» Basic facts

Basic facts

February 17, 2015, 11:13

Flag:

Consists of three transverse fields of red, white and green colours. The sun in the center is a religious and national symbol. Twenty-one-rays symbolize the 21st day of March, which is the Kurdish new year.

Emblem:

Anthem:

The Kurds have their national anthem Ey Reqib. The song was written in 1938 by a Kurdish poet and political activist Dildar, while he was imprisoned. “Ey Reqib” in Kurdish means “Hey guard,” which refers to the prison guards in the prison where he was held and tortured. In 1946, the song was adopted as the anthem of the Republic of Mahabad. It was also the official anthem of the Kurdistan Region.

Ey reqib her mawe qewmi Kurd ziman,

Nay siken danery topi zeman

Kes nele Kurd mirduwe

Kurd zin duwe,

Zin duwe qet nanewe alakeman

(…)

Oh, enemy! The Kurdish people live on,

They have not been crushed by the weapons of any time

Let no one say Kurds are dead, they are living

They live and never shall we lower our flag

(…)

Map:

The Kurdistan Region area with the Kurdish areas outside the jurisdiction of the Kurdistan Regional Government ARE MARKED on the map (marked) with stripes.

Key facts:

Area: 40.643 thousand. km2
Population: 5,3 mln
Capital: Erbil/Hawler – 1,5 mln
Administrative divisions: 3 governorship (Erbil, Sulaimaniya, Duhok)
Neighbors: Turkey, Iran, Syria
Currency: Iraqi Dinar (IQD)
The budget of the Kurdistan Region (2013): 13.1 billion dollars
Unemployment rate (2012): 6%
The inflation rate (2012): 5.6%
GDP (2011): $ 23.6 billion
GDP per capita (2011): 4 452 $. (Since 2003, GDP per capita in the Kurdistan region increased by 1400%.)
Economic growth (2013): 8%
Government type: parliamentary democracy
President: Masoud Barzani
Premier: Nechirvan Barzani
Official languages: Kurdish, Arabic, and in some areas the Assyrian and Turkmen
The main national holiday: Newroz- Kurdish New Year (March 21)
Religions: Approx. 90% of the Kurds are Muslims, 90% profess Sunni Islam. At the same time Iraqi Kurdistan is a place where for many years the Muslims live in peace with the followers of other religions, including Christianity and Judaism Yezidism.

The reasons of the Kurdistan Regional Government existence based on the Iraqi Constitution

Art 1: The Republic of Iraq is a single, independent federal state with full sovereignty.

Art 3: Iraq is a country of many nationalities, religions and sects

Art. 115: All powers not stipulated in the exclusive powers of the federal government belong to the authorities of the regions […] With regard to other powers shared between the federal government and the regional government, priority shall be given to the law of the regions.

Art. 117 (1) This Constitution, upon coming into force, shall recognize the region of Kurdistan, along with its existing authorities, as a federal region.

Art. 120: Each region shall adopt a constitution of its own that defines the structure of powers of the region, its authorities, and the mechanisms for exercising such authorities, provided that it does not contradict Iraqi Constitution.

Art. 121, (1) The regional powers shall have the right to exercise executive, legislative, and judicial powers in accordance with this Constitution, except for those authorities stipulated in the exclusive authorities of the federal government.

Art. 121, (2) In case of a contradiction between regional and national legislation in respect to a matter outside the exclusive authorities of the federal government, the regional power shall have the right to amend the application of the national legislation within that region.

Art. 121, (4) Offices for the regions and provinces shall be established in embassies and diplomatic missions, in order to follow cultural, social, and developmental affairs.

Art. 121, (5) The regional government shall be responsible for all the administrative requirements of the region, particularly the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the region such as police, security forces, and guards of the region.

Kurdistan Parliament:

111 deputies – 77 men 34 women
The Speaker of Parliament: Yousif Mohamed
The minimum percentage of positions for women in Parliament – 30%
11 committees supervising legal issues within their competence
4-year term of parliament
May the 19th, 1992 the first parliamentary and presidential elections were held
attendance in recent elections- 74%

The main political parties (RESULTS FROM (the result in) the last election):

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) – 37,8%
Change List (Gorran) – 24,2 %
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – 17,8%
Kurdistan Islamic Union (Yekgrtu) – 9,5%
Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komall) – 6%
Inne – 4,7%

Diplomatic missions in the Kurdistan Region:

General consulates:Iran, Russia, Germany, France, Turkey, United Kingdom, the USA, Jordan, Palestine

Consulates: Egypt, the United Arab Emirates

Embassy offices: Korea, Sweden, Romania, Netherlands

Embassy Consular Offices: Italy, Poland

Honorary Consulates: Spain, Japan, Denmark, Belarus, Slovakia, Brazil

Commercial Offices: Austria, Czech Republic, Greece

A total of 26 countries have their representations in the Kurdistan Region.

Offices of the Kurdistan Regional Government in the world:

Australia, Austria, Permanent Representation to the EU (Brussels), France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, the United States

Economy and Finances:

Main trading partners: the European Union, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, China, the United Arab Emirates, the USA
$ 5 billion of direct foreign investments (2012)
According to statistics from 2013, in the Kurdistan Region there were 2300 foreign companies and 15,000 local businesses registered.
Investments are driven by liberal and transparent investment law

Tourism:

Revenue from tourism in 2013. year- approx. $ 1 billion. Projected revenues from tourism in 2015: $ 1.5 billion
950 milionów dolarów przydzielonych przez Ministerstwo Turystyki w celu realizacji 47 projektów rozwoju branży turystycznej w 2013 roku
In 2014 Erbil is THE (a) Tourism capital of ALL Arab Countries.
In June 2014 the first sight on the territory of the Kurdistan Region, the citadel in Erbil, which is considered to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the world was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The number of tourists who visited the Kurdistan Region (2012): 2.2 million
The government estimates that by 2025 the Kurdistan Region will have 7 million tourists annually.
The Kurdistan Region is currently operated by two international airports (Erbil International Airport, Slemä International Airport). Soon A (the) third AIRPORT (one) is to be completed – Duhok International Airport

Education:

$ 3.4 billion are prepared to invest in education.
$ 100 million is assigned by the Kurdistan Regional Government for the Human Capital Development Programme – foreign scholarships for students from the Kurdistan Region.
Estimated for 2015. Illiteracy rate: 7%
Schools (2012): 2,641
Students of primary and secondary schools (2012): 1.6 million
13 public universities and 11 private universities
Most taken studying specializations: medicine and engineering
The number of enrolled students (2013): More than 115,000
The expected number of graduates (2013): 5,000-6,000

Energy industry – oil and gas:

Proved oil reserves: 45 billion barrels
Natural gas reserves: 100 – 200 trillion cubic meters
57 discovered oil and gas fields
Deposits of minerals: iron, chromium, nickel, platinum, gold, copper, zinc
Production of oil:

250,000 barrels per day in 2013
0.5 million barrels by the end of 2014
2,000,000 barrels before 2019

39 large oil companies from 19 different countries working in the Kurdistan Region (including Chevron, Exxon, Gazprom, OMV, Repsol, Total, MOL).

Oil exports:

AN Energy Agreement signed between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey assumes the transport of THE oil pipeline from THE Kurdistan Region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.