The coordinator of Metro Center said that the attempts of the political authorities to control the media and civil society and direct them to unjust political warfare, is at a terrible level. Conditional political money, fear and the mixture of interests of a certain part of the cultural elite have made our public space for freedom of criticism semi-closed and the media has become part of the political crisis in the Kurdistan Region.

On Sunday, July 5th, 2026, the team of Metro Center welcomed Mr. Albrecht von Wittke, Consul General of Germany in the Kurdistan Region, Rebecca Mattis, Consul for Political, Economic Affairs and Media, Ihsan Wolzi, Advisor at the Consulate.

The German Consul General expressed his pleasure to meet the team of Metro Center and said, "We take the task of monitoring freedom of expression and the press very seriously. Unfortunately, this will be my last visit to Metro, I hope you will be successful in your work and the media can fulfill its duty to convey news to citizens in a professional manner.”

Metro’s team warmly welcomed the Consul and his delegation, expressed their pleasure for their visit and wished Mr. Albrecht von Wittke success in his new assignment.

Rahman Ghareb, said that the behavior of the authorities after the 1991 uprising, making a large part of the cultural institutions, intellectuals and journalists’ dependant on the finances of the parties, ensuring their support. "There were few journalists, intellectuals and their institutions who did not go astray at this stage," he said. "This has made our public space for criticism semi-closed and the media has become part of the political crisis in the Kurdistan Region."

Diyaree Mohammed, Director of Metro Center, highlighted the new project of Metro Center, which is being implemented with the French organization CFI, within the framework of the Qarib project, in the near future, activities will be carried out in Erbil and Duhok.

Kani Omar, Sewa Sirwan and Shaee Aso spoke about the situation of freedom of expression, highlighting the most important events of the past year and the first six months of 2026, according to the monitoring of the teams of Network 19 and Metro Center.

Albrecht von Wittke, Consul General of Germany in the Kurdistan Region, thanked Metro’s warm welcome, and hoped that their work will continue.