676
A weekly brief of events occurred in the Kurdistan regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- Kurdish citizen Farhad Beigi Garousi took his own life in Iran following state intimidation. He was 21. Garousi was detained in 2022 in the Kermanshah Province after participating in the nationwide “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. At the time of his death, he had been temporarily released on bail. Moreover, the Iranian supreme court upheld the death sentence against a Kurdish Imam from Bokan, who was charged after making speeches supporting demonstrations. The regime also arrested several Kurds across the region. Separately, on June 6, Iranian border forces shot and killed Hazhir Mahmoudpour, a 24-year-old Kurdish border porter (kolbar), at the Nowsud border crossing. The incident happened just a day after another kolbar was shot by Iranian border guards at the Marivan border area.
Iraq
- On June 6, Iraq’s electoral commission announced that political parties could now self-register for the upcoming KRG legislative elections. The registration window opened on June 8 and ended five days later. Jumana al-Ghalai, spokesperson of Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told the media that the decision allows parties, coalitions, and independent and minority candidates to self-register. This process means that the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) can now register, after it had been boycotting the process due to concerns about the election mechanism. The KDP and several minority parties had refused to join the process until certain changes were implemented. For instance, Baghdad will now allocate five seats for minorities in the KRG’s three provinces. This change responds to an Iraqi court decision that had stripped these minorities of their allotted seats in the legislature. As of now, elections are set to happen on September 5.
- The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation and international oil and gas companies (IOCs) met with Iraqi officials in Baghdad on June 8 to discuss how to resume Kurdistan’s oil exports. The Iraqi Oil Ministry (IOM), which set up the meeting, had told IOCs to reveal their contracts with Erbil ahead of the meeting. The IOM had initiated cases against the contracts it requested to be disclosed. A source involved in the dialogue told Rudaw that such a request placed the IOCs in “legal jeopardy,” given the court order entered in March that stopped KRG’s oil exports. The June 8 meeting aimed to clear obstacles so the KRG can resume its exports. As of June 9, no particulars of these talks have been revealed, though Iraqi Minister of Oil Hayyan Abdul Ghani said, “there is good progress regarding oil export in the Kurdistan Region. It is getting closer to an agreement on Kurdistan Region oil export-reopen.” Since the pause of Kurdistan’s oil exports, Iraq has lost nearly 15 billion dollars.
- Naif Khalaf Sedo, head of the Yazidi Bloc in Iraq’s Parliament, announced that the proposed Yazidi Nationality Law has been referred to the legal committee. Sedo claimed that the law aims to support Yazidi rights in Iraq and to address the genocide they suffered at ISIS (Da’esh) hands. More than 180 members of the Iraqi Parliament, from various backgrounds, have endorsed the proposed act. However, not all Yazidis welcome the proposed act’s goals. Several Kurdish Yazidis voiced their opposition to the proposed law, even in light of historical sources that confirm the Yazidis’ Kurdish roots and identity. Supreme Commander of the Yazidi self-defense militia group Protection Force of Ezidkhan, Haider Shesho, and historian Dawood al-Khatari cast the law as a divisive political maneuver. Kurdish MP Ibrahim Mirani claimed the proposed law is illegal, emphasizing Yazidism as a religion, not a nationality. Another critic, Sarhan Issa, spokesperson for the Yazidi Council of Syria (part of the Syrian Kurdish National Council, ENKS), claimed that the actions in the Iraqi Parliament constitute a “crime” against one of the oldest Kurdish communities. He called for a statement from the Yazidi Spiritual Council and an urgent meeting of all Yazidi associations and centers to prepare to oppose this “cowardly scheme.” Issa criticized the proposal for a “Yazidi Nationality Law” as an attempt to erase the Yazidi identity and called for legal action against Naif Khalaf Sedo and the Iraqi Parliament.
Syria
- The High Elections Commission (HEC) in the northern and eastern administration of Syria postponed the planned local elections on June 11. “The postponement came in response to the demands of the political parties and alliances participating in the electoral process,” read a statement by the HEC. Last week, four Kurdish parties requested a delay in the elections, and the HEC said the delays came to ensure that the electoral process is held in “a democratic manner.” However, the election faced intense pressure, mainly from Turkey, which repeatedly threatened military invasion. At the same time, the US disapproved of the process, and media reports suggested that Russia also threatened to withdraw from the Turkish-Russian security agreement, which would green light a Turkish invasion into the region. It’s unclear whether the elections will take place in August as the HEC announced.
- The Internal Security Forces (Asayesh) announced the foiling of a terrorist attack by two suicidal terrorists on a motorbike in the al Hasakah countryside. According to the Asayesh, the two terrorists were ambushed and set off their bombs. However, a member of the Asayesh was killed on Saturday by a Da’esh attack near Tel Hamis. This coincided with several fresh attacks in the Syrian Desert (Badia) and Deir Ez Zor, which killed more than ten Syrian soldiers. The terrorist organization also launched a car bomb in Deir Ez Zor that killed Iranian-backed militias. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), dozens of civilians and 355 Syrian soldiers and militants have been killed by Da’esh in 2024.
Turkey
- A Turkish court in Hakkari sentenced the Kurdish mayor of Hakkari, Mehmet Sıddık Akış, to twenty years in prison for “membership” in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Akış was sacked by the government on June 1 and later replaced with a trustee. Soon after his arrest, he was sentenced in a case dated 2009. Lawmakers of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) protested the sacking and removal of the mayor in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, calling the removal a coup against the will of the people. In a statement, the DEM Party accused the government of fabricating a case against the mayor since there were no proceedings against him before the elections, and he was later sentenced within 48 hours, which they claim was applied illegally. Additionally, protests erupted in several Kurdish cities amid fears of the government’s plans to sack more Kurdish officials who won the majority in the municipal elections in the Kurdish region. The DEM Party plans to continue demonstrations, including a major one planned for June 13. So far, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader has denounced the removal of the Kurdish mayor.