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Iran
- The Iranian regime’s border guards shot four Kurdish citizens from Iraqi Kurdistan. The shooting took place on the border near Kalar district and resulted in one death and an injury of four. The Kurdish citizens were hunting near the border when the Iranian regime’s guards opened fire on them.
- After the Iranian regime shut down a border crossing of Siranband-Baneh between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran, tens of Kurdish businessmen and store owners went on strike in Marivan and Saqqez cities. Despite the promises by the Iranian regime to reopen the border crossing, the crossing point remains shut down, which resulted in loss of jobs and trade in nearby Kurdish cities.
- After the Iranian officials announced earlier this year that 300 protesters will face trial, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HARANA) reported that 3,700 people were arrested by the Iranian regime from 80 cities in Iran. Last week more protests broke out against the regime in the Arab majority city of Ahwaz. The recent protests in Ahwaz lasted one week before the regime’s security forces cracked down on the activists and organizers.
Iraq
- The Iraqi federal government filed a lawsuit against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) at Iraq’s federal court for independently selling Kurdistan’s oil since 2014. After the first session the judge decided to postpone the case to May 6, 2018. Since 2014 the KRG initiated oil sales after Baghdad cut the allocated budget for the region.
- After more than a week of boycott and protests demanding salaries, the teachers of the Kurdistan region returned to work after KRG’s promise to end the austerity measures if the Iraqi federal government continues to send salaries.
- A delegation of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey visited the Kurdistan region and held meetings with the Kurdish majority parties. The delegation included the newly elected HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan and lawmakers Osman Baydemir, Feleknas Uca, Imam Tascier, and Berdan Ozturk.
- On April 7, after setting up a fake check point by disguising in police uniforms, ISIS terrorists killed three civilians and injured two in a village near Dibis district north of Kirkuk. On April 9, the Iraqi forces killed five ISIS members including a senior Chicahni ISIS leader named Abu Walid al-Shishani in south of Kirkuk after clashes.
Syria
- After three weeks of Turkish and extremist groups invasion of the Kurdish region of Afrin, the Human Rights Watch released a report criticizing the Turkish Armed Forces for not “avoid civilian casualties.” The report also sights that Turkish attacks on one occasion killed 26 civilians, including 17 children. Lama Fakih the deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said”It appears that vulnerable civilians are facing displacement and death because of the way Turkey’s latest offensive is being conducted.” On the displaced Kurdish families by the Turkish military and extremist groups in Afrin, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called upon the United Nations to “secure their return” to their homes and ensure their safety. On several occasions Kurdish officials reported rape and kidnaping cases by the armed groups in Afrin against civilians since March 18, 2018.
- After brutal chemical attacks by the Syrian regime on civilians in Douma district near damascus, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) issued a statement denouncing the attacks. “Within the deals held at the expense of the Syrian people by the regional and international forces, the drama of killing and abusing against the unarmed civilians continues,” read the statement. The SDC statement noted that the Douma “massacre” is another crime after attacks on Afrin and Al Ghouta earlier this year. The SDC is a political wing of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Turkey
- The Turkish court approved a 17-month 15 day prison sentence against the HDP lawmaker of Urfa province Osman Baydemir. The HDP lawmaker Baydemir was charged for “insulting a Turkish police officer” while he was a mayor of Diyarbakir Metropolitan. On April 9, another HDP lawmaker Burcu Celik Ozkan was sentenced to seven years in prison for “ supporting a terrorist organization.” A charge has been filed against more than a dozen pro-Kurdish lawmakers. In Istanbul, the Turkish police raided the HDP office and detained 25 members of the party.