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A weekly brief of events occurred in the Kurdistan regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- The Iranian regime sentenced a Kurdish language teacher named Seyvan Ebrahimi to eleven years in prison. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) claimed Ebrahimi was charged with “propaganda” and “forming groups against national security.” Ebrahimi is also a board member of the Nozhin Socio-Cultural Association in Senna. Iranian authorities have targeted the association’s members with intimidation, harassment, and imprisonment. Separately, the regime executed a Kurdish man named Ayoub Karimi for “enmity against God” and ignored pleas from international organizations to halt the execution because Karimi did not receive a fair trial. Iranian security forces also continued pressuring the families of other Kurds on death row to remain silent and warned them failure to comply would result in their relatives’ bodies being kept by the state. According to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the regime executed 122 Iranians in November. Meanwhile, regime courts sentenced a Kurdish imam in Senna named Hussein Alimuradi to 16 months in prison and a former protestor in Piranshahr to five years and six months in prison. Regime courts also sentenced a Kurdish lawyer in Mashhad named Khasro Alikurdi to one year in prison and banned him from practicing law for two years. Concurrently, six Kurds from Shinno received prison sentences ranging from one to three years. Lastly, Iranian authorities arrested two Kurdish imams in Bokan and a Kurdish man from Naquadah.
- On November 30, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5961, the No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act, with a vote of 307-119. 217 of the yes votes were from Republicans. H.R. 5961 directs the president to impose sanctions on anyone who facilitates the transfer of six billion dollars in Iranian assets that were set to be released in exchange for the release of five American hostages. An amendment to H.R. 5961, H.Amdt.821, passed by a vote of 231-198 and prohibits the president from exercising the sanctions waiver authority granted by the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act and the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012. That said, the bill must still pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Biden before it can go into effect.
Iraq
- A U.S. airstrike hit a Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HHN) convoy near Kirkuk Governate’s Dibis subdistrict on Sunday, killing five militants and wounding three. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said U.S. forces targeted the militia before it could conduct a “one-way” drone attack and acknowledged Iraqi security forces were notified of the strike. “CJTF-OIR forces responded in self-defense with an armed U.S. unmanned aerial system,” read a CENTCOM statement. HHN is an Iranian-backed militia that is suspected of various crimes in Iraq and has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. HHN has also assisted the Iraqi government’s efforts to crack down on Kurdish political aspirations in Kirkuk since October 16, 2017.
- A Turkish airstrike killed a civilian Kurd on Tuesday near the Bamarni subdistrict. According to Rudaw, the victim, Ali Jamil, was a father of four children and served in the ranks of the Peshmerga forces. The final count of civilian victims is not clear, as some reports mention the possibility of another casualty. Since 2015, the Turkish forces have killed and wounded hundreds of civilians in Iraqi Kurdistan.
- On December 4, the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) released the statistics on Iraqi oil exports for November, revealing that exports through Turkey remained at zero for the eighth consecutive month. According to the data, Kirkuk’s oil revenue amounted to $83,900,482, generated from the export of 172,383 barrels of oil to Jordan and 1,038,779 barrels of oil to the international market via Basrah. The oil exported through Basra originates from the Mosul fields, falling under the jurisdiction of the Northern Oil Company and stored in the Kirkuk oil warehouse. Kirkuk’s oil exports through Turkey have been suspended since March of this year. This suspension followed an international court ruling in favor of Iraq over Turkey in a lawsuit concerning independent oil exports by the Kurdistan region via Turkey. Iraq and Turkey have not yet reached agreements to resume oil exports, resulting in significant losses of nearly 10 billion dollars for Iraq and the Kurdistan Region since March.
Syria
- Clashes between factions of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) killed two militants and wounded five in Tel Abyad. The SNA’s Military Police told North Press Agency the clashes were sparked by a dispute over a drug shipment. Turkish proxies in northern Syria have a history of fighting with each other over illicit revenue generated by smuggling, kidnapping, and extorting local Kurds. Turkish authorities and groups like the SNA remain unable or unwilling to curb the violence and impose the rule of law in their Syrian territories.
- Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) announced plans to force a vote on S.J.Res.51, which directs the removal of all U.S. forces from Syria that have not been approved by Congress. Paul explained his decision in a statement to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, stating, “900 U.S. troops remain in Syria with no vital U.S. interest at stake, no definition of victory, no exit strategy, and no congressional authorization to be there.” Paul also stressed that the recent string of Iranian drone and rocket strikes on U.S. interests in Syria and Iraq constitutes an unnecessary risk to American military personnel. Of course, it remains questionable if S.J.Res.51 will make it out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and it is unlikely the bill will pass the House and the Senate.
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) outlined the cost of the growing conflict between the U.S. and Iranian-backed militias in Syria. SOHR recorded the deaths of 44 Iranian-backed militia in Syria in November, approximately half of whom were killed by U.S. airstrikes. The other half were killed by ISIS (Da’esh) or Israeli airstrikes. The SOHR also documented 29 attacks on facilities hosting U.S. personnel by Tehran-backed militias and four rounds of retaliatory strikes targeting militias and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in November. Lastly, the SOHR reported that Iran-backed militias are bolstering their presence in the Homs Governorate and training for a confrontation with U.S. forces.
Turkey
- People’s Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP) deputies appealed to the Parliament Human Rights Inquiry Commission (İHİK) on behalf of an 81-year-old woman named Makbule Özer after a report from Turkey’s Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) argued she could return to prison. Turkish police detained Özer and her husband Hadi during a raid of their home in 2018, and both were sentenced to two years in prison on charges related to aiding the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Özers were detained again in 2022 under questionable circumstances, but Ozer’s attorney was able to secure Özer’s release and a one-year deferral of her 23-month prison sentence because of her fragile health on September 7, 2022. Özer’s age and myriad of health problems mean any return to prison could become a death sentence.
- Turkey’s Ministry of Treasury and Finance froze the assets of 62 individuals and 20 legal organizations the Turkish government accused of “financing terror.” The sanctioned entities operate in Austria, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Italy, Norway, Iraq, Syria, Germany, and Australia. Most of the targeted individuals and entities were Kurdish, and the list included chapters of the Kurdish Red Crescent and Kurdish cultural and civil society organizations. Turkey consistently labels Kurdish organizations, activists, and civilians as terrorists and levels harsh punishments against those suspected of links to the PKK.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “butcher” and asserted that he would be “tried as a war criminal” during an address to members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the Grand National Assembly in Ankara. Erdogan’s comments come as a short-term truce between Israel and Hamas ends and are part of Erdogan’s ongoing efforts to establish himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause. Granted, parallels have been drawn between Erdogan’s accusations against the Israeli military and Erdogan’s own actions in Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan, where the Turkish military has repeatedly targeted civilians with airstrikes, drones, and artillery. Additionally, while Erdogan has accused Israel of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza, Turkey is pursuing a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Kurds in northern Syria.