Aswat al-Iraq
Encyclopedia
Soranî
Soranî is the name of a Kurdish language that is spoken in Iran and Iraq. Soranî is one of the main Kurdish languages, which are a branch of the Iranian languages.- Name :...
dialect of Kurdish. All stories are published on the agency's website http://www.aswataliraq.info. Aswat al-Iraq means 'Voices of Iraq' in English.
Aswat's director is the Iraqi journalist and writer Zuhair Al-Jezairy
Zuhair Al-Jezairy
Zuhair Al-Jezairy sometimes referred to as Zuhair Al Jazairy is an Iraqi journalist, currently editor in chief of Aswat al-Iraq news agency and part of the Iraqi Journalist Union, he was the previous editor in chief of the daily Arabic newspaper Al Mahda, he has also written several publications...
, who in 2008 was a visiting scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Its current operational base is in the Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
region, in the city of Irbil. The agency operates a network of reporters and stringers in all of Iraq's 18 governorates, plus regional cities of importance to Iraqi news such as Amman
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...
, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
and Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
.
Its Arabic service has long been widely reprinted and used by media in Iraq and the wider Arab world, such as the London-based Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, the Jordanian newspaper ad-Dustour, and the Saudi Press Agency
Saudi Press Agency
The Saudi press agency ' was established in 1971 as the first national news agency. The main goal of its establishment was to serve as a central body to collect and distribute local and international news in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and abroad....
. Its English service has been quoted in international media, such as the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, the UK's the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, and Germany's DPA
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH is a news agency founded in 1949 in Germany. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is available in German, English, Spanish, and Arabic.The DPA...
, as well the NGO Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
.
Three journalists who worked for Aswat al-Iraq have been killed, including Sahar Hussein al-Haideri
Sahar Hussein al-Haideri
Sahar Hussein al-Haideri was an Iraqi female print and radio journalist.She was murdered by extremists on June 7, 2007, becoming the 108th journalist, including 86th Iraqi journalist, to be killed covering the Iraq War since its outbreak in 2003. -Early life:Al-Haideri was born in Baghdad, Iraq,...
, who in 2007 won a Kurt Schork
Kurt Schork
Kurt Schork was an American reporter and war correspondent. He was killed in an ambush while on an assignment for Reuters in Sierra Leone together with cameraman Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora of Spain, who worked for Associated Press Television...
award in International Journalism, and in 2008 posthumously won an Amnesty International UK Media award . Aswat al-Iraq was based in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
until 2005, when it move to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, citing security concerns. In Cairo it was hosted by the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate. The desk moved to Irbil in the spring of 2007 and maintains a network of correspondents and editors in the Iraqi capital.
Aswat has served as a training school for journalism since its inception. Interviews with director Jezairy, editors, clients and supporters of the agency are online in Arabic, English and Kurdish
Legally, Aswat is registered both as an offshore company
Offshore company
The term offshore company is ambiguous. It may refer to either:# A company which is incorporated outside the jurisdiction of its primary operations regardless of whether that jurisdiction is an offshore financial centre i.e...
in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and a non-profit organisation in the Kurdish autonomous region. Registration as an NGO in Baghdad is in process.