Kurdistan’s Weekly Brief September 11, 2018

Iran

• On September 8, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) struck the headquarters of the Iranian-Kurdish opposition parties in the town of Koya inside the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The IRGC released a statement confirming the deadly attack by “Surface to Surface” missiles during a meeting between the leadership of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) and their splinter branch. The IRGC also released videos of the bombardment by missiles on the border of Iran and the Kurdistan region of Iraq while using drones hovering over Koya. The deadly attack resulted in the death of 17 leaders and members of the Kurdish parties, while 60 people were wounded, including children.  In reaction, the Iranian Kurdish parties released a joint statement condemning the attacks. Meanwhile the KDPI released a separate statement describing the attacks as “terrorist attacks that the Iranian regime has carried out against Kurdish political activists and civilians in Iraqi Kurdistan since January 2018.” The KDPI statement blamed the international Community role for a lack of “pressure on the Iranian regime [which resulted in the] use of ballistic missiles against Kurdish political parties and refugee camps in a neighboring country.” A public strike in the Kurdish areas of Iran is scheduled on Wednesday against the regime’s bombardment. The KDPI also accused the Iranian IRGC of executing two Peshmerga captives against the international treaties.
• On several occasions the Iranian regime artillery shelled the Kurdish villages along Iran’s border near Bradost. According to a Kurdish Peshmerga commander the Iranian regime has sent a large reinforcement with heavy weapons to the border with Iraqi Kurdistan.     
• On September 8, the Iranian regime executed three Kurdish men including the internationally known prisoner Ramin Panahi. Panahi was arrested last year for being a member of a Kurdish political party of Komala. Panahi denied the charges against him while Amnesty international described his trial as “a grossly unfair trial amid serious torture allegations.” Panahi and two of his cousins Zaniar Moradi and Loghman Moradi were executed after several unsuccessful appeals by his lawyers. On September 10, the Iranian regime also executed a Kurdish activist from Miandoab city in West Azerbaijan province. The Kurdistan Human Right Association reported that Kamal Ahmad Nazhat was executed by the regime for membership of a Kurdish party.

Iraq

• After the uncertainty of holding the parliamentary elections in the region, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will pursue holding the parliamentary elections on September 30. Prior to that, the Change party (Gorran) called upon the Kurdish parties to postpone the elections. In the early hours of September 11, the political parties launched their election campaigns.
• For the formation of the Iraqi government, the political bureaus of both the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) called upon the Kurdish opposition parties to meet and form a united goal in Baghdad. Both parties formed a committee to officially reach out to opposition parties. Meanwhile, Jan Kubis, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Iraq, visited the Kurdistan region and held several meetings with the Kurdish parties and KRG officials to discuss the formation of the new Iraqi cabinet.
• On September 9, ISIS terrorists attacked a group of Kurdish men while they were picnicking near the Alwand river in the Khanaqin-Diyala province. During the attack, ISIS terrorists kidnapped six people and later decapitated four, while two of the Kurds were able to escape. Among the victims, two off-duty Peshmerga members. Since 16, 2017 the security of Kirkuk and Khanaqin has deteriorated when the Peshmerga forces withdrew amid attacks by Iraq’s army and Iranian-backed militias against Kurdish forces.
• In response to the missile attacks by the Iranian regime, the KRG denounced the act and called for “restraint and respect of the laws of Kurdistan, and avoiding turning the Region into a dispute-settling ground.” In a statement, the KRG also vowed to deliver aid to the victims. The U.S. Vice President Mike Pence phoned KRG’s Prime Minister and condemned the bombardment.  

Syria

• “Al Jazeera Tempest” military operation by the U.S. backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reached its final stages to eliminate ISIS terrorists from east of the Euphrates and Deir Ez Zor province. In a press conference held by the military council of the operations, the SDF announced clearing 63 km of ISIS including an important part of the Deir Ez Zor (an industrial city.) Meanwhile, on September 6, the U.S. special representative for Syria James Jeffrey reaffirmed the U.S. military stay in Syria until the “enduring defeat.”
• On September 8, an exchange of fire occurred between militants belonging to Assad’s regime and the Kurdish public security (Asayesh) in Qamishli left 11pro-Assad militants killed and 7 members of Asayesh dead. The fire exchange took place as Assad militias crossed into Kurdish held areas in Qamishli and attempted to detain civilians. Tensions remain high in Qamishli following the incident.
• Due to deterioration of the security situation in the city of Afrin caused by infighting among the Turkish-backed Jihadi groups and special operations by the Kurdish forces against the terror groups, the command of the so-called the 3rd Corps of the”Free Syrian Army”  declared a curfew starting at 08:00 pm until daylight.

Turkey

• On September 7, the Turkish court sentenced the renowned Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas to four years and eight months in prison after finding him guilty of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.”  Demirtas is the former lawmaker and co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) who was jailed by the Turkish government on November 4, 2016. Alongside Demirtas the Turkish court also sentenced Sirrı Süreyya Onder, former HDP lawmaker and the lawyer of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. Onder received three years and six months. Demirtas told the court from his prison via video chat system, as he is not allowed to attend the trials: “The sentence in the indictment is wrong. I do not accept that wrong sentence as a crime.”
• In the most recent waves of arrests against Kurdish activists and members of HDP, the Turkish police detained 11 people in Izmir province including a senior HDP member. In Hatay province, the Turkish police raided the homes of the co-presidents of the HDP in Askandarun city and took them into custody.