719
Iran
- The Iranian regime continued its crackdown on Kurdish political activity last week. An appeals court in Saqqez confirmed an activist named Najir Majedian’s four-month prison sentence for “aiding Kurdish opposition parties.” Also, in Saqqez, Iranian authorities arrested a Kurdish man named Rahim Rahmanpour on Wednesday. Concurrently, Iranian intelligence officers (Ettela’at) arrested a Kurdish man, Younis Khezry, in Oshnavieh. Likewise, Iranian security forces detained a Kurdish man named Faiq Pana in Bokan. Meanwhile, a Sanandaj appeals court confirmed a female Kurdish environmental activist named Hajar Saedi’s five-year prison sentence. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK), Saedi’s sentence will be implemented in six years, and she will have to check-in with the local Ettela’at office every four months until then. Finally, Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced a Kurdish political prisoner named Arash Nasri, who was initially arrested in March 2019, to 17 years in prison for “carrying a weapon against the state” and “illegal travels.”
- Iranian authorities continued their bloody campaign targeting Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) last week. Iranian border guards injured a 17-year-old Kolbar named Armin Ahmadi near Marvian and killed another Kolbar, Hadi Khedri, near Piranshahr on Thursday. Iranian border guards also attacked a group of Kolbars on Saturday near Bradost in Urmia, killing a 27-year-old man named Saraj Ahmadi and wounding two of his colleagues. Iranian authorities then injured three more Kolbars in the same area later that day. Simultaneously, Islamic Army of Iran personnel (Artesh) ambushed a vehicle and killed two men believed to have business ties with Kolbars, Baran Basham and Ali Ashrafian, near Zanjan.
Iraq
- The Government of Iraq (GOI) and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) finally reached an agreement regarding government employee salaries in Iraqi Kurdistan last week. The deal entails the GOI’s provision of 325 billion IQD to the KRG in exchange for the KRG’s delivery of revenues from the sale of 250,000 barrels of oil per day and a percentage of customs income to Baghdad. That said, numerous other outstanding issues remain between the KRG and GOI, and both sides will engage in further talks in an attempt to resolve them.
- Turkish airstrikes, which previously killed two senior Iraqi security officials, struck additional areas in Iraqi Kurdistan last week. The GOI responded by denouncing the attacks, banning Turkish citizens from entering Iraq, and canceling all previously scheduled visits from Turkish officials. The GOI is also working with the international community and Arab League to halt the Turkish military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan that often kills and displaces civilians under the pretext of targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and deployed additional border guards to end the Turkish presence in the region.
- A GOI delegation headed by Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Foad Hussein arrived in Washington to engage in talks with US officials. The delegation, which includes representatives from the KRG, will be joined by Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa al Kadhimi, who is scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump on Thursday.
Syria
- A joint US-Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) patrol was fired upon by Syrian regime soldiers near Qamishli on Monday. The US-SDF patrol returned fire and killed one Syrian soldier while wounding another. Assad regime forces had made several previous attempts to deny SDF-US patrols access to certain areas before this most recent incident.
- Turkish-backed Islamist groups attacked several areas under SDF control last week, striking locations near Giri Spi on Thursday and Manbij on Sunday. Concurrently, Turkish drones attacked rural areas near Ain Essa and injured two civilians. The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) responded by issuing a statement blaming Russia “for not fulfilling its obligations in implementing the agreement concluded with the Turkish occupation state, through which a ceasefire was agreed upon.”
- The SDF reached an agreement with Arab tribes in Al Hasakah Province’s al Shaddadi town to release 9 more former ISIS (Da’esh) members who “did not have blood on their hands” and were not implicated in crimes against civilians. The agreement is the latest in the SDF’s continuing attempt to reintegrate former Da’esh members into their communities under the watch of local Arab leaders. The SDF has released 500 Syrians through such agreements so far, though tens of thousands remain imprisoned in the region.
- The AANES’s coronavirus numbers reached 210 confirmed cases and 14 deaths last week. Meanwhile, Syria’s official number of confirmed cases now stands at 1677.
Turkey
- The Turkish government ramped up its campaign of arrests targeting Kurdish politicians and activists and detained several senior members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) last week. Turkish authorities arrested eight people in Hakkari, including a female Kurdish activist who heads the Shemdeli District’s Human Rights Association (IHD) office, on Friday. Also, on Friday, Turkish police detained four people in Adana. Likewise, Turkish authorities arrested five people in Shirank, a senior HDP member in Aydin, five people in Bursa for social media posts, and the co-chair of the HDP in Mush, Abdulbari Yiğit.
- Turkish police arrested the former mayor of Diyarbakir (Amed) Province’s Yenishehir District Ibrahim Chijek. Chijek, who was previously prevented from taking office in March 2019, is one of 40 Kurdish mayors removed by Turkish authorities and replaced with pro-government trustees.