The Centre for Kurdish Progress was pleased to hold this parliamentary event on the growing challenges of unemployment in Kurdistan, and to hold a discourse on how the issue of unemployment affected every aspect of life across the region.
The speakers shared their insights on the situation on the ground and its impact on the communities across the world. They also discussed what more could be done to protect future generations from the growing challenges of unemployment.
The speakers included Bako Ahmed, a prominent figure amongst British Kurds and a business owner with vast experience across different sectors, including as a political commentator. Ahmed was born in Selmani and is active in Kurdish politics. He was a vocal activist of the pro-Kurdish political Party, HPD. Hosting and engaging with key political actors across Kurdistan, Ahmed has regularly held sit-down discussions with key local political figures across Wolverhampton and Birmingham. He campaigned successfully to have Kurdish created as a GCSE and is active in demonstrations and holding events with the Kurdish Clerisy Organisation.
Aland Bekas, born in Sweden in 2003, grew up in the UK. He is the great-grandson of Mahmood Effendi, who was the first person to document Iraq, through film and photography. His family is originally from Slemani in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and have been instrumental across Kurdistan, fighting for social and political causes that directly affect Kurdish people. Active in revolutionary fights and within the Peshmerga, Ahmed is committed to continuing in his family’s footsteps of fighting for Kurdistan. He has been a vocal activist on Kurdish issues and focuses on his own life experience and that of others, drawing attention to what young Kurdish people want, both domestically across the region and within the diaspora.
Dr Bamo Nouri, a leading expert in his field, was also a speaker at the event. He is a scholar and an independent investigative journalist, leading on American foreign policy and the international and domestic politics of the Middle East. Nouri is currently a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of West London and an Honorary Research Fellow at City, University of London. His work includes research into the effects corporations and elitism had on Iraq, and its domestic and political landscape. He argues that studying the social sources of US power plays an important part in understanding the nature of their decisions in US foreign policy. By exploring the decisions taken by American elites in the Iraq War, Nouri argues that the decisions and agendas US elites pursued in Iraq were driven by corporate elite interests. Nouri specifically examines the nature of US power, what drives it, what it looks like and its legacies.
The event was a platform that provided a space for the speakers to share their expertise and insights on the growing challenges of unemployment in Kurdistan. The discourse on the issue and its impact on the communities across the world was insightful and informative. It is hoped that the discussions and insights from the event will help in providing more insight into the issue of unemployment in Kurdistan and how it affects the region.
A recording of the event can be found here