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A weekly brief of events that occurred in the Kurdish regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- On Saturday, Iranian border guards attacked a group of Kurdish border porters known as Kolbars near Chaldiran district. The attacks resulted in the death of two Kolbars and the injury of five. On Monday, Iranian guards injured another Kolbar near Nowsud on the border of Iraqi Kurdistan. In a report, the Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) accused the Iranian guards of looting the goods of the Kolbars after the assaults.
- Two weeks after shelling Kurdish parties located on the borders of the Kurdish region of Iran and Iraq, Iranian forces established a base inside Iraqi Kurdistan. The base was established near the Sharazur District in the Sorin mountains. The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported that on Sunday, Iranian militants near Haji Omaran borders confiscated Kurdish-owned cattle of 400 sheep and arrested 11 Kurds.
- The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Urmia has sentenced a Kurdish man from Mako for five years in prison for “disruption of national security” and “membership of a Kurdish party.” Mohammed Mirzai was arrested for two months last year but was released on bail until his sentencing on Friday. In Sanandaj, security officers arrested another Kurdish man, Ramadan Sultanian, on Friday but have yet to bring forth charges. In Mehabad, Iranian intelligence officers arrested two brothers and took them to an “undisclosed location” for investigation, also without pressing any charges.
- Arson attacks continued in the Kurdish region. In Saqqez, 128 arson attacks took place in a month. Most of the fires are on the farmland and forests in the region. The Kurdish region in Iran has battled environmental issues for decades.
Iraq
- The security of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced the capture of one person involved in the shooting that killed a Turkish diplomat in Erbil last week. The arrested is an ethnic Kurd from Turkey. “The main perpetrator responsible for the Erbil restaurant shooting on July 17 has now been arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Unit of Kurdistan Region, following a large-scale search operation. He has been named as Mazlum Dag,” read a KRG statement.
- Turkey continued its military incursion in the Iraqi Kurdistan. In addition to conducting tens of more airstrikes in the Kurdish region, especially near Duhok, Turkish jets struck a refugee camp in Makhmour on Friday, wounding five civilians. Turkey also attacked the camp on December 6, 2017, after accusing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of stationing its members there. According to Rudaw, 360 villages have been abandoned by its residents near Duhok since the beginning of the Turkish war with the PKK.
- The KRG denounced the assault of seven Iraqi Kurdish tourists by Turkish nationalists in Trabzon, Turkey, for carrying Kurdish flag. “The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region has expressed his concern over the incident, and has tasked KRG’s relevant authorities to intervene with their Turkish counterparts to secure the tourists’ immediate release.” said the KRG. In the past, the flag of Kurdistan region has been used in official manners between the KRG and the Turkish government. In response to the incident, the Turkish government deported the Kurdish tourists while the governor’s office of Trabzons described them as “terrorists” for having the Kurdish flag with them.
- The Iraqi parliament voted on holding the provincial council election in Iraq on April 1, 2020. The new law will include Kirkuk which has not held elections since 2005. The Kurdish Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) representatives of Kirkuk and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) block boycotted the session as part of their demands for the normalization of the Kirkuk situation before the elections. Kirkuk has been under martial laws since October 16, 2017, when Iranian-backed militias and Iraqi federal forces attacked Kirkuk and expelled Kurdish forces.
- The KRG and the Iraqi government are set to launch new waves of talks about the disputed issues between the two sides soon. The new KRG delegation held a brief meeting with the Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi in Baghdad after the formation of the KRG.
Syria
- On Monday, Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu threatened to commence military operations in northeastern Syria if a proposed “safe zone” is not established. The threat came hours before Ambassador James Jeffrey, the U.S.’s Special Representative for Syria Engagement, arrived in Ankara to meet with Turkish government officials. Relations between the U.S. and Turkey have severely deteriorated in recent weeks following Turkey’s purchase of S-400 missile systems from Russia and its aggressive troop build-up along the Syrian border. Following Cavusoglu’s threat, thousands of residents in northeast Syria took to the streets to march against a potential Turkish invasion. They concluded their demonstration outside an international coalition base near Kobane. Meanwhile, General Kenneth McKenzie, chief of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), visited northeast Syria for the first time since he assumed the post in March. Mustafa Bali of the Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) press office tweeted that the CENTCOM leader joined Ambassador William Roebuck, a special advisor to Ambassador Jeffrey, in meeting with SDF commander General Mazlum Abdi. Bali wrote that the three “discuss[ed] developments, steps to improve relations and [the] joint campaign against ISIS” in northeast Syria.
- On Monday evening, an unknown combatant fired at least two rockets into the Turkish town of Jilan Binar from northeastern Syria, injuring five civilians. SDF spokesman Bali stated that the security officials were investigating the matter, and a separate news report indicated that an arrest was made shortly thereafter. The SDF spokesperson released a statement describing the event as “provocative act was carried out by unknown people who wish to sow discord and damage stability in the region.”
Turkey
- The Turkish Court of Appeals has overturned the sentence against the Co-Chair of the Democratic Regions Party Sebahat Tuncel and the former Co-Mayor of Amed Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Gültan Kışanak. Both politicians have been jailed for more than two years. Despite the new verdict, the Turkish court has yet to release them.
- A new wave of arrests took place in the Kurdish region. In Kars, eight Kurds, who are mostly members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were taken into custody by Turkish police. In Diyarbakir (Amed), the Turkish police killed a Kurdish person and injured another. The Turkish government described the man as PKK member.
- The governor of Urfa banned Kurdish groups from commemorating the anniversary of the Suruç Massacre of 2015, which resulted in the deaths of 33 people with an additional 104 wounded. In Istanbul and Ankara, the Turkish police attacked activists who were commemorating the attacks of Suruç.