MERI Forum to host Iraqi, Kurdish leaders in Erbil
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Middle East Research Institute (MERI) will hold a two-day forum in the Kurdistan Region’s capital city of Erbil on Tuesday, hosting tens of politicians and leaders from the Region and Iraq. The institute held a warm-up panel on Monday, discussing extremism in the Middle East.
“MERI Forum 2022 will bring together local, national and international policy-makers, academics, civil society leaders, journalists, diplomats and opinion-leaders to debate the urgent, high priority issues that are affecting both Iraq and the wider region; and offer solutions to stakeholders and decision-makers,” reads an announcement on MERI’s website.
“The ultimate objective of the MERI Forum is to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the wider Middle East through dialogue, reconciliation and rule-of-law. MERI believes that these cultural processes will be pivotal in determining the long-term stability of Iraq and the wider Middle East,” it adds.
The theme of the forum is “Iraq for all.”
Rudaw Media Network is the media sponsor of the event.
Among the speakers are Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, the Region’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani.
MERI held a warm-up panel on Monday, entitled “Prevention of violent extremism in the Middle East.” It was moderated by Morten Boas from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
The speakers were Adam Ravnkilde, Senior Strategic Advisor at EU Advisory Mission in Iraq; Kari Osland from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs; Amjed Rasheed from the Duhok-based Open Think Tank and Kamaran Palani, a research fellow at MERI.
“We are working with a research institute, a think tank, in Baghdad on exchanges between European and Iraqi researchers on this [radicalization] and trying to open up discussions on how people are being radicalised in EU countries, actually women in particular, and in Iraq. [We] also try to bring government officials from both sides into these discussions. So that could be, for instance, our partners from the national security advisor in Baghdad and a national CVE [Countering Violent Extremism] centre in EU member states,” said Ravnkilde.
Osland noted that “What promotes radicalization and resilience to radicalization are often two sides of the same coin.”
Rasheed stressed that “Interfaith dialogues [in Iraq] are elite-based, not communal. Workshop conferences are dominated by false courtesy (Mujamala). I come here and say everything is great.”
Palani argued that “We really need to change the narrative that violent extremism in Iraq as well as the region is associated with religion and identity.”
“It is mostly about socio-economic opportunities, and most specifically it is a question of economy. Maybe for the leaders, for some leaders who pulled the population into the area of violent extremism. They had some religious ideational motivations but for the larger population it was the question of the presence or lack of socio-economic opportunities,” he added.
He noted that despite the passage of several years after the territorial defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, “most of the real socio-economic grievances and concerns are still there.
“MERI Forum 2022 will bring together local, national and international policy-makers, academics, civil society leaders, journalists, diplomats and opinion-leaders to debate the urgent, high priority issues that are affecting both Iraq and the wider region; and offer solutions to stakeholders and decision-makers,” reads an announcement on MERI’s website.
“The ultimate objective of the MERI Forum is to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the wider Middle East through dialogue, reconciliation and rule-of-law. MERI believes that these cultural processes will be pivotal in determining the long-term stability of Iraq and the wider Middle East,” it adds.
The theme of the forum is “Iraq for all.”
Rudaw Media Network is the media sponsor of the event.
Among the speakers are Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, the Region’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani.
MERI held a warm-up panel on Monday, entitled “Prevention of violent extremism in the Middle East.” It was moderated by Morten Boas from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
The speakers were Adam Ravnkilde, Senior Strategic Advisor at EU Advisory Mission in Iraq; Kari Osland from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs; Amjed Rasheed from the Duhok-based Open Think Tank and Kamaran Palani, a research fellow at MERI.
“We are working with a research institute, a think tank, in Baghdad on exchanges between European and Iraqi researchers on this [radicalization] and trying to open up discussions on how people are being radicalised in EU countries, actually women in particular, and in Iraq. [We] also try to bring government officials from both sides into these discussions. So that could be, for instance, our partners from the national security advisor in Baghdad and a national CVE [Countering Violent Extremism] centre in EU member states,” said Ravnkilde.
Osland noted that “What promotes radicalization and resilience to radicalization are often two sides of the same coin.”
Rasheed stressed that “Interfaith dialogues [in Iraq] are elite-based, not communal. Workshop conferences are dominated by false courtesy (Mujamala). I come here and say everything is great.”
Palani argued that “We really need to change the narrative that violent extremism in Iraq as well as the region is associated with religion and identity.”
“It is mostly about socio-economic opportunities, and most specifically it is a question of economy. Maybe for the leaders, for some leaders who pulled the population into the area of violent extremism. They had some religious ideational motivations but for the larger population it was the question of the presence or lack of socio-economic opportunities,” he added.
He noted that despite the passage of several years after the territorial defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, “most of the real socio-economic grievances and concerns are still there.