Starting usage of the domain name .krd for private parties in Kurdistan
On April 14th, it was reported that Kurdistan Iraq declared its internet independence by starting using the general internet domain name (gTLDs) .krd, which is opened now for use by private companies, organizations and individual users. It should be noted that this is not a country domain name (ccTLD).
The domain name was given already on December 5th 2013 by ICANN and the responsible person for it is Hiwa Afandi from the Information Technology Department in the Council of Ministers of the Government of Kurdistan. Indeed, it is already the presidential and governmental site are active under the local domain.
He noted that the expectation was that Turkey would oppose this move, however, so far it has been opposed only by Iran in an official complaint to ICANN in which the Iranian government has expressed “serious concerns” this move for two reasons;
- The new domain name is “problematic and may create political conflicts” – in Iran, there is a Kurdish population that constitutes about 30% of the total population of Kurds in the world, when “extremist Kurdish communities” in Iraq, Iran and Turkey “have recently begun moving towards the creation of a Kurdish state that would separate the lands of Kurds from Iran and Turkey. The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is very concerned about these measures. However, the new domain name is intended to be a Kurdish identity as an international community named in the request “.
- “Lack of involvement and support of the community” – “The domain name can not detract from the Kurdish population in Iran and Turkey (which accounts for about 70% of the Kurdish population), but they did not ask for approval from the countries where most of the Kurdish population exist”.
On the other hand Kurdish official noted that the Iranian complaint was filed too late on purpose, in order to “prevent the Kurds from acquiring a domain name.”
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