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Iran
- A second wave of the coronavirus has struck Iran. According to the Iranian regime’s official numbers, the virus has now infected over 187,000 Iranians and caused around 8,500 deaths. That said, numerous media outlets and human rights organizations continue to accuse Iranian authorities of concealing the actual number of cases and deaths in the country. Meanwhile, Iranian Kurdistan continues to be hit particularly hard, as Sanandaj, Saqqez, and Marivan have reported hundreds of new cases in recent weeks.
- Turkish authorities deported a Kurdish journalist named Nasrullah Nashine last week. Nashine was sentenced to six years in prison in 2016 for articles the Iranian regime described as “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” and had served three years of his sentence before fleeing to Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey while on prison leave.
- Iranian authorities executed a Kurdish political prisoner named Hidait Abdullahpour in Urmia on Wednesday. Abdullahpour was previously charged with “cooperation with a Kurdish opposition party” and was sentenced to death in October 2017. Approximately half of Iran’s political prisoners are Iranian Kurds.
- Iranian security forces arrested a Kurdish activist named Jaafar Awsafi on Sunday in Bokan. The Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) reported Awsafi was taken to an undisclosed location and that his family was uninformed of any charges against him. Concurrently, another activist from Kermanshah named Babek Dabirian was arrested on Saturday as he arrived at an Islamic Revolutionary Court to address an old accusation of “membership of a Kurdish opposition party.”
Iraq
- ISIS (Da’esh) terrorists raided a Kurdish village of the Kakai religion near Khanaqin on Saturday, killing seven Kurds and wounding two. A member of the Iraqi security forces was also killed in the attack. Saturday’s raid is the latest in a string of attacks that have led to renewed Kurdish calls for the redeployment of Peshmerga forces in the region. The Peshmerga were previously removed from the region, commonly referred to as the “Disputed Territories,” by Iraqi forces and Iran-backed militias on October 16, 2017. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces supported by the US-led coalition launched an operation to clear Kirkuk Governorate of Da’esh terrorists two weeks ago. That said, the Iraqi military operation has failed to cripple Da’esh’s ability to launch attacks in the region so far.
- Turkish jets and UAVs attacked multiple locations in Iraqi Kurdistan, including Sinjar, Makhmour District, Akre District, several sites in the Qandil Mountains, and villages near Bradost, on Monday morning. The strikes injured four Yazidi guards affiliated with the Shengal Resistance Units in Sinjar. Meanwhile, Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense released a statement announcing that 81 positions were targeted in the attacks. Turkey’s incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan, dubbed Operation Claw, ostensibly targets Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, though it has also caused dozens of civilian casualties and displaced thousands more.
- The total number of coronavirus cases in Iraqi Kurdistan continues to rise, with the region’s latest numbers standing at 1,244 active cases, 47 deaths, and 1,016 recoveries. Despite these numbers, businesses and government offices are continuing to reopen in the region, albeit with the implementation of countermeasures like masks and social distancing.
Syria
- Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US-led coalition, concluded a week-long operation targeting Da’esh cells in northeastern Syria. The SDF announced the capture of “110 terrorists and suspects” during raids on 56 locations along the Iraqi-Syrian border.
- Talks between Kurdish political parties in Syria entered their second phase last week. France initiated talks between the Kurdish National Council and the ruling parties of the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES). SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi weighed in on the progress of the negotiations in saying, “The process of Kurdish unity is a difficult process, given the interference of external forces in it and their negative impact, with external forces having declared their opposition to Kurdish unity.” Turkey has previously opposed efforts to establish Kurdish unity and is liable to continue to do so.
- The Afrin Human Rights Organization reported Turkish-backed jihadists abducted and killed an 80-year-old Kurdish man named Aref Khalil in Afrin after robbing his house. Khalil’s murder is the latest in a string of murders and kidnappings perpetrated by Turkish proxies in Afrin.
Turkey
- The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) organized multiple rallies in Turkey’s Kurdish region whose participants intend to march to Ankara to protest the continuing removal and arrest of elected Kurdish officials. The march, called the March for Democracy, began in Hakkari on June 15 but was disrupted by Turkish authorities’ arrest of dozens of participants in Hakkari, Van, Silivri, and Istanbul. The HDP vowed to continue the march despite Turkish authorities’ attempted crackdown, though other Turkish opposition parties have not thrown their support behind the March for Democracy thus far.