Asayish (Kurdistan Region)

Asayîş or Asayish (Kurdish: ئاسایش) Kurdish for security is the Kurdish security organization and the primary intelligence agency operating in the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan Region. The organization was established in September 1993 and has been often referred to as an "intelligence agency", "security force", "security service", "security", "secret service", "secret police", or just "Kurdish police." Asayish coordinates and shares information with Parastin u Zanyari, the investigative arms and intelligence gatherers operating in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq.

It acts under the command of the Kurdistan Parliament and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Its official goals according to the Kurdistan Regional Government are the following:

• Counter-drug trafficking
• Counter-terrorism
• Counter-espionage
• Gathering intelligence
• Assessing threats to the region's national security.

They have jurisdiction over many aspects of crime including:

• Economic crimes
• Smuggling
• Political crimes
• Espionage
• Sabotage
• Terrorism.