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Iran
- The Iranian regime killed four more Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) last week. On Thursday, Iranian border guards ambushed and killed two Kolbars named Muhseen Darweshzada and Ibrahim Geordizach near Khoy. A second border guard ambush near Piranshahr severely wounded three Kolbars. Iranian border guards also wounded a Kolbar named Ali Khezerzada near Baneh on Friday. Meanwhile, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops killed a Kolbar named Kamaran Gulan near Sardasht. Concurrently, Iranian security forces killed a suspected Kolbar near Borujerd. A total of 26 Kolbars have been killed, and at least 57 have been wounded in 2020 so far.
- Iran’s Kurdish region was again hit by arson attacks last week. The Kurdistan Association for Human Rights (KMMK) reported arson attacks in several areas, including Lorestan, Kermanshah, Ilam, and Kurdistan provinces. Additional fires killed one member of the Iranian military and decimated local wildlife populations near the Zagros Mountains. Simultaneously, a significant number of farmlands were set ablaze in Sarpol Zahab. These attacks are the latest in a series that have targeted agricultural lands during harvest seasons and forests in Iranian Kurdistan.
Iraq
- The easing of restrictions and lifting of lockdowns appears to have resulted in a sudden resurgence of the coronavirus in Iraqi Kurdistan. Roughly 250 new cases, most of which were in Sulaymaniyah Province, were reported last week. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) responded to this development by imposing a one-week lockdown and granting governors additional authority to adjust restrictions. That said, the new lockdown has sparked protests from small business owners in several of Sulaymaniyah Province’s districts. In light of the recent resurgence, Iraqi Kurdistan’s coronavirus numbers now stand at 745 confirmed cases, 434 recoveries, and eight deaths.
- The KRG vowed to disburse the salaries of its employees for the month of February after receiving partial funding from Baghdad. Meanwhile, the Government of Iraq imposed a one-month deadline with regards to reaching an agreement with the KRG on issues like oil production before the provision of additional funding for government employees in Iraqi Kurdistan.
- Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa al Kadhimi visited Kirkuk as the Iraqi military launched a military campaign targeting against ISIS (Da’esh) terrorists south of Kirkuk. The operation, dubbed “Heroes of Iraq,” includes several military divisions and federal police units and aims to clear the region known as the “Disputed Territories” of Da’esh terrorists responsible for a slew of attacks over the past two months, the most recent of which killed one Iraqi soldier and injured four more near Makhmour on Monday. Meanwhile, Kurdish farmers in the region began this year’s harvest season early after facing hundreds of arson attacks from Da’esh over the past few weeks.
- A Turkish airstrike killed five members of the Kurdistan Free Life Party-Iran, an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), on Tuesday. The airstrike occurred in a village near the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah Province’s Mawat District and also damaged a local clinic. The Turkish campaign, dubbed “Operation Claw,” is intended to target PKK militants in the region yet has killed dozens of civilians and displaced thousands more since it was launched in May 2019.
Syria
- Infighting between the Turkish-backed Islamist groups al Hazamat Division and Jaysh al Islam killed three civilians, including two children, in the Turkish-occupied Kurdish region of Afrin. Following the clashes, jihadists from Jaysh al Islam found a secret Hazamat Division prison holding 11 women, most of whom were Yazidi Kurds. The discovery of the abducted Kurdish women inspired outrage among the region’s Kurdish population and resulted in thousands of displaced Kurds in Aleppo holding protests. The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES) responded by calling for the international community to hold Turkey accountable and force it to stop the crimes perpetrated by its proxies. Dozens of local human rights organizations also denounced the imprisonment of Kurdish women.
- Numerous arson attacks targeted farmlands in areas under the control of the AANES. Additional farmlands were set ablaze by Turkish-backed jihadist attacks near Kobani, Tel Tamer, and Ain Essa. Simultaneously, several pro-Kurdish media outlets exposed Turkish-backed jihadists engaged in looting in a village near the Christian town of Tel Tamer. Finally, Da’esh terrorists set additional farmlands ablaze in Deir Ez Zor.
- After several rounds of French-mediated talks between Kurdish factions in Syria, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) General Commander Mazloum Abdi announced, “The first step of the intra-Kurdish dialogue has successfully passed and the second stage has begun.” The talks are primarily concerned with resolving differences between the ruling Kurdish ruling parties in Syria and the Kurdish National Council, which includes members who are supported by Turkey and oppose Kurdish unity in Syria.
Turkey
- Three Turkish ultranationalists stabbed a young Kurdish man named Barıs Cakan to death in Ankara on Monday. Cakan was allegedly murdered for listening to Kurdish songs. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) denounced the attack and blamed the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “The racist mindset that murdered Barış is nourished by AKP government policies targeting Kurdish language everywhere,” said the HDP statement. Meanwhile, pro-government media outlets released an interview with Cakan’s father claiming the incident stemmed from an argument over “prayer calls,” but Kurdish activists responded by claiming Turkish authorities pressured Cakan’s family to espouse a pro-government version of events.
- Turkish authorities launched a new wave of arrests targeting HDP members last week. In Batman, Turkish police detained HDP provincial co-chairs Omer Kutlu and Fatma Albay. Concurrently, in Ankara, a Turkish court extended the jailing of former HDP leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. The Turkish government also rearrested the dismissed Kurdish mayors of Mardin Province’s Kizıltepe and Savur districts. The arrested mayors, Nilüfer Yılmaz and Gulistan Oncu, are HDP members and, like many other Kurdish opposition figures, are charged with “membership in a terrorist organization.”