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Iran
- According to a report recently released by the Kurdistan Human Rights Association, five Kurdish prisoners were executed in Iran in May of 2017. The report lists the names of the executed Kurds as well as the areas from which they were from. Additionally, the report provides further details on how and why (according to the Iranian regime) the Kurdish activists, most of whom were political prisoners, were arrested.
Iraq
- During the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq’s delegation held a meeting with Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister. During the meeting both sides highlighted the state of relations between the Kurdistan Region and Russia, with Lavrov expressing his country’s willingness to further develop these relations. The KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani also recently held a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. According to the KRG, President Putin valued the development of ties between the two sides, particularly in the economic field. The KRG delegation to St. Petersburg signed a contract with the Russian oil company Rosneft, wherein Rosneft will begin purchasing the KRG’s crude. Rosneft released a statement describing the deal as a “Cooperation Agreement in the fields of upstream, infrastructure, logistics and trading,” adding that “the document was signed on the sidelines of the IP week conference in London.”
- The Counter Terrorism Group (CTG) and the Asayish forces (Kurdish public security) in Kirkuk were able to free a kidnapped six-year-old Turkmen girl during a recent raid. The young girl was kidnapped by three Turkmen who worked for the Shia Al-Bader group of the Popular Mobilization Units. One of the kidnappers arrested during the raid was identified as someone who worked at a youth organization associated with the Turkey-backed Turkmen Front Party. The other two kidnappers remain on the loose after fleeing to the south of the country.
Syria
- In an op-ed published in the pro-Kurdish “Özgürlükçü Demokrasi” newspaper, the Co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (MSD) Elham Ahmad said that “Russia is forcing the Kurds to choose between the Baath regime” and Turkey. Ahmad also said that “Turkey’s [recent] attacks [on the Syrian Kurds] are a mistake of historic proportions.” The Kurdish leader criticized Russia’s role in Syria, specifically its attempts to pressure the Kurds to support the Assad regime. Ahmad said that “sometimes they [Russia] claim the U.S. is using Kurds for their own interest, sometimes they say the security of Northern Syria will also be disrupted due to the situation with Turkey.”
- The U.S.-backed forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the launch of “great Battle” to liberate Raqqa city. SDF forces have already cleared most of the districts and subdistricts of Raqqa province around the city. In the past week, the SDF finished phase 4, which ended with the liberation of Mansoura, Azadi dam, and al-Qahtaniyah town, and five other villages, reaching a distance of less than 3 miles from the city of Raqqa. The SDF also seized a large amount of weapons from ISIS during the clashes in the last week.
- The U.S.-led coalition carried out a strike in Mayadeen city south of Deir Al-Zor city killing Baraa Kadek (also known as Rayan Meshaal), the founder of the ISIS media agency Amaq. The terrorist’s death was further confirmed after his brother posted on Facebook that Baraa Kadek had been killed in an airstrike.
- SDF spokesperson Telal Silo said that his forces will resist the Iraqi/ Iranian- backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) if they try to enter the territories that have been liberated by the SDF in Syria. The comments came after the PMUs liberated a village south of the Kurdish town of Sinjar on the border of Syria, raising concerns among Kurds in Syria that the Iraqi PMU, who are backed by Iran, will attempt to link up with Syrian regime forces.
Turkey
- On June 2, the Turkish authorities briefly detained Osman Baydemir, a lawmaker and spokesperson for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), while visiting the Diyarbakır Bar Association. The Turkish government questioned Baydemir for a few hours after filing charges against him for “insulting police,” in reference to events that occurred back in 2012 when Baydemir was the mayor of Diyarbakir.
- The Turkish government has given 130 Turkish citizens currently living abroad three months to return to Turkey. If these citizens do not return before the 130 days, Turkey’s government says it will revoke their citizenship. These 130 citizens include three current and former Kurdish lawmakers as well as the Turkish Islamist clerk Fethullah Gulen who currently lives in Pennsylvania.
- The Turkish police detained two Kurdish journalists. Zekeriya Güzüpek, head of the Kurdish Dicle news agency (DIHA), and Mehmet Ali Ertash, editor of DIHA. The two journalists were arrested on June 2 in Diyarbakır province as part of the government’s purge against certain media elements.
- Turkey’s military imposed a curfew on 10 villages in Kulp district in Diyarbakir (Amed) Province and 30 villages in the Gench district of Bingol. Last week the Turkish military also imposed curfews on 59 villages within Kurdish areas. The government justified the curfews saying that they were necessary in order to later orchestrate military operations in Diyarbakir.