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Iran
- The Iranian regime continued its campaign against Kurdish political activity that has led to the arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of Kurds in 2020. In Kermanshah Province’s Qorveh town, a 26-year-old Kurdish activist named Arsalan Hedaiati began serving a four-month sentence he received for “propaganda against the state.” Meanwhile, Iranian authorities arrested a Kurdish man named Aziz Haiderpour in Urmia on Sunday. The Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) claimed Haiderpour was transferred to an Iranian intelligence (Ettela’at) prison. Ettela’at officers also detained four Kurdish women named Nargis Mohammadi, Ilham Muradi, Bahar Ahmadi, and Nagin Wassi in a village near Paveh on Wednesday. Concurrently, Ettela’at personnel investigated Amir Payada, the head of a Kurdish language center in Bokan, for the fifth time in a year due to Payada’s continuing social activism. Additionally, Iranian authorities arrested a Kurdish man named Nasrullah Nazhad in Sarvabad (Salawa). Finally, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel opened fire on three Kurdish shepherds near Oshnavieh (Shinno) on Friday, killing 26-year-old Hassan Khandanpour and wounding two others who were transferred to a hospital in Nagadeh.
- Iranian security forces arrested two Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) and killed two of their horses near Baneh. Iranian authorities also arrested a Kolbar named Rahim Ahmadi near Marivan. Simultaneously, Iranian border guards wounded a Kolbar near Chaldaron and another in Baneh Heights. Lastly, Turkish authorities requested approximately $1650 from the family of a Kolbar they killed 10 days ago in exchange for his corpse.
Iraq
- Another group of Arabs attempted to reoccupy Kurdish-owned farmlands in Kirkuk Governorate’s Sargaran last week. Many Arabs were brought in to replace forcibly removed Kurds during the Ba’ath regime’s Arabization campaign that began in 1975, but most of them left the area following Saddam Hussein’s ouster in 2003. The Kurds have appealed to Kurdish leaders to intervene and intensified such efforts since Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed militias occupied the area in 2017 and joined the acting governor of Kirkuk Governorate, Rakan Saed al Jabouri, in supporting the new Arabization campaign. On another note, numerous local Kurdish political parties met in Kirkuk to discuss unity in the governorate and upcoming elections.
- Turkey’s incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan continued last week, with Turkish airstrikes hitting several locations in the region. On Thursday, Turkish jets struck three villages near the Barwari region of Duhok Governorate. Likewise, Iraqi security forces announced Turkish drones struck a vehicle carrying three members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) near the Yazidi town of Shingal. Though Turkey continues to claim its ongoing operations are intended to root out PKK militants in the region, they have killed dozens of civilians and displaced thousands more.
Syria
- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a 25-page report outlining atrocities committed by Turkish forces and Turkish-backed proxies against Syria’s Kurdish population last Tuesday. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet Jeria called on Turkey “to respect international law and halt violations committed by armed groups under Turkey’s control, including killings, kidnappings, unlawful transfers, seizures of land & properties & forcible evictions.” Bachelet then said, “I also call on the Turkish authorities to respect international law and to ensure that violations committed by armed groups under Turkey’s effective control cease.” Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Turkish-backed groups abducted two Kurds in Afrin on Saturday. Also, on Saturday, Rudaw reported Turkish-backed Islamists killed a one-year-old child and injured his father.
- Syria’s Kurdish parties finally agreed to form a unified front for political affairs after several months of talks mediated and promoted by the US and France. The front will be a supreme committee containing 40 members, including 16 from the ruling Kurdish National Unity parties, 16 from the Kurdish National Council (KNC), and 8 from independent entities. The announcement came after Special Representative for Syria Engagement and the Special Envoy to the Global Coalition To Defeat ISIS James Jeffrey visited Syria and met with members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and senior Kurdish officials in the region.
- An Iraqi woman, who was the mother of a seven-month-old child, was found dead after being strangled with a power cable in Syria’s al Hawl camp. Last week’s murder was the latest in a string of killings and assaults that have plagued the camp, which continues to hold numerous ISIS (Da’esh) operatives and approximately 70,000 relatives of Da’esh members. At the same time, internal security spokesperson Ali al Hassan announced security forces have foiled at least 700 attempts to escape from the camp. Most recently, several families with children were caught attempting to flee the camp in a truck last week.
Turkey
- The Turkish government continued efforts to stifle Kurdish political and cultural activities by arresting four Kurds in Mus Province’s Bulaik District for attending the funeral of a PKK member who was killed in 2016. Additionally, three armed men abducted a youth leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) named Serhat Aktumur in Diyarbakir (Amed) on Saturday. Aktumur was eventually found blindfolded in a park and threatened with death for his political activism. Moreover, prominent Kurdish politician Leyla Güven was briefly detained in Hakkari Province. Lastly, two Kurdish men who were arrested by Turkish authorities in Van on September 11 were found with severe injuries. The two men, Osman Siban and Servet Turgut, claimed they were tortured and dropped from a helicopter after being detained by Turkish security forces.