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Iran
- A Kurdish journalist named Bakhtiar Khosnham was sentenced 74 lashes for his coverage of the Kurdistan referendum for independence in September 2017. A member of the International Federation of Journalists, Bakhtiar was tried without access to a lawyer and convicted of “sending reports to the [foreign] media.” Khosnham was among dozens of Kurds in Rojhilat arrested by the Iranian regime during demonstrations of support of the referendum last year.
- Due to hard living conditions amid the deterioration of Iran’s currency, hundreds of Kurdish bus drivers held a strike in Kermanshah city. The bus drivers complained about the economic situation in their city as well as the low wages they receive. In Sanandaj district of Salawat, city cleaners counited their strike for the 10th day for not receiving salaries for seven months.
- Loghman H. Ahmedi, a senior member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), said that their intelligence indicates the Iranian regime is planning “extensive military and terrorist operations” against Iranian Kurdish parties as a distraction from the worsening economic and political situation in Iran. In 2018, three senior members of Kurdish Iranian opposition groups have been assassinated in Iraqi Kurdistan as the opposition parties accused the Iranian regime.
Iraq
- Almost half of the villages around Dibis (in Kirkuk province) have evacuated since October 16th, due to increased threats from non-Kurdish groups. Villagers from Mardan have also had to evacuate because of ISIS killings and suspected Shiite paramilitary attempts to push them out. In the city of Kirkuk, a Kurdish man was shot to death by an Arab Iraqi army officer. After the crime, units of Iraq’s counter terrorism forces (known as CTU) surrounded Azadi hospital where the Kurdish man body was taken. After the incident and fearing Kurdish uprising against the attack, the CTU deployed dozens of its members into Kurdish neighborhoods and set up random checkpoints.
- As a part of an agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government, the Erbil-Kirkuk road (which has been shut down since October 16, 2017 when Iraqi forces and Shiite militias took over Kirkuk) will likely be reopened with customs checkpoints. This came after several meetings between both sides.
- Candidates for the parliamentary elections due to be held on September 30th have been announced. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have chosen Hemin Hawrami, the head of the office for political affairs for Masoud Barzani, former president of the KRG. Gorran elected MP Ali Hama Saleh to lead them. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) assigned Qubad Talabani, the current deputy prime minister and the son of the late Jalal Talabani, the party’s founder.
Syria
- Saleh Maslem, the foreign relations chief for the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made several statements on the future of Syria and the potential of joint collaboration between the pro-Kurdish militias and the Damascus-based government. Maslem identified Idlib province as “a powder keg in which all terrorist groups have gathered” and expressed a willingness of the SDF to cooperate in military action with government forces to expel Turkish soldiers and their allied jihadi militant groups from Idlib and the Afrin region. Moslem made it clear that there could be no long term coordination without democratization and a respect for the rights of the diverse peoples of Syria.
- The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) and the Damascus-based government have agreed on a roadmap to peace, establishing formal communications and exchanging assurances of mutual non-aggression. The two sides are the largest actors in play in Syria, together holding over 80% of the country territorially. The agreement will focus on a plan for a decentralized, but united, democratic Syria, free from external military interference.
- The SDF released a statement decrying the continued Turkish occupation of Afrin in Northern Syria, as well as the banditry, looting, and internationally recognized human rights abuses committed by the invading forces and jihadist proxies. The SDF’s press office cautioned its fighters and citizens to remain vigilant, as Turkish soldiers wearing stolen YPG uniforms have been involved in attacks and intimidation attempts on the local population. The goal of this has been to smear the SDF fighters and to undermine their broad base of support in the Afrin countryside.
Turkey
- The Turkish military, involved in ongoing operations against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in Southeastern Turkey, have declared a curfew for the Diyarbakir region citing security concerns. The aim seems to be the deprivation of support for the PKK, and the restriction of mobility for potential militants and their allies in the predominantly Kurdish province.
- The Diyarbakir branch of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) has released a report detailing an immense amount of illegal civilian torture and detention which has taken place under the watch of the Turkish military in the Kurdish region of Turkey. The report found that hundreds of prisoners are sick, being “virtually abandoned to death,” while over 700 prisoners being held are below the age of 7. The report also accounted for the unquantifiable damage of intimidation and repression against the local civilian population.
- The Turkish state media regulator has fined Zarok TV, a children’s Kurdish language network, for airing programs which contained references to Kurdistan. The network played two songs which referenced the Kurdish homeland, which was sufficient evidence to be fined 5% of their annual income. The Turkish government official claimed the network was spreading ‘terrorist propaganda’ by allowing the references to be shown to children.
- Turkish prosecutors have launched a probe into the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Pervin Buldan for allegedly spreading terrorist propaganda. This accusation was first lobbed when Buldan expressed her support for fellow HDP lawmakers who attended the funerals of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters killed in battle with Turkish security forces. Those same lawmakers are some of the many opposition members being targeted by Erdogan’s government using the broad and ambiguous charge of ‘spreading propaganda’. The HDP has repeatedly denied any collaboration with the PKK, claiming that the presence of its lawmakers at the fighters’ funerals was in support of the Kurdish community, which traditionally mourns the dead together. This investigation comes at a time of severe crackdown on Kurds and political opposition members.