Kurdistan Region needs 'professional and responsible' journalism: PM Barzani

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region needs "professional and responsible" journalism so the profession can have a "positive participation" in political and social changes, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on Kurdish Journalism Day on Friday. 

"The Kurdistan Region needs professional and responsible journalism to have an active and positive participation in the political, social, economic, and cultural changes," the prime minister said in a statement, extending his congratulations to all journalists in the Region. 

Barzani said that journalistic work should be done within the framework of existing laws, professional journalist ethics, and international standards to serve society and the nation. 

The prime minister said he was happy that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has provided a suitable environment for journalists and that many media organizations can work freely. 

Journalists across the Kurdistan Region celebrated the 124th anniversary of the establishment of the first Kurdish newspaper, named "Kurdistan", in Apr. 22, 1898. 

Having been established by the descendants of a Kurdish prince, Badirkhan Pasha, in exile, the newspaper was issued in the Kurmanji dialect. Thirty-one issues were printed during its four-year existence. 

Miqdad Madhad Badirkhan and his brother, Abdul Rahman Beg, were the paper's co-editors. 

"Other people celebrate their newspapers and their revolution, so why don't we? It's important for the Kurds to know that we are educated, and we can read, and had our first newspaper," Sinam Badirkhan, a descendant of the brothers, told Kurdistan 24 in an interview in 2021.