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A weekly brief of events that occurred in the Kurdish regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- The Iranian regime detained eight more Kurdish activists in its ongoing campaign against Kurdish political rights. In Javanrud (Jwanro), Iranian authorities arrested a Kurdish man named Hussein Mirzie on Saturday. In Sardasht, Iranian security forces arrested a Christian Kurd named Sherko Saweshi and a second Christian Kurd from Sardasht named Mehdi Ibrahimzada in Fars Province. Iranian authorities also arrested four more Kurds from Sardasht on Thursday and accused them of “aiding Kurdish opposition parties.” Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) reported unknown Iranian officials abducted a 35-year-old Kurdish man named Khabat Kafakhari in Sanandaj. Makhiri was previously contacted by several Iranian security services. Finally, Iranian authorities arrested two Kurds from Marivan, Nawshiran Razaiie and Farzad Muradi, and another from Baneh named Shareif Amini.
- Iranian authorities injured eight Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) last week. Last Tuesday, Iranian border guards wounded a 50-year-old Kolbar named Jafaar Ramazani in Kermanshah Governorate’s Nowsud town. Iranian border guards then ambushed and severely wounded three more Kolbars in the same area on Wednesday. Concurrently, Iranian security forces injured a total of four Kolbars in Chaldaron, Piranshahr, and Sardasht. Finally, Iranian authorities arrested three local businessmen, 31-year-old Sohaib Kawa, 30-year-old Rebwar Arazhangi, and 25-year-old Mohammed Arazhangi, who were involved with Kolbar activities in Marivan.
Iraq
- A Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation traveled to Baghdad to meet with representatives from the Government of Iraq (GOI) and continue discussions regarding Iraq’s budget. Though both parties previously agreed upon the payment of Kurdish government employee salaries and the transfer of oil revenues and customs duties from the KRG to the GOI, continuing talks will focus on the passage of a three-year budget and other outstanding issues. Meanwhile, despite the KRG and GOI reaching preliminary agreements to open up joint coordination centers in Iraq’s “Disputed Territories,” no final agreements have been signed between the Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga due to various unresolved issues. At the same time, a senior Peshmerga official stated ISIS (Da’esh) has carried out 147 terror attacks in the “Disputed Territories” in 2020.
- French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly traveled to Erbil and met with several Kurdish officials, including President of Kurdistan Region Niachervan Barzani, to discuss the continuing fight against Da’esh and security relations between France, the GOI, and the KRG. France remains a key member of the US-led coalition against Da’esh and has provided assistance to Iraqi and Syrian Kurds.
- Kurdish public security forces (Asayesh) in Garmian announced the arrest of three Dae’sh terrorists in the Kurdistan region in July. The detainees are all from Diyala Governorate and, according to their confessions, have been active in Haweja since 2014.
Syria
- Russian vehicles collided with a mounted American patrol in northeastern Syria on Wednesday, injuring two US personnel and ratcheting up tensions between the two nations. The Pentagon responded by releasing a statement that denounced Russia’s “deliberately provocative and aggressive behavior.” Wednesday’s incident is the most recent in a string of confrontations between US and Russian forces that have occurred in the increasingly chaotic environment created by the US’s withdrawal from parts of northeastern Syria and Turkey’s October 2019 invasion.
- Russia, Turkey, and Iran released a joint statement on August 26 condemning the oil deal between Syrian Kurds and the US company Delta Crescent Energy. Meanwhile, a Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) delegation, fearing Russia’s reaction and additional Turkish aggression in northeastern Syria, traveled to Moscow and met with Russian officials. The SDC delegation, headed by Ilham Ahmed, also signed a memorandum of understanding with a Russian-backed Syrian opposition group known as the Popular Will Party. Both parties then met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov who reaffirmed Russia’s readiness to continue “promoting an inclusive, constructive inter-Syrian dialogue.”
- The US vetoed the United Nations Security Council’s Draft Resolution on Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorist Acts on Monday because it did not include “repatriation to countries of origin or nationality.” Thousands of Da’esh detainees remain in Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-administered camps in northeastern Syria.
Turkey
- Ebru Timtik, a Kurdish human rights lawyer who was initially arrested in September 2017 and launched a multi-month hunger strike to protest her continued detention at the hands of the Turkish government, died of heart failure on Thursday. Timtik mostly represented clients who were critical of the Turkish government, and her death angered Turkey’s Kurdish community. Additionally, armed Turkish police surrounded her funeral, which was held on Saturday, to stifle any potential protests and arrested one lawyer while breaking up a gathering near the Istanbul Bar Association.
- Turkish authorities detained the HDP co-chair of Bağlar District, Fatma Kavmaz, on Monday after the government accused her of “membership of a terror organization.” Meanwhile, small rallies have begun in several Kurdish cities calling for peace and demanding the government end the isolation imposed on the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdulah Ocalan. Additional rallies are scheduled to take place on September 1, the International Day of Peace, in Istanbul, Van, and Diyarbakir.
- Turkish nationalists perpetrated another hate crime against Kurds last week, with two individuals attacking the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party in Ankara on Sunday. Turkish nationalists previously vandalized an HDP building in Istanbul last month.