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A weekly brief of events occurred in the Kurdistan regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- At least 20 Kurdish cities responded to calls for a three-day nationwide strike by starting a general strike on Monday. Parts of Tehran also answered the call and shut down shops and businesses. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime abducted dozens of activists across Iran’s Kurdish region, including children and teens, to extinguish the ongoing protests and demonstrations. The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights identified 130 children and students arrested by Iranian security forces, including 27 girls. Iranian authorities forced the children to file a legal pledge not to participate in demonstrations before they were released. Simultaneously, the Iranian regime vowed it would dispense long prison terms and even death sentences to protesters and sentenced several Kurdish activists to prison for “disruption of public order” last week. Female activist Sohaila Mata’i received an 18-month sentence, and Mahdi Jawanmardi received a sentence of five years and eight months. The regime also sentenced Yassin Fathi to five years and eight months in prison in Dewalan. At the same time, the regime continued its practice of killing protesters and stealing their bodies before relatives can claim them. In addition, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) continued setting up checkpoints and searching residents in Kurdish cities. Iranian authorities also attacked thousands of people in several Kurdish towns for celebrating the national soccer team’s loss to the U.S. in the World Cup. On Sunday, Iran’s prosecutor general, Mohammad Montazeri, said the regime abolished the morality police, but the Iranian government failed to confirm the decision on Monday. Furthermore, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said regime-backed hackers hacked the accounts of HRW staff and 18 other high-profile activists, journalists, researchers, academics, and politicians working on Middle Eastern issues. Lastly, the Canadian government imposed more sanctions on Iran’s drone companies for supplying Russian forces in Ukraine.
Iraq
- A Turkish drone strike near Sulaymaniyah Governorate’s Zarun village killed a civilian and wounded two others who were hiking and picking produce on Friday. Turkey’s incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan, which it has repeatedly claimed is meant to counter the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has killed 111 civilians and injured 188 since 2015. Turkey has also established more than 50 military bases and outposts on Iraqi soil. That said, Baghdad and Erbil agreed to deploy Iraqi border guard units comprised of local Kurds in an attempt to halt Turkey’s expansion.
- On Saturday, the Iraqi Council of Representatives voted on the government’s last two ministerial posts. The Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) Bankin Rikani was approved as the Minister of Housing and Construction, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) Nizar Muhammad Saeed was confirmed as the Minister of the Environment. Separately, ongoing disputes between the KDP and the PUK hindered efforts to hash out an agreement to export natural gas from Iraqi Kurdistan to Europe via Turkey. The agreement would ideally reduce European dependence on Russian gas by 15 percent.
- On November 29, 14 Kurdish parties in Kirkuk sent a letter to Iraqi President Latif Rashid complaining about Iraqi security forces’ raids on Kurdish neighborhoods in Kirkuk that have driven Kurds out of the city. The letter also rejected the way government services are delivered in Kirkuk Governorate and criticized the Iraqi government for discriminatory policies that marginalize Kurdish neighborhoods. That said, the new government led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani reactivated the committee responsible for enforcing Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution and replaced the military commander in Kirkuk. The Kurds remain underrepresented in the local administration because Baghdad replaced dozens of Kurdish officials with non-Kurds.
Syria
- Turkey temporarily halted plans for a new incursion into northeastern Syria after the Biden administration expressed adamant opposition to such a move. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin voiced disapproval of a new Turkish invasion during a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday. Likewise, the White House and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Linda Thomas-Greenfield refused to support additional Turkish attacks on northeastern Syria. The UN joined the U.S. in warning Turkey against further military escalations. Moreover, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resumed joint counterterrorism operations with U.S. forces after briefly halting them to protest Turkey’s recent barrage of air and artillery attacks. Concomitantly, in a Washington Post op-ed, SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi asked the US “not to forget” its Kurdish allies, addressed Turkey’s ongoing attacks, and asked for help in achieving “peace.” Despite Abdi’s op-ed and the Biden administration’s opposition, however, Turkey and its Syrian proxies attacked several locations in northern Syria with artillery and mortars, including Ain Essa, Giri Spi, and Kobani.
- Despite repeated remarks by Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for normalization with the Assad regime, the latter has rejected the Turkish proposal. Russia is playing the mediator between the two counties. However, according to a report by Reuters, the Assad regime is resisting the efforts. In August of 2022, several Turkish-occupied cities in Syria protested Turkey’s new approach toward the Syrian government after Erdogan’s decade-long support of various groups in Syria fighting Damascus.
Turkey
- The inflation in Turkey recorded 24-year-high resulting in a dramatic price increase. The Co-chair of the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Mithat Sancar, faulted the government’s 2023 budget calling it a” budget of authoritarianism and war, an interest rate budget, an electoral budget, an inflationary budget.” Mithat warned that “30 million people in Turkey live below the hunger line.” At the same time, the Kurdish Co-chair of the HDP, Parvin Buldan, criticized the government for its “war policies” and rejected the planned Turkish invasion of Syria, part of Erdogan’s re-election campaign. “The election outcome will not be determined by the sound of the bombs you dropped on Syria, but by the sound of empty pots that do not boil.” Said Buldan in the Grand National Assembly during the 2023 budget proposal. Despite
- After an agreement with Turkey to join NATO, the Swedish government extradited a Kurdish asylum seeker named Mahmut Tat to Turkey. Tat is accused by the Turkish government of membership in the PKK, facing lengthy prison time. However, Turkey expects “more” from Sweden and Finland to ease its process of joining NATO.
- The Turkish government announced the discovery of 150 million oil barrels in reserve near the Cudi mountain in the Kurdish town of Cizre. The government plans to increase the production to 10,000 barrels a day. The Kurdish region remains the poorest in the country despite oil discoveries.