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A weekly brief of events occurred in the Kurdistan regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- Iran and China’s foreign ministers spoke on Sunday in preparation for the 15th summit of the BRICS economic bloc consisting of Brazil, Russia, Iran, China, and South Africa. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced Sunday’s conversation addressed “maintaining high-level cooperation” between China and Iran. In addition, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi praised the improving relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. On another note, tensions between the U.S. and Iran remain high as a seized Iranian oil tanker was seen offloading near Texas. This coincided with a meeting of high-ranking Russian and Iranian military officials in Moscow.
- As the first anniversary of the anti-government protests sparked by the death of the Kurdish woman Zhina Mahsa Amini approaches, the Iranian regime has escalated its crackdown on the Kurdish region (Rojhelat). Just in the past week, dozens of Kurds were arrested in Piranshahr, Mehabad, Miandoab, Pawa, Senna, Shinno, Kamyaran, Jwanro, and Tabriz. While some of the detainees are civilian activists, the remainder are former protestors or individuals accused of having links to Kurdish parties. Activists have leveled accusations against the Iranian regime, alleging that it is conducting mass arrests to impede the commemoration of Amini’s death.
Iraq
- Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is slated to visit Baghdad and Erbil on Wednesday and Thursday. In Baghdad, Fidan is scheduled to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and several other officials. In Erbil, Fidan will meet with the President of Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Masrour Barzani, and Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani. Fidan will probably discuss the strain placed upon Ankara’s relations with Baghdad and Erbil by Turkey’s stoppage of oil flowing through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline. The stoppage began after the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) sided with Baghdad over Ankara. Turkey’s failure to allow the resumption of oil exports, despite an agreement between Erbil and Baghdad in April, has cost the Iraqi government billions of dollars in lost revenue.
- Joint Iraqi-Peshmerga brigades under the command of the Iraqi government are expected to begin operating within the next month, according to Sagvan Yusuf, a member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives’ Committee of Security and Defense. The announcement comes after funds for the brigades were finalized when Iraq’s budget bill was passed in June. As things stand, the Ministry of Defense is waiting for the funds to be transferred from the Ministry of Finance. Baghdad and Erbil agreed to form two Iraqi-Pershmerga brigades in 2021 to counter increased ISIS (Da’esh) activity since 2017 in the “Disputed Territories,” but the process was delayed by a lack of funding and the Council of Representatives’ inability to form a government after the 2021 elections.
- Mark Stroh was appointed as the newest U.S. Consul General (USCG) in Erbil. Stroh previously served as a diplomat in Basrah and Hilla and as the USCG in Karachi, Pakistan. Stroh, like other USCGs, will serve for one year and replaces Irvin Hicks Jr., who gave a farewell speech on August 17. Separately, Hadi al Ameri, head of the Iranian-backed Badr Organization, threatened the U.S. not to maintain any forces or bases in Iraq amid reports the U.S. was planning to reinforce its presence across the Middle East. Al Ameri’s militia has conducted hundreds of terrorist attacks against the U.S. and its allies since 2003.
Syria
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the Turkish-backed Civil Police kidnapped four civilians in Turkish-occupied Afrin. The SOHR also stated one of the victims, a 48-year-old male, was taken to a prison in the center of Afrin and violently tortured by his captors. Another victim was a young man from Idlib Governorate.
- On August 17, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released a statement announcing sanctions on two Turkish-affiliated Free Syrian Army (FSA) militias, the Suleiman Shah Brigade and the Hamza Division, for severe human rights violations in northern Syria (Rojava). The crimes cited in the Department of the Treasury statement include torture, extortion, kidnapping, robbery, sexual assault, and murder. Three members of the organizations’ leadership structures, Muhammed Hussein al Jasim (Abu Amsha), Hussein al Jasim, and Sayf Boulad, were also sanctioned. The sanctions freeze all “property and interests” of the aforementioned individuals and prohibit U.S. citizens and permanent residents from doing business with them. At the same time, sanctions were levied against a business owned by Abu Amsha known as Al Safir Oto. Al Safir Oto is headquartered in Istanbul, operates a network of car dealerships run by members of the Suleiman Shah Brigade in southern Turkey, and has been used to launder money from criminal activities in Afrin.
- On August 15, The Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) Anti-Terror Units (YAT) neutralized a Da’esh official named Ibrahim al Ali, also known as Abu Mujahid, after he refused to surrender in Raqqa. The U.S.-led Coalition supported the raid with aerial surveillance. The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG) also assisted the operation.
Turkey
- Bianet.org reported several NGOs gathered in Diyarbakir (Amed) to discuss a plan to convert the Diyarbakir No. 5 Prison into a cultural center. The NGOs want the prison to become a human rights museum instead of a cultural center to commemorate the long history of torture and abuse suffered by Kurds in Turkish prisons. Appeals have been made to all of Turkey’s major political parties, most notably Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), regarding support for the project. Eli Turan, current head of the Turkish Medical Chamber’s Diyarbakir branch, announced a petition will be started to gather support for converting the prison into a museum. Simultaneously, the Diyarbakir Bar Association intends to obtain more information on the Turkish government’s plan for the project.
- Three bottles of flammable liquid were found outside the local office of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Adana. The prime suspect in the attempted attack, an unidentified woman, reportedly rang the office’s doorbell to gain access to the building but was turned away because she was a stranger.