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Iran
- In a reaction to the Iranian missile attack on the headquarters of the Kurdish opposition parties in Iraqi Kurdistan and to the execution of Kurdish activists, Kurds in Iran held a general strike. Most of the store owners and business owners participated in the strike on Wednesday, September 12. The Iranian regime security forces detained tens of Kurdish activists who organized the public strike especially in Marriwan, Sanandaj, Sheno, Serdasht, and Saqaz cities. The Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) reported that at least two of the Kurdish activists (Aram Fathi and Soran Danshomar) from Marriwan were taken to the Iranian intelligence office. According to Abdullah Mohtadi, the General Security of the Kurdish party, Komala, the general strikes were “the biggest single act of civil disobedience against the Islamic regime in Iran since the protest movements began in December last year.” He described it as “a huge success.” In Europe, angry protesters stoned the Iranian embassy in both Greece and Paris. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) denounced the attacks on the Iranian embassies abroad, saying in an official statement: “[The] PDKI does not condone attacks on Iranian embassies anywhere in the world. Our values and actions separate us from the Islamist regime in Iran. We cannot act like the regime does and hope for a better and different future.” Earlier, the KDPI General Secretary Mustafa Hijri criticized the Iranian regime for the attacks. He said “today Kurdistan is more determined than ever to achieve liberty.”
- After the Execution of three Kurdish activists by the Iranian regime, the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet condemned the act. In an opening statement at a session of the Human Rights Council, Bachelet said “I deeply deplore the executions last week of three Iranian Kurdish prisoners, despite the serious concerns raised by Special Procedures mandate holders that they were not afforded fair trials, and were subjected to torture.” Prior to the executions of the Kurdish activists many human rights organizations called upon the Iranian regime to halt the process.
- Iranian border guards shot three Kurdish border porters (Kolbars). Two Kolbars were shot and severely injured near the Kurdistan region borders with Iran near Sadikan district. Meanwhile, another Kurdish man was gunned down and killed near Garan Dam in Marriwan city by Iranian security forces, according to KMMK.
Iraq
- The first Kurd has been elected to the new Iraqi government as a second Deputy Speaker of the Parliament. Basheer Khalil Hadad a candidate on behalf of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) won after receiving 185 votes out 282 votes of parliamentarians participated in the voting. His rival, Ahmed Rashid of the Kurdish Islamic Group (Komal) received 53 votes. The voting took place during a parliamentary session on September 16. Previously on September 15, a Sunni Iraqi won the Speakership and a Shiite Sadrist won the first deputy.
- The KDP and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) failed to reach a final agreement on a nominee for Iraq’s Presidency. The disputes between the two parties continue amid the plans of Iraq’s Parliament to hold a session and elect a President on September 21.
- After a meeting with National Security Ministerial Council, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al Abadi ordered Iraq’s border guards to deploy on the border between the Kurdistan region and Turkey. According to a statement after the meeting, the deployment of the border guards was to “protect the borders and to prevent any violations” while the statement ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to “document Turkey’s breaches of Iraq’s airspace.” Since April of 2018, Turkish troops have crossed into the Kurdistan region and launched military incursions against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The KRG did not comment on Abadi’s orders yet. However, some see this decision as a likely pretext for the Iraqi government to cooperate with Turkey and Iran in launching a military operation against PKK headquarters in the Qandil mountain.
- After comments by the Iranian commander of armed forces, demanding that the KRG hand over Kurdish opposition figures in the region, KRG spokesperson Safeen Dizayee rejected the requests. During a press conference, Dizayee said that many of the Kurdish opposition members have the status of immigrant registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
- Two members of one family were killed by ISIS terrorists in Abbasi sub-district in Kirkuk province. Recently, ISIS terrorist have launched several attacks in Kirkuk and Diyala due to the security vacuum left on October 16, 2017, when Iraqi Federal forces took control of the security in the previously Kurdish-controlled region. In the city of Kirkuk, Abadi’s appointed governor removed more Kurdish officials in the health and municipality departments and replaced them with Arabs, as an ongoing piece of his Arabization process against the Kurds.
Syria
- The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched the final stage of its efforts to clear the area east of the Euphrates of ISIS terrorists. Heavy fighting took place between the SDF and ISIS terrorists in al Baghuz Fawqani near Albo Kamal city. The clashes resulted in the liberation of most of the town by the SDF. Clashes continued in some pockets in the town on Tuesday. According to the SDF, ISIS terrorists lost 18 members while the SDF lost one member and several others were injured. The SDF also attacked ISIS terrorists near As Susah village northeast of Albo Kamal. The SDF advanced 2km toward the village amid ISIS rocket attacks on the SDF. According to the SDF, many of the people who were displaced because of the battles were able to escape to a camp that was set up for them in Al Bahra village. Some of the displaced civilians said that ISIS terrorists were preventing families from fleeing the town of Hijan.
- The Internal Security Forces in Raqqa (an SDF formation) announced the capture of an ISIS sleeper cell in the city. In a statement, the security officials also said that weapons and explosives were seized in the raid against the sleeper cell, including tens of RPGs, anti-armor equipment, and muzzles used to make chemical explosives. Raqqa was the former de facto ISIS capital. It was liberated by the SDF on October 23, 2017
- Last week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) released two reports regarding the violations committed by Turkish-backed Jihadi groups against the Kurdish population in Afrin. The SOHR report accused these Turkish-backed factions of “looting and stealing of the citizens’ property” and detaining people for ransom.
- In Tel Rifaat, three civilians were injured after Turkish-backed Jihadi groups launched mortar attacks on Tel Rifat city in Aleppo’s countryside Tension remains high as Turkey has threatened to occupy the town and remove the Kurdish forces there, similar to what they did in Afrin.
- In Hasakah city, an IED exploded on a highway after a vehicle passed it near al Nashwa Neighborhood. There were no casualties.
Turkey
- After Turkey’s government sentenced former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers to more prison time, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Liliane Maury Pasquier criticized the Turkish government for sentencing these HDP leaders, specifically Selahattin Demirtas and Sirri Süreyya Önder. Pasquier said that “imprisonment for statements made in 2013 is of particular concern to me, as is the situation of other parliamentarians and former opposition parliamentarians in detention or under prosecution for ‘terrorist’ acts,” adding that “the place of parliamentarians must not be in prison: freedom of expression is at the heart of the exercise of our parliamentary mandates.”
- The Turkish government continued imposing curfews on more than a hundred Kurdish villages in Diyarbakir (Amed). The curfews, which occurred in many districts, were announced by the appointed governor of Diyarbakir, as the Turkish military began its launch of a military operation in the area.
- After Iran’s missile attacks on the Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, the HDP condemned the acts and sent a solidarity letter to KDPI officials. The statement, composed by both HDP Co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli: “condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in the attack, to the HDK and the KDP-I and to all comrades and the Kurdish people.”