager in the Nashville Mayor's office and the Director of Community Outreach for Kurdish Professionals, a non-profit organization assisting Kurds. ...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Ms. Ashti Waissi as its guest this month. Ms. Waissi is Legislative Assistant at the Canadian Parliament and a former staff assistant to the Co-Founder of the Parliamentary Friends of the Kurds Group, Mr. Tom Kmiec, MP for Calgary Shepard. She has a dual degree in Political Science and Sociology. Ms. Waissi's family is from Iranian Kurdistan, but she was born in a refugee camp in Iraq. She tells us her experience li...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Congressman Jim Langevin as its guest this month. Congressman Langevin has been Representing Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District since 2001. He is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Homeland Security. He shares his history of service in Congress and the potentially devastating experience that inspired him to run for office. He also expresses his views on the US-Kurdistan relati...

Send us Fan Mail This is a special podcast message from the Kurdistan Regional Government Representation in the United States. Several members of Congress introduced a bipartisan resolution, Concurrent Resolution 32, to the House of Representatives Commemorating the 30th anniversary of Operation Provide Comfort and Kurdish-American partnership. The resolution was also introduced to the US Senate by Senator Van Hollen and Senator Marco Rubio. As of today, 25 members of the House have co-sponso...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Mr. Sarhang Hamasaeed as our guest in the first episode of Season Three. Mr. Hamasaeed is the director of Middle East Programs at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, DC. He is also a regular lecturer at the Foreign Service Institute on ISIS and challenges to governance in Iraq. The USIP is an American nonpartisan, independent institute founded by Congress and is tasked with promoting conflict resolut...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have General James Jones as our guest in this special edition. General Jones was the 32nd Commandant of the US Marine Corps, the Supreme Allied Commander for the European Command, and National Security Advisor to President Barrack Obama. He was also one of the original commanders of Operation Provide Comfort, the military-humanitarian operation that saved countless lives in Kurdistan in 1991. General Jones shares with us his expe...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Ms. Karen Young as its guest this month. Ms. Young is a senior fellow and founding director of the Program on Economics and Energy at the Washington DC-based think tank, the Middle East Institute. Previously, she was a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on the political economy of the Middle East and the Gulf Cooperation Council. She shares her experience about her recent visit to the Kurdistan...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Senator Chris Van Hollen as its guest in this special bonus edition. Senator Van Hollen, who has a long record of public service in the US Congress, has co-sponsored S.Con.Res.16 with Senator Marco Rubio. The bipartisan resolution commemorates the anniversary of Operation Provide Comfort, the humanitarian-military mission that averted catastrophe after hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled Saddam Hussein's forces in 1991. The ...

Send us Fan Mail This month, the Kurdistan in America podcast is going north to Canada and is pleased to have the Honorable Tom Kmiec MP as its guest. Mr. Kmiec is serving his third term as a Member of the Canadian Parliament for Calgary Shepard. He is also the co-founder of the Canadian Parliamentary Friends of the Kurds. Mr. Kmiec shares his insights on Canada's involvement in the Kurdistan Region and potential areas to expand bilateral relations. He also sheds light on his impressive know...

Send us Fan Mail This month, the Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Dr. Matthew Zais as its guest. Matt is the former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of International Affairs at the US Department of Energy. Currently, he serves as the Vice President of Government Relations at HKN Energy, which has invested in Kurdistan’s oil sector. Matt also served as Iraq Director at the Trump White House National Security Council for two years and the US military for over t...

Send us Fan Mail This month, the Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Colonel David Williams as its guest. Colonel Williams is the former Director of the Counter-ISIS Coalition's Kurdistan Coordination Center, part of the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve. He was stationed in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, for one year. He shares with us his experience working alongside the Kurdish security forces and his involvement in the Peshmerga unificati...

Send us Fan Mail This month, the Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to host Mr. Rob Waller as our guest. Mr. Waller was the US Consul General in Erbil for one year from July 2020 and has just completed his assignment in Kurdistan. He has previously served as a career member of the Senior Foreign Service of the United States in several capacities, including the Director of the Office of Iraq Affairs and as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran at the State Department.&nb...

Send us Fan Mail This month, the Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to host Ms. Nadine Maenza as our guest. Ms. Maenza currently serves as the Chair of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. Ms. Maenza discusses USCIRF's key recommendations on Iraq, the Ir...

Send us Fan Mail This month, the Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Colonel Myles Caggins as its guest. Colonel Caggins currently serves as the Director of the Public Affairs for the U.S. Army’s III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas, and was the former Spokesperson for the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve: The international military intervention against ISIS. He shares with us his upbringing, lifelong professional experience in the U.S. Army, including his vi...

Send us Fan Mail This month, the Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Dr. David Pollock as its guest. Dr. Pollock is the Bernstein Fellow and Director of the Fikra Forum at The Washington Institute. He sheds light on his experience working as a regional expert on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff during Operation Provide Comfort, his visit to Baghdad at the height of the conflict in December 2006, and his first visit to the Kurdistan Region. Additionally, Dr. Pollock s...

