This week, we focus on Iraq's second city of Mosul. Retreating Islamic State group militants have littered the surrounding villages with mines and explosives - we see how Kurdish forces are carrying out the demining operations. Meanwhile, from a secret location, an Iraqi radio station gives a voice to civilians who are trapped inside Mosul, but not silenced. Finally, we find out why towns in northern Syria are shedding Arabised names in favour of their traditional Kurdish ones.

ANKARA, Turkey (Kurdistan24) – Turkey’s Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-chair Selahattin Demirtas on Tuesday called on the Turkish President to clear the Islamic State (IS) from his country first before sending troops to Iraq.

In a weekly address to HDP’s parliamentarian group in the Turkish Assembly, Demirtas claimed there were neighborhoods in the ethnically mixed city of Gaziantep on the Syrian border where security forces could not enter.

KHAZIR, Iraq — Thousands of Iraqi forces advanced toward the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Monday, the first step of a long-awaited offensive seeking to drive Islamic State militants from their main stronghold in Iraq.

Kurdish forces moved to take a string of villages east of the city, while Iraqi army and police units made a push from the south.

ANKARA, Turkey — Late Sept. 28, the Turkish prime minister’s office issued orders for the closure of 23 TV and radio channels on the grounds they backed separatist and subversive activities. The decision was based on a legislative decree issued immediately after the July 20 declaration of the state of emergency over the failed coup attempt five days earlier.

BAGHDAD — An unlikely array of forces is converging on the city of Mosul, lining up for a battle on the historic plains of northern Iraq that is likely to be decisive in the war against the Islamic State group.

The tacit alliance — Iraqi troops alongside Shiite militiamen, Sunni Arab tribesmen, Kurdish fighters and U.S special forces — underscores the importance of this battle. Retaking Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, would effectively break the back of the militant group, ending their self-declared “caliphate,” at least in Iraq.

The Kurdish experience in Iraq demonstrates what Kurds can achieve in cooperation with the international community and adhering to contemporary, liberal democratic norms.

JP - The most stable part of northern Syria, a region known as Rojava or Syrian Kurdistan, now faces threats on numerous fronts. Syrian Kurds and their US backers ought to learn from our experience in Iraqi Kurdistan, which has been a beacon of stability and democracy in the most perilous region of the world.