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Iran
- Iran’s parliamentary elections, which were held on Friday, resulted in the lowest voter turnout since the Islamic regime’s establishment in 1979. The lowest voter participation rates were seen in Iran’s Kurdish region, as most Kurds boycotted the elections. All of Iran’s exiled Kurdish opposition parties had previously called for a boycott of the elections, while photos released on social media showed numerous empty polling sites in Kurdish cities. Meanwhile, Iranian officials announced a 42.57 percent turnout rate, which was contradicted by media reports claiming the actual rate was 20 percent. The low voter turnout, coupled with the disqualification of many reformist and moderate candidates, resulted in significant gains for Iran’s hardliners, who won all of the parliamentary seats in Tehran.
- Unexploded ordnance continues to pose a significant hazard to nomadic tribes and shepherds in Iran’s Ilam and Kermanshah provinces, as mines planted during the Iran-Iraq War killed one person and wounded another in Ilam Province. A Kurdish shepherd named Ashraf Cherakhy lost a hand to a mine near the Halala border crossing. Likewise, on Sunday, a mine explosion killed a 16-year-old named Piam Rostami near Qasr-e Shirin.
- Iranian authorities issued death sentences to a number of Sunni Salafi Islamists for “spreading corruption on Earth.” On Sunday, an Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced five Salafi Kurds, Ayoub Karimi, Dawood Abdullahi, Qasim Abasta, Kamaran Shekha, and Khosar Basharat, to death. Most of the convicted prisoners had been arrested on separate occasions in the Kurdish region last year.
- Two more Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) were injured last week. On Saturday, Iranian border guards wounded a Kolbar near Sardasht. On the same day, a Kolbar was severely injured after falling from a cliff while transporting cargo near Hawraman. Four Kolbars have been killed and at least 28 have been injured since January 1, 2020.
Iraq
- Islamic State (Da’esh) terrorists on motorcycles perpetrated a series of drive-by shootings targeting Kurds in Kirkuk Governate’s Chakhmakha village last Tuesday. The attacks, which occurred shortly after midnight, killed four civilians and wounded an additional three. Following the attacks, some of the village’s Kurdish residents accused local Arab tribes of cooperating with Da’esh in an effort to remove Kurdish citizens from Kirkuk Governorate. Meanwhile, in Kirkuk city, the Commission of Integrity (COI) issued a warrant for the arrest of the governorate’s head of planning and opened a third round of investigations into Kirkuk Governorate’s acting governor, Rakan Saed al Jabouri, for corruption. Jabouri was appointed to his post by the Baghdad government after Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed militias dismissed the elected Kurdish governor and removed Peshmerga forces from the province on October 16, 2017. Since that time, Kirkuk Governorate and the rest of Iraq’s “Disputed Territories” have also been stricken with a deteriorating security situation that has facilitated increasing amounts of Da’esh activity.
- The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) closed all border ports and crossings with Iran to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, which has caused numerous deaths in Iran. Dozens of Kurdish truck drivers are now stranded in Iran as they await permission to enter Kurdistan. The KRG also canceled several public events as a precautionary measure, while the Iraqi Health Ministry announced all four members of an Iraqi family who had recently traveled to Iran’s Qom tested positive for the coronavirus.
- Talks between Iraq’s Kurdish parties and Prime Minister of Iraq designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi continued regarding the formation of Allawi’s cabinet. The Kurds previously rejected Allawi’s inclination towards forming a cabinet without the Kurdish parties. Meanwhile, most of Iraq’s Sunni parties have indirectly allied with the Kurds in opposing Allawi’s attempts to form a government with “independent” ministers. Iraqi Kurdistan’s leadership also met to discuss possible participation of the Kurds and, following the meeting, released four points that, among other things, criticized Allawi’s formation of the government and demanded the new government hold fair elections.
Syria
- The Syrian regime, along with its Russian and Iranian allies, continued its fight with Turkish troops and Turkish-backed jihadists in Idlib last week. In the Kurdish region, Turkish proxies launched indirect fire attacks on areas surrounding the “safe zone,” most of which targeted villages near Ain Essa and the Christian Town of Tal Tamer. Turkish-backed Islamists and Syrian regime forces also clashed west of Giri Spo (Tal Abyad) and west of Manbij. Meanwhile, despite the continuing conflict in Idlib, joint Russian-Turkish military patrols continued along the Turkish-Syrian border in the vicinity of Kobani.
- The Turkish military dismissed the employees of the Aluk water plant in Sari Kani (Ras Alin) and shut off the water supply to much of al Hasakah Province. Turkish forces had previously seized Ras Alin in October 2019. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) responded by accusing Turkey of using control of water supplies to pressure Russia into granting additional concessions and allowing Turkey to occupy more Kurdish lands.
- Louisiana Congressman Ralph Abraham traveled to northeastern Syria last week and met with a number of local officials and Syrian Democratic Forces General Commander Mazloum Abdi. Representative Abraham, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and Kurdish-American Congressional Caucus, visited the region to investigate the fate of those internally displaced by Turkey’s invasion of northeastern Syria and show support for the SDF and the Kurds.
- The major Kurdish party of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) held its eight congress to choose its leadership and reveal its political program last week. The PYD is the main party forming the self-administration in Syria’s Kurdish region.
Turkey
- On Sunday, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the Kurdish regions of Iran and Turkey between Iran’s West Azerbaijan’s Province and Turkey’s Van Province. Several major cities were affected, including Iran’s Khoy and Salmas and Turkey’s Özalp, Baskale, and Van. In Van, the earthquake killed at least nine people, destroyed 250 houses, and damaged another 700 homes. At least 70 more people were injured on the Iranian side of the border, while residents of both nations complained about a lack of government aid to the afflicted regions. This earthquake was followed by a magnitude 5.8 earthquake that hit the same area on Sunday night, but did not result in any casualties or damage. The Kurdish region of Iran and Turkey is no stranger to deadly earthquakes and was previously hit by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake on January 24, 2020 that killed 41 people.
- On Sunday, the pro-Kuridsh Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) held its fourth Ordinary Congress in Ankara, in which Mithat Sancar was elected as the party’s new co-chair over Sezai Temelli. The HDP’s other co-chair, Pervin Buldan, was reelected and will retain her position. Buldan then issued a statement which said, “We hold our congress with great assertion and determination in our struggle. Of course, we have not arrived here easily. We have resisted! Thousands of our friends have been taken hostage, but we have become millions!” Despite Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s hostility towards opposition parties and multiple Turkish government crackdowns targeting political activists and the nation’s Kurdish population, the fourth Ordinary Congress was attended by over 20,000 HDP members.