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Iran
- Merchants in the Kurdish provinces and elsewhere in Iran, including Tehran’s grand bazaar, closed their shops in protest Tuesday over the rial’s plummeting value. The rial went from being worth 80,000 to 100,000 US Dollars in just four days last week, and half of its value in the last six months. Despite protests and various MPs demanding accountability, the Rouhani government says it is not resigning. Protests for better living conditions have been going on in the outer provinces since December 2017.
- The Kurdistan Human Rights Association reported that an Iranian court sentenced Kurdish activist Iqbal Qubadi to two years in prison in Sanandaj for supporting Kurdish political parties. Since December of 2017 tens of Kurdish political activists remain jailed by the Iranian regime intelligence service known as the “ettelaat”.
- Iran is enforcing a no man’s land two kilometers across and ten kilometers long on the Iranian/Iraqi Kurdistan border, affecting around 50 Kurdish families in the region, all of whom have farms/animals in the area. Those in the Iraqi Kurdistan villages of Haji Omaran were told by Iranian border guards that they had 72 hours to evacuate the area, or risk being shot. One shepherd has reportedly already been shot. Villagers have asked the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to intervene.
Iraq
- On Saturday June 30, Turkish airstrike killed a 19-year-old Kurdish woman in Iraq. Recently, Turkey has mobilized ground troops into the Kurdistan region of Iraq in an attempt to target strongholds of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Since the beginning of 2018 more than ten civilians from Iraqi Kurdistan have been killed due to the military invasion by Turkey.
- Kakai Kurds are under continuing threat from ISIS. On June 25, between 40-50 ISIS fighters seized a village in Kirkuk, killing and kidnapping several Kurds. 85 percent of the Hamrin Mountains have come under ISIS control, according to Peshmerga intelligence. Kakai called for Peshmerga forces to come back to Kirkuk and protect them. Since the Iraqi government took control of Kirkuk on October 16, 2017, the region has been suffering from a security vacuum that has allowed ISIS to return.
- Sigrid Kaag, Netherlands’ Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, was in Erbil to talk about a Dutch development plan for Kurdistan. In addition to aid in water management and agricultural practices, Kaag also said that the Netherlands will “assist the drive to broaden private sector investments because this creates jobs, it creates shared wealth.” This comes at the same time that a Kurdish business delegation visited Washington D.C. to promote private sector investment in the Kurdistan region.
- The High Independent Electoral Referendum Commission spokesperson, Sherwan Zirar, announced that three coalitions and 38 parties have registered for the Kurdish parliamentary elections to be held on the 30th of September. The Sardam (modern) alliance comprises the Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party, the Kurdistan Workers’ and Toilers’ Party, and the National Democratic Union of Kurdistan (YNDK). The “National Union” is made up of Chaldean and Assyrian parties. The “Reform Front” is composed of Islamic parties: Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan. About 15,000 new workers have been hired by the electoral commission, and 50,000 more contract workers will be hired to cover the elections, which will be counted by hand out of concerns over the allegations of fraud in Iraq’s recent elections.
Syria
- U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Jeanne Shaheen visited the city of Manbij on July 2nd to observe the situation in the city and meet with local officials. Senator Graham, after seeing the condition of the area, stated that it would “be terrible” if US forces were to leave Syria. Manbij has recently been made a buffer zone between US-backed forces and Turkish-led groups in Northern Syria, patrolled by both Turkish and coalition soldiers. This comes at a time of uncertainty, as the Assad regime seeks to win the civil war, while Trump and Putin prepare to meet in Helsinki on July 16th, where Syria will be a major point of discussion.
- A suicide attack was carried out in Hasakah city by an unidentified man on a motorcycle, injuring four. The target of the attack appears to be the garrison of the local security force. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. This attack occurred as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the US-led coalition continue to successfully push ISIS out of Eastern Syria and the Hasakah Governorate.
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) recently reported that infighting occurred among the Turkish backed jihadi groups in Afrin. The infighting resulted in 11 casualties in the Islamic militias due to a dispute over the location of a checkpoint. Meanwhile, the Kurdish population of Afrin has largely decreased due to kidnappings by the militias controlling the region. Last week a group of Kurdish residents in the Ashrafia district protested the Turkish invasion and the martial laws imposed on them by the jihadi groups.
Turkey
- Leaders of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) marched alongside thousands of Turkish citizens to commemorate the Sivas massacre. The march stopped at the Madimak hotel where on July 2nd 1993, a cultural festival organized by the Alevi Shia minority sect was burned by a mob, killing 35 of the attendees. HDP presidential nominee Selahattin Demirtaş made a statement through his legal team saluting and supporting those who marched, warning, however, that the ruling Party of Justice and Development (AKP) would not seek justice for the atrocity.
- In the Kurdish district of Semdinli, the Turkish military forces have burned nationalist symbols in the ancient forests and hills which permeate the region. Semdinli is a part of the heavily militarized Turkish border with the Iraqi and Iranian Kurdish regions. It has seen sustained conflict between Turkish security forces and PKK fighters as recently as 2012. Turkish forces have used gasoline to haphazardly light the countryside on fire, burning the crescent and star into the jungles. Locals have complained that Turkish soldiers have refused to allow them to put out the raging fires, even as they threaten their homes and fields.