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Amid crisis with Erbil, Baghdad launches Kurdish TV programming

Baghdad launches a Kurdish TV segment in an attempt to have direct contact with Kurdistan Region residents.
Iraqi men watch television as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announces victory over Islamic State in Mosul, in Baghdad, Iraq, July 10, 2017. REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily - RC125B78B700

The federal government in Iraq is seeking to build bridges of communication between it and the population of the Kurdistan Region through news broadcasts and television programs in the Kurdish language, the language of the majority of the population in the Kurdistan Region.

After seeing that its statements and positions were being distorted by Kurdish channels, the Iraqi government found that it needed to address the Kurds in their own language. This prompted it to allocate airtime for news in the Kurdish language on Al-Iraqiya, the government’s official channel.

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