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Iran
- Sadegh Zarza, a Kurdish activist and former senior member of the Iranian Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP-I), remains in critical condition after being stabbed several times in Leeuwarden, Holland. Zarza’s brother accused the Iranian regime of being behind the attack. The Iranian regime has assassinated several prominent Kurds outside Iran since 1987, including the political leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou in Vienna on July 13, 1989.
- The prominent female Kurdish activist Zeinab Jalalain launched a hunger strike and demanded transfer from a prison near Tehran, where she recently recovered from the coronavirus, to her previous prison cell in Khoy. Meanwhile, Iranian authorities claimed a Kurdish inmate named Kamal Husseini died of the coronavirus in a Saqqez prison last week, though numerous local human rights organizations disputed the Iranian regime’s claim and are demanding investigations. Concurrently, in Kermanshah, Iranian intelligence officers (Ettela’at) informed the family of a 32-year-old man named Khalil Muradi that he died in a “car accident.” Ettela’at previously arrested Muradi in October 2017 without informing his family or leaving any judicial record. Finally, Iranian authorities arrested two Kurdish men, Ibrahim Zada and SaIam Bazgani, in Piranshahr and accused them of activism.
- Iranian authorities sentenced a Kurdish journalist named Sharam Safari to 91 days in prison for “publishing incorrect news and confusing the public.” Sharam had previously reported on how the Iranian regime was hiding the actual number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the country. Iran’s coronavirus numbers continue to climb, and its Kurdish region remains particularly hard hit by the pandemic.
- Two Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) were killed last week, and six more were wounded by Iranian and Turkish forces. On Tuesday, a Kolbar named Darwesh Mena was killed by a landmine from the Iran-Iraq War. A second landmine from that conflict wounded a Kolbar near Urmia. Simultaneously, the Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) reported that the Turkish border guards killed one Kolbar and wounded another in Salmas. Iranian border guards wounded two more Kolbars near Baneh and Sardasht. Iranian border guards also ambushed a group of Kolbars on Monday and severely injured a Kolbar named Ayoub Rostami.
Iraq
- The Turkish military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan, which was launched in May 2019 and is now called “Operation Claw Tiger,” continued last week. Though the operation’s stated purpose is to root out Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the Qandil Mountains, it has killed dozens of civilians and displaced thousands more. On Friday, Turkish airstrikes destroyed a vehicle and killed five civilians in the Sheladize District of Duhok Governorate. The Government of Iraq responded by accusing Turkey of violating Iraq’s sovereignty and summoning the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad. Likewise, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) condemned the attacks and called for the Republic of Turkey to respect the “sovereignty of our homeland,” though it also requested the PKK immediately leave the target areas to prevent border tensions and further loss of life. In the meantime, protests were held in Iraqi Kurdistan to denounce the continuing incursion and resulting civilian casualties.
- President of the Kurdistan Region Nichervan Barzani met with Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa al Kadhimi to restart negotiations on numerous unresolved issues, including the KRG’s allocated budget, the status of the “Disputed Territories,” and the salaries of government employees in Iraqi Kurdistan. Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Qubad Talibani headed a second delegation to Baghdad on Tuesday to discuss these and other unresolved issues.
- More than 1,000 additional coronavirus cases were confirmed in Iraqi Kurdistan last week. The region’s total coronavirus numbers now stand at 2,638 active cases, 1,408 recoveries, and 118 deaths. Despite these numbers, however, businesses remain open and local travel remains unrestricted, though limitations on travel between provinces continue to be enforced.
Syria
- The ruling Kurdish parties of the Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES) concluded a second round of talks with the Kurdish National Council and agreed to implement a 2014 agreement calling for the creation of a political entity that ensures representation for all of the region’s Kurdish parties. The U.S. supported the agreement and is likely to continue mediating talks between the two sides. Meanwhile, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) General Commander Mazloum Abdi hosted a delegation of Arab tribal leaders from the region and stressed the AANES’s commitment to “national unity.”
- The AANES repatriated 10 French children of slain ISIS (Da’esh) terrorists last week. The French delegation headed by Eric Chevallier also discussed AANES’s recent dialogue with the KNC and other Kurdish parties. Thousands of foreign Da’esh fighters and their relatives remain imprisoned in AANES-controlled territory.
Turkey
- The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) “March for Democracy” concluded after participants reached Ankara on Friday. The march was intended to protest the Turkish government’s continuing removal and replacement of democratically elected Kurdish mayors. That said, Turkish police interdicted some of the rallies before they could reach Ankara and detained participants in Ankara and Istanbul. The HDP released a statement following the conclusion of the march which read, “We marched for democracy, peace, justice, rights, and law. We marched to defend the rights and will of 82 million citizens. We did not walk alone. Despite all the obstacles, we walked with the support of the majority of society, with the strength they gave us.”
- The Constitutional Court of Turkey (AYM) ruled the jailing of Kurdish politician and former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas had exceeded a reasonable period and that his right to freedom had been violated. Granted, the Turkish government did not release Demirtas, who has been jailed without sentence since November 2016, as other charges remain pending.
- The Turkish court of Van province has sentenced Azim Yacan, a former Kurdish mayor of İpekyolu district, to 7 years and 3 months in prison after he was removed from mayoral position last November after winning the election in March of 2019. Likewise in Mardin, a Turkish court sentenced a former Mayor of Nusaybin district Sara Kaya, to 16 years in prison for three charges including “disrupting the unity and integrity of the state.” Kaya was removed from office in January of 2017 and was jailed since.