The Middle East Research Institute (MERI) held an Emergency Briefing on 16th of June 2014, covering the ongoing security situation in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Invited were high-level Kurdish political and military representatives, members of the foreign consuls and a large section of the international press. With the whole of Iraq being taken by surprise and the serious nature of the events, MERI felt it necessary to hold a series of briefing events so that a clearer picture of the situation on the ground could be provided. The situation before and after the fall of Mosul was discussed. The group was briefed on the reality on the ground for Iraqi and Peshmerga forces. Political issues were also raised including the climate that contributed to the situation, the issue of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and the Kurdish role in the disputed territories. A brief overview of the core issues that were discussed and the points that were raised follows in this document. The event was intended to brief those who already had strong background knowledge of the situation. The following points do not represent the view of the organisation, they are just issues that were raised during the course of the discussion. The organisation does not vouch for the truth or accuracy of any of the following points.
A meeting report from the first briefing event, held on the 16th of June, is available for download from the link below:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MEETING REPORT
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About MERI: The Middle East Research Institute is Iraq’s leading policy-research institute and think tank. It is an independent, entirely grant-funded not-for-profit organisation, based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region. Its mission is to contribute to the process of nation-building, state-building and democratisation via engagement, research, analysis and policy debates.
MERI’s main objectives include promoting and developing human rights, good governance, the rule of law and social and economic prosperity. MERI conduct high impact, high quality research (including purpose-based field work) and has published extensively in areas of: human rights, government reform, international politics, national security, ISIS, refugees, IDPs, minority rights (Christians, Yezidis, Turkmen, Shabaks, Sabi mandeans), Baghdad-Erbil relations, Hashd Al-Shabi, Peshmarga, violence against women, civil society. MERI engages policy- and decision-makers, the civil society and general public via publication, focused group discussions and conferences (MERI Forum).