Send us Fan Mail This month, the Kurdistan in America podcast is honored to have Sherri Kraham Talabany as its guest. When Mrs. Kraham Talabany first heard about Kurdistan as an American university student, little did she realize that her life would be inexorably tied to the people of that land. Ms. Kraham went on to work for the US government, which included working on Kurdistan and Iraq, and she married Qubad Talabani, who is today the KRG's, Deputy Prime Minister. She now lives in Kurdista...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features a discussion with David Tafuri, the President of the United States Kurdistan Business Council (USKBC), an advisor to the Kurdistan Regional Government Representation in the United States, and a political commentator on Fox News. Mr. Tafuri sheds light on the mission of the USKBC and the organization’s activities in the Kurdistan Region, his experience working for UNHCR in Turkey and later for the US Embassy in Iraq in 2006 and 2007. He also offers his ta...

Send us Fan Mail This episode of the Kurdistan in America features a discussion with two distinguished guests from the American University of Kurdistan (AUK): Dr. Honar Issa, the Secretary of the Board of Trustees, and Dr. Randall Rhodes, the President of the American University of Kurdistan. As a pioneer at the university, Dr. Honar discusses the university's mission and vision, its challenges during the establishment phase, the current state of the education system in Kurdistan, and offers ...

Send us Fan Mail With ISIS only a few miles away, you'd think that the last thing an American NGO would want to do is start considering restoring a tomb in Iraq of a prophet from the Old Testament. But that's exactly what ARCH International did in 2014 when it began to look at the tomb of Prophet Nahom in Al Qosh. In this episode of the Kurdistan in America Podcast, Delovan Barwari, from the KRG Representation in the United States, speaks to Sophia Schultz from ARCH International and K...

Send us Fan Mail The Kurdistan In America podcast welcomes Kathy Keary from the Mines Advisory Group, known as MAG, which has been working in Kurdistan Region in Iraq since 1992. Ms. Keary says that Kurdistan Region alone would be in the top five most contaminated countries in the world affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance, while Iraq as a whole is in the top three. Find out in this interview what MAG is doing to empower local communities in Kurdistan, Sinjar, and across Iraq t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Kurdistan in America podcast, our guest is Sam Brownback, the US Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom. Listen to Ambassador Brownback assess the progress that has been made in promoting religious freedom around the world, why he sees Kurdistan as a model of coexistence, and what faith means to him personally.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Kurdistan in America podcast, we interview Yadgar Merani, the founder and CEO of Lezzoo, an on-demand delivery service that has expanded to delivering groceries, cleaning and other services. Listen to Yadgar tell the story of the Kurdistan Region’s most exciting start-up, the only start-up in Kurdistan and Iraq to be supported by YCombinator, and his hopes for youth entrepreneurs in Kurdistan and Iraq.

Send us Fan Mail This episode features an interview with Dr. Shahla Gli, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute. Dr. Shahla obtained her masters and Ph.D. in International Affairs at Tufts University. The discussion is about the US-Iraq Strategic Dialogue, Erbil-Baghdad Relations, and the fate of Sinjar and Nineveh Plains.

Send us Fan Mail This episode features an interview with Steve Lutes Steve is the Vice President of Middle East Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is the Executive Director of the U.S.-Egypt Business Council, the U.S.-Iraq Business Initiative, the U.S.-GCC Business Initiative. Steve discusses the activities of the US Chamber of Commerce and the US-Iraq Business Council and shares his experience in the Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq.

Send us Fan Mail This episode features an interview with Robert Ford, the former US Ambassador to Algeria and Syria, and former deputy Ambassador to Iraq from 2008 to 2010. Ambassador Ford discusses his experience in Iraq and shares his views about developments in the region. Music is "Bo Kurdistan" by Zakaria - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE3bid6Td_g

Send us Fan Mail Interview with Hoshang Mohammed, Director of KRG's Joint Crisis Coordination Center about the humanitarian crisis in Kurdistan and his first encounters with Americans. Music is Zakaria's "Bo Kurdistan".

Send us Fan Mail Interview with Zack Bazzi, the Regional Director for the Middle East and Central Asia with Spirit of America. We talk about Spirit of America's support for the Peshmerga during COVID-19, the ongoing humanitarian crisis, and Zack's first arrival in Kurdistan as a Sergeant in the US Army. Music is "Bo Kurdistan" by Zakaria - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE3bid6Td_g

Send us Fan Mail Interview with Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Joey Hood. We talk about the relationship between Kurdistan and the United States, his family connection to Operation Provide Comfort in the 1990s, and his dream of seeing leben Erbil in America's supermarkets. Music is "Bo Kurdistan" by Zakaria - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE3bid6Td_g

Send us Fan Mail Episode 1 - February 12, 2020 A short summary of the latest news from Kurdistan, followed by an interview with Heba El Kayal, curator of the Middle East Institute's art exhibition "Speaking Across Mountains: Kurdish Artists in Dialogue", on display at MEI until February 20. Kurdistan in America is the official podcast of the Kurdistan Regional Government Representation in the United States. For more information, visit us.gov.krd, or on Twitter @KRG_USA. The music in this p...