Sulaymaniyah, September 14, 2026: While expressing its
support for KNN journalist Barzan Namq, Metro Center calls on the institutions
of the Kurdistan Regional Government to view journalists as partners in the
fight against corruption, not as enemies.
On September 4, 2026, a report was published about a new
road where the Ministry of Reconstruction’s machinery and vehicles were
working. There were suspicions that the road would end at the homes of several
well-connected individuals rather than at a village. Two days later, a sign was
put up on the road. Two days after the name was placed on it, the sign was
removed and was no longer there.
At a press conference, Kurdistan Regional Government
Minister of Reconstruction Dana Abdulkarim described journalist Briar Namiq as
a liar and a traitor without any serious investigation having been conducted or
a court having ruled on the case. Had anyone else done so, the minister should
not have fallen into the trap of making accusations, particularly as he had
emphasized during a meeting with Metro Center his belief in the principles of
oversight and accountability in cases of corruption.
Even today, instead of clarifying the case of the road that
journalist Briar Namiq had investigated as a suspected corruption case, the
Director General of Roads and Reconstruction in Sulaymaniyah, Engineer Mohammed
Jalil, citing a letter he had received from another official institution, said,
"The court will decide.”
Working professionally to expose cases in which there are
suspicions of corruption, while avoiding defamation, political motives, and
distortion, is the duty of journalists so that they can inform the public and
the government. For this to happen, the institutions of the Kurdistan Regional
Government need to cooperate and view journalists as partners, not enemies.
Metro Center is monitoring the situation and notes that "Briar
Namiq is ready to prove that the road was not built for an inhabited village,
but rather for the villas and gardens of well-connected people. Let the
Ministry of Reconstruction and the Director General of Roads and Reconstruction
in Sulaymaniyah prove otherwise.”