Asayesh

Asayesh or Asayish (Kurdish for "security" [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7DC1131F930A35752C0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=8 Iraq Accused: A Case of Genocide - New York Times ] ] ) is a Kurdish organization and the primary intelligence agency operating in the Kurdistan region in Iraq. The organization was established in September of 1993 [ [http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Mew-04.htm Mew ] ] and has been often referred to as "intelligence agency" [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061401828.html] , "security force", [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7DC1131F930A35752C0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=8 Iraq Accused: A Case of Genocide - New York Times ] ] "security service", [ [http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article1154093.ece Gary Trotter: My Life In Media - Media, News - The Independent ] ] "security police", [ [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/oct2006/kurd-o14.shtml Mounting social crisis in Kurdish Iraq ] ] "secret service", [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082000940_pf.html Militias Wresting Control Across Iraq's North and South ] ] "secret police", [ [http://agonist.org/nick/20060303/a_detour_with_kurdish_secret_police A detour with Kurdish secret police | The Agonist ] ] or just "Kurdish police", [ [http://web.krg.org/articles/detail.asp?rnr=73&lngnr=12&anr=12997&s
] ] . Asayesh coordinates and shares information with Parastin and Zaniyar, the investigative arms and intelligence gatherers operating in the Kurdistan region in Iraq.

It acts under the command of the Kurdish National Assembly and the Kurdistan Regional Government [ [http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Mew-04.htm Mew ] ] .

Its official goals according to the Kurdistan authority are:
*Counter-Drug trafficking
*Counter-Terrorism
*Counter-Espionage
*Gathering intelligence
*Assessing threats to Iraq’s national security

The organization has jurisdiction over:
*Economic crimes
*Smuggling
*Political crimes
*Espionage
*Sabotage
*Terrorism

ee also

*Kurdistan
*Peshmerga

Reference