Iraq Archives - YaLa Press

Who celebrates Nowruz?

Author: By Doā, Iraq
Published: March 21, 2021
Categories: in Culture and Heritage, Current Events, Iran, Iraq
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: celebration, Kurds, New Year

Kurds in Iraq, Turkey, Russia, Pakistan, Germany, and Iran celebrate Newroz (alternatively pronounced Nowruz in Iran, as phonetic spelling varies) as their New Year’s Day on March 20th, the first day of Spring. Newroz originated in Persia in religious traditions of Zoroastrianism. Kurdish New Year’s Nowruz is the Kurdish celebration of the Persian […]

Photo Essay | World Humanitarian Day 2019 by Muhammad, Iraq

Author: Muhammad, Iraq
Published: August 18, 2019
Categories: in Civil Activism, Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, English, Human Rights, Iraq, Photo Essays
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When ISIS came to Iraq a few years ago, families ran from the war zones. They lost their houses and everything they owned. Most of the refugees are from Mosul, Tikrit, Diyala and Ramadi. Most of them are Arabs and Turkmen. I personally helped the displaced families of Tal Afar and Mosul. We had a […]

Beginning right now, Shout to the Universe by Doaa, Iraq

Author: Doaa, Iraq
Published: August 12, 2019
Categories: in Education, English, Gender and LGBTQ, Human Rights, Identity, Iraq
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I used to be an active girl and a clever student, especially in English. I am not bragging, but if I had to say, I was the best among my classmates in English. I still remember the words of my classmate Hiba, who said: “Doaa I want to speak English as good as you do, […]

YaLa, let’s travel more! by Hiba Bachiri, Morocco

Author: By Hiba Bachiri, Morocco
Published: March 11, 2019
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Education, English, Friendship, Human Rights, Identity, Iraq, Israel-Palestine, Jordan, Morocco, Tolerance, Travel
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I always wanted to fly abroad and I always imagined how it would be like. How silly of me to wonder if the air smells different from one country to another, or whether the street noises are different. I always felt trapped in my own bubble like a feather floating aimlessly through life, going wherever […]

A letter to a friend I met somewhere near the Holy land by Moulham, Syria

Author: By Moulham, Syria
Published: March 3, 2019
Categories: in Civil Activism, Conflict & Peacebuilding, Development, Education, English, Friendship, Human Rights, Identity, Iraq, Israel, Israel-Palestine, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Tolerance, Travel
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You asked for news. Well, I’ve got news. My flight got delayed for 30 minutes because of the storm in Jordan, I arrived in Vienna 15 minutes before the 2nd flight to Paris, I used my headphones to listen to the music of Mission Impossible in order to feel that if Tom Cruise can do […]

Say NO to Domestic Violence by Douaa, Iraq

Author: By Douaa, Iraq
Published: February 7, 2019
Categories: in Civil Activism, Development, English, Gender and LGBTQ, Human Rights, Iraq, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments

Domestic Violence is an important topic to raise awareness about, particularly in the Arab world. It is a phenomenon that exists in our communities, so why should we deny it? The problem is that unfortunately we do not want to admit it, and that explains the recent epidemic of girls and women fleeing from their houses with […]

Supreme Objective by Mushriq Al-Quraishi, Iraq

Author: By Mushriq Al-Quraishi, Iraq
Published: December 4, 2018
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Culture and Heritage, Development, Education, English, Identity, Iraq, Kurdistan, Life Style
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #endviolence, Inspiration, life, school

In the middle of 2006, a civil war began in my hometown in Iraq. I was 18-years-old and in my final year of high school. My family moved to the Kurdistan Region and I was obliged to finish my final exam at my grandfather’s house. It was really hard for me, I witnessed a shooting […]

Opinion |15 years old boy murdered for “looking gay” by Mariyem, Morocco

Author: By Mariyem, Morocco
Published: October 16, 2018
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, Education, English, Gender and LGBTQ, Human Rights, Identity, Iraq, Morocco, Opinion and Analysis, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: genderequality, LGBTQrights

Dirt and blood were splattered over his body. His voice weakly whispering in an Iraqi accent, asking what was happening, between a state of life and death. The murderer held his phone, recording a video and talking with the struggling 15 years old’s body in an indifferent tone. Hamoudi Al Matiri asked, “What’s this coming […]

