1.7K
A weekly brief of events that occurred in the Kurdish regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- Last week’s casualties of the porters along the Iran-Iraq border, known as Kolbars, amounted to two dead and six wounded. On January 29, in Brvishkani village, Baneh County, two Kolbars were injured by Iranian border guards and two were killed due to heavy snow while attempting to escape the guards’ ambush. Near Salmas, one Kolabr was severely injured as he fell off a cliff while carrying goods. On February 1, one Kolbar was wounded as a group of Kolbars came under fire by the border guards near Maku. On February 5, near Baneh city, a group of Kolbars was attacked inside a car by Iranian security forces near the Armardeh border point with Iraqi Kurdistan. The attack resulted in the injury of one. On Monday, February 4, between Piranshahr and Haji Omaran in Iraqi Kurdistan, one Kolbar lost a leg due to a mine explosion, a deadly hazard left from the Iraq-Iran war. In Sardasht the Iranian border guards killed a number of horses used by the Kurdish Kolbars to transfer goods.
- After the recent mass cut of trees by the Iranian regime in the Kurdish region’s forests, Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) released a report stressing environmental concerns for the area. According to the KMMK report, elements of the regime had made deals with certain business mafias to cut the trees in the forest areas near Saqqez. The report also warned of serious consequences to the environment of the Kurdish region as there are similar plans in place for other Kurdish areas in Iran.
- As several sectors in Iran have been holding general strikes and protests against the living conditions and unpaid wages by the regime, last week taxi drivers in Bokan city joined the movement by holding their own strike. The taxi drivers complained about the low level of work they receive due to the bad economy and the high percentage of unemployment in the city.
- The security forces in Sardasht city detained a Kurdish man, Siawesh Mustafazada, on the grounds of his political affiliation. The KMMK reported that 42 Kurds have been arrested by the regime since the beginning of 2019.
Iraq
- On Tuesday, the political bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP 45 seats) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK 21 seats) held a meeting about the government formation. In separate press conferences, both KDP and PUK spokespersons announced reaching agreements between the parties to form the new government. On February 18, the Kurdistan parliament will hold its second session to elect a speaker and his deputies. The two parties also agreed to reactivate the Kirkuk Provincial Council (KPC) by holding the first meeting since October 17, 2017 in Erbil since the speaker of the KPC has been sentenced by Baghdad in December of 2018. After the meeting, the KDP spokesperson said electing the governor of Kirkuk will be after “agreements between the KDP and the PUK.” Last week the KDP also held a meeting with the opposition party of the Islamic Group (Komala) in attempts to include them in the new government while the Islamic Union (Yakgirtu) has decided to remain as an opposition party. The parties will determine the individuals before February 18 for the senior positions, such as the Speaker of the Parliament and his deputies. The KDP and the PUK jointly, with the Change Party (Gorran), are set to hold a multilateral meeting to discuss the positions of the new Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
- The public security office (Asayesh) in Kalar city, Sulaymaniyah province, announced the arrest of three ISIS terrorists. According to the security office, one of the terrorists is high ranked and they all have been involved with terror activities in the past with ISIS.
- The government of Greece has officially opened a consulate office in the Kurdistan region. On Sunday the KRG Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani received the first new Consul General. The Kurdistan region is hosting more than 40 consulates and representations.
- To normalize the relations and hold talks, a senior delegation of the Iraqi military visited Erbil and held a meeting with the acting Peshmerga Minister. According to a statement by the Peshmerga ministry, the two sides addressed “normalization of relations” and “detailed dialogue about the security changes in the areas outside of the Kurdistan region [in the disputed territories].”
- On Tuesday in Kirkuk, after the Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi ordered the deployment of the special division (61) to take charge of the security of Kirkuk, the commander of the division announced their official take over of the security file of Kirkuk. The Iraqi Counter Terrorism Units have ended their mission in Kirkuk to return to Baghdad. Kirkuk is under martial law by Baghdad since October 17, 2017, when the Iraqi forces and Iranian backed militias took control of the province and removed the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
Syria
- As the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are on the verge of ending ISIS control in Syria, Leyla al-Abdullah, the spokesperson of the SDF’s campaign to defeat ISIS, accused the terror group of using civilians as human shields. She stressed that the SDF is opening safe corridors for civilians to escape and they are clearing the mines planted by ISIS. The SDF also captured six more foreign terrorists from Russia, Germany, Sweden, Morocco, and Turkey.
- Regarding the U.S. withdrawal from Syria: as it is not clear yet what the U.S. administration has planned with Turkey, the Syrian Democratic Council held a meeting in Ain Issa district on Saturday to discuss the “next period” after the U.S. withdraws. The meeting called for the rejection of “the buffer zone under the Turkish administration.” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected what the U.S. had offered for the buffer zone. On Tuesday, he said: “There is no satisfactory plan that is put before us concretely yet.” Meanwhile a recent defense report warned of ISIS remaining “a potent force of battle-hardened and well-disciplined fighters that ‘could likely resurge in Syria’ absent continued counterterrorism pressure.” On Thursday, January 31, the U.S. Senate rebuked President Trump’s decision of withdrawing troops from Syria. Despite the Senate, the resolution is nonbinding but it passed by majority bipartisan votes. On Monday, February 4, the U.S. Department of State released a statement praising the SDF for “the contributions the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have made on behalf of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.” The DOS called the “nations to repatriate and prosecute their citizens detained by the SDF and commends the continued efforts of the SDF to return these foreign terrorist fighters to their countries of origin.”
Turkey
- The Turkish government sentenced a renowned Kurdish politician and former lawmaker of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Gultan Kisanak, to 14 years and three months in prison. Kisanak was arrested in November of 2016 when she was a co-mayor in Diyarbakir. Meanwhile, the HDP former lawmaker Gulser Yildirim is also facing 18 years in prison for speeches delivered between 2012-2016.
- As the local election fever is rising, the Turkish police attacked a gathering by HDP candidates in Urfa. Meanwhile, to decrease the winning seat of the ruling party of Justice and Development, the HDP did not areas run for the election in Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Adana, and Mersin a move could help other Turkish opposition parties against the AKP.