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Iran
- Iranian state police arrested Eli Reza Spahi, a popular Kurdish writer in Meshed city, Khorasan province. Spahi, the author of numerous books, is known for his critical views on the Iranian regime and its authoritarianism. Police also detained two Kurdish political activists, Tahsin Dadrasy and Aram Nickpayee, in Mariwan city.
Iraq
- On December 2, a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation headed by Prime Minister Nichervan Barzani and Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani were received by the French President Emmanuel Macron. After the meeting, which was held in Elysee palace, President Marcon called for dialogue between the Iraqi Government and the KRG. Marcon also called for both sides to try and reach a peaceful agreement. The French President reaffirmed the importance of respecting the constitutional rights of the autonomous Kurdistan region within a unified Iraq. He also told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi that he and the Iraqi central government must work to quickly dissolve the Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) militias around the country.
- Turkish warplanes heavily bombed the Asos Mountain north of Sulaymaniyah city in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. In recent weeks, Turkey’s fighter jets, in coordination with Iran, have targeted the Asos Mountain more than a dozen times in attempts to eliminate members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Syria
- After intensified mortar attacks on the Kurdish city of Afrin by the Turkish military and Turkey-backed armed groups, the People’s Defense Units (YPG) released battlefield data on the losses suffered in these attacks over the last two weeks. The YPG said that there were 44 attacks by artillery and mortars in Afrin. Three civilians were killed and two wounded as a result of the shelling.
- On December 1, the second round of local election took place for the Northern Syrian Federation, the autonomous and decentralized democratic governing body for the Kurdish-dominant regions of Syria. The second phase of elections was for local councils, while the first round was for commune leadership. The third and final part of the elections will take place in January 2018 to elect officials to the Democratic People’s Conference. The Executive Body of the northern federation released a statement thanking the people of the region for their participation in the elections, saying “thank all those who worked hard for the sake of the success of the election process, especially the Interior Security Forces, the High Electoral Commission, the teachers who supervised ballot boxes and the free.”
- The YPG announced the liberation of the countryside of Deir Ez Zour with the help of local Arab tribes, the US-led coalition, and Russia. After the liberation, the YPG, which is part of the anti-ISIS joint military operation known-as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), released a statement saying “we declare our readiness to form joint operation rooms with our partners in the war against IS (The Islamic State) to increase the momentum of this coordination and eliminate this terror completely.”
- The eighth round of the Syria peace talks in Geneva ended without any results and with the Syrian regime delegation withdrawing from talks. The UN Special Envoy for Syria thus extended the talks until December 15th. Kurdish representatives and officials from the Northern Syrian Federation continue to be excluded from these talks because of vehement objections from Turkey’s government over empowering any Kurdish political participation.
Turkey
- After an appeal by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Turkey’s Constitutional Court (CC) announced that it would review the legality of the arrest of HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtas last year. The CC will issue a final verdict on this review on December 6, 2017. Meanwhile, Figen Yuksekdag, the former HDP Co-Chair, received another year on her prison sentence for a speech she delivered in 2005. In February, a Turkish court revoked Yuksekdag’s membership in Parliament and sentenced her to six years in prison for allegedly “spreading terrorist propaganda.” A dozen other HDP lawmakers remain imprisoned, with an ongoing “summary of proceedings” case by the Ankara Public Prosecutor against 19 HDP lawmakers.
- In Mersin Province Erdemli, unknown gunmen fired shots at the HDP building in Erdemli district. The incident resulted in property damage but no casualties. In Ankara the police detained Kurdish members of the HDP for their political activism. In Hatay’s Dörtyol district, HDP members organized together to raise awareness about the increasing human rights violations against their currently jailed members.