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Turkey
- After Turkey’s President Erdogan made a decision to grant citizenship for three million Syrian refugees, People’s Democratic Party (HDP) vice chair Hisyah Ozsoy said Erdogan is planning a “careful demographic engineering” with the potential to change the ethnic make-up of the southeast regions bordering Syria (i.e. Turkey’s Kurdish regions). The Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are also opposed to Erdogan’s proposal.
- As many as 10 thousand Kurdish youths from across Europe gathered in the German city of Düsseldorf Saturday afternoon for a demonstration demanding physical freedom for Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. Demonstrators started to march to the NRW State Parliament after gathering outside Düsseldorf’s central train station, carrying photographs and banners of Ocalan.
Syria
- Manbij Liberation Operations: On July 11, the Manbij Military Council (MMC), a member of the Syrian democratic forces (SDF), foiled an ISIS attack on the liberated village along the Sajur River, west of Dadat village. Clashes continue between MMC forces and ISIS on the outskirts of the Hazawne neighborhood. MMC also announced the death of an ISIS “prince” (ISIS rank) in the city. Hundreds of displaced people were able to flee Manbij, where they were used as human shields, according to an interview with ANHA.
- The death toll for the July 6 suicide attack in Heseke rose to 20. Also in Heseke, People’s Protection Units (YPG) repealed an attack by ISIS in Malha village south of the Shedad town. The YPG press office announced the death of 21 ISIS fighters during the attack.
- Thousands of displaced people arrived in the Kurdish city of Afrin in the past week as a result of the clashes between regime forces and National Coalition Islamic group forces in rural Aleppo and between regime forces and ISIS in Deir Al Zor. Since May 25, over 41,000 internally displaced people have arrived to Afrin.
Iraq
- Kurdish parliamentarians from the Kurdistan region of Iraq decided to return to Baghdad and participate in the next Iraqi parliamentary session. Both the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Gorran (Change movement) will merge as one block within the Kurdish coalition in Baghdad. Ala Talabani, the head of the PUK block in Baghdad said “The Kurdish coalition in Baghdad will remain like it was but it’s formed from 4 blocks rather than 5 as it was before PUK/ Gorran agreement.”
- Dindar Zebari, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) High Committee to Evaluate and Respond to International Reports, responded to the Amnesty International Report in a statement stating that “Waleed Yunus is a dangerous person and had made instructions in prison to launch an attack on Bashiq.” Last week, Amnesty International accused the KRG of detaining Walead Yunus without trial for 10 years.
Iran
- Iranian security forces have arrested 17 people in the city of Shno, south of Urmia province, after clashes were reported between members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and fighters from the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI). Meanwhile the KDPI has asked the public, members, and supporters across Iranian Kurdistan to mark the 27th anniversary of their leader’s death by public strikes and civil disobedience. On June 14th, pro-Iranian media reported the death of 5 members of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK).