Kurdistan’s Weekly Brief August 6, 2019

A weekly brief of events that occurred in the Kurdish regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.

Iran 

• Three Kurdish border porters known as Kolbars were wounded by Iranian border guards last week. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK), two Kolbars were wounded on July 30 inside Iraqi Kurdistan near the Haji Omaran border crossing with Piranshahr. On the same day, another Kolbar was injured in the Hawraman region after falling off a cliff while transporting cargo. In the Kileh Shin District, Iranian authorities ambushed a group of Kolbars and injured a Kolbar named Basir Maroufi. The Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw reported seven Kolbars were killed and 20 injured by Iranian authorities in July.
• In a recent wave of arrests targeting Iranian Kurds, six people were arrested in Marrivan, Piranshahr, and Oshnavieh (Shinno). Last Tuