Turkey's refusal to accept Finland and Sweden's bid to join NATO has triggered a spat within the alliance otherwise united over the two Nordic countries' prospective entry.

If Ankara can be tactful about Stockholm and Helsinki’s possible membership in NATO, it has a chance to see its concerns addressed.

Iranian newly-appointed ambassador to Iraq Mohammad-Kazem Al Sadeq presented his credentials to Iraqi President Barham Salih on Tuesday, May 17.

Russia’s ambassador to Iraq addressed plans to export natural gas from the Kurdistan Region to Europe in an interview yesterday, May 11.

Jailed Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas, a former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has called on Turkey’s writers, artists, academics and journalists to unite and help establish full democracy in the country by taking “an active stance” for it in the period towards June 2023 elections, local media reported on Thursday, May 12.

In an interview with Kurdpress, James Carey, an expert on Turkey affairs, spoke about the external and internal challenges of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the upcoming elections in 2023 and his specific actions to address them, including the opposition's efforts to oust him, the future of Turkey Kurds, many other issues in Turkey and the war in Ukraine as well as the unprecedented confrontation between the West and Russia after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

The representative of the Syrian Democratic Assembly in the Iraqi Kurdistan region said the self-government administration had prepared itself for any confrontation with possible dangers and was taking the threats seriously, politically and diplomatically, as well as socially and militarily.

A member of the Central Committee of the Syrian Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK.S) said: "We are part of the Syrian opposition coalition, which is present at international meetings, but we are not part of the military actions and inhumane behavior of armed groups and we have no force within them."

The director of the Sharpress Media Institute in the Kurdistan Region and a prominent political analyst said about the region's gas export project that "What can be seen now is that the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) sees this project (gas export) as its monopoly project, although it is being pursued in the name of the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) and the Prime Minister himself, but the other parties have not participated. And the Iraqi central government is not involved in this project."

The United States seeks to conclude stalled talks between the Syrian Kurds.

During his visit to Soleimani, the Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani will have separate meetings with Baffel Talabani, the joint chairman of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the leaders of the Movement for Change, the Kurdistan Islamic Union, and the Jamaat-e-Adalat.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde has pushed back against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s claims that Stockholm is soft on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group, saying her country recognized the PKK as a terrorist organization in 1984.

A delegation from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is expected to visit Sulaimani city next week to hold talks with political parties, a KDP source said on Friday, May 20.

Dozens of prominent women, intellectuals and activists from around the world, have written a letter to the United Nations calling for an end to the Turkish government's attacks and occupations against Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan, Syria and Makhmur as well as Shingal.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) described Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent rejection of Finland and Sweden's NATO membership as an attempt to seize NATO control and create a mentality against Kurdish groups in the region.