Human Rights for Refugees: The Trick of Our Time by Taha Salim, Iraq

Published: January 24, 2018
Categories: in Civil Activism, Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Human Rights, Iraq
Comments: 1 Comment
Tags: camp, Dignity, europe, greece, Humanity, humanrights, humans, migrants, people, refugeecamp, refugeecamps, refugees, riraq, solidarity

Does the EU consider refugees as a part of the human race? Do refugees in the EU enjoy the most basic conditions of living, such as food and housing? How do refugee and asylum organizations treat refugees? After the conflicts, and the political and sectarian wars that put a real life threat to human lives […]

Being a Good Leader

Author: Barez, Iraq/Kurdistan
Published: December 5, 2017
Categories: in Civil Activism, Education, English, Human Rights, Iraq
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #bethechange #gandhi #iraq #kurdistan #proudkurd #futureleader, #futureleader, #socialgood, change, equality, goodleader, Humanity, Iran, leader, leaders, leadership, peace, present, youth

I believe that good leaders have many different qualities, but one that unites them all is their wish to create a comfortable, peaceful situation for society as a whole by tackling existing troubles. In doing so, they avoid planting any negative thoughts in society. I also believe that the main priority for a good leader […]

The double edged sword

Author: Nawras Mahir, Iraq
Published: January 12, 2017
Categories: in English, Gender and LGBTQ, Iraq
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: architecture, beirut, university

“Keep walking down the straight road; once you come across a ‘bizarre’ building on your right, this is the Issam Faris Institute.” I am here, standing at the main gate of the American University of Beirut, listening to the answer of the security man with his gentle Lebanese accent. I asked him to show me […]

Saving a Life by Ahmed Barben, Iraq

Published: January 11, 2017
Categories: in Civil Activism, English, Human Rights, Iraq
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: baby, birth, doctor, help, iraq, life, medicine

It was at lunchtime on January 2016 and it was on the first day of our 2 and half months of our pediatric training course for medical school. We had just finished class when my friend Haider and I decided to walk through the yard of the hospital to familiarize ourselves with our new environment. […]

Change is Possible By Akar, Kurdistan-Iraq

Published: December 8, 2016
Categories: in English, Identity, Iraq
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: Iran, iraq, Kurdistan, Refugee, socialanxiety, youth

I am a Kurdish-Iraqi citizen, born in Iran as a refugee. The place where we lived in Iran was called “Ordogahe Sonqor,” which was near Kermanshah, and there were more than 500 families gathered and living in the area as refugees. There was a school for us where we were mixed with Persian students. I […]

Darashish, and My First Lesson from a Stranger Abed-allah A. Baba from Iraq

Published: November 24, 2016
Categories: in English, Fall Semester 2016, Human Rights, Iraq
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: change, children, iraq, lifelesson, youth

I was born in Sulaimanyah, Iraq in 1994. Not only is it a great city, but it has officially been recognized as the capital of enlightenment by the Kurdistan Regional Government. But at the age of 5 my father’s job forced us to move to Iran, and so we went to Sanandaj in 1999. I […]

Being Gay in Iraq – Behind The Bars of Borders | Enana Hermez, Syria

Published: November 14, 2016
Categories: in English, Identity, Iraq, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: Homosexulity, LGBT, LGBTRights, syria, UNICEF, youth

I just completed a blogging internship with UNICEF’s Voices Of Youth. One of the assignments was to conduct an interview with an inspiring young person in my community. For my Inspire! post I chose to interview Logal Bet Kako, who is an Assyrian-Syrian gay activist advocating for the rights of the LGBT+ Community. Logal has […]

Muhammad | Iraq – photo essay –

Published: July 7, 2015
Categories: in Iraq, Media, Photo Essays
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: iraq, Kurdistan, refugees

These pictures were taken in a Syrian Refugee Camp in Kurdistan, it shows the children and youth in the camp and their hope for a better life- they are refugees but they are positive!

The True Unseen Consequences of a Military Strike on Syria by Miaad Hassan, Iraq

Published: August 31, 2013
Categories: in Current Events, English, Iraq
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: iraq, MiaadHassan, MiddleEast, Obama

While the administration of the United States is still debating on an appropriate action to take against the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons, which is estimated to have killed more than 1,000 people, determining “when” and “how” are absolutely critical when applying the strategy of deterrence. “But if we are saying in a clear […]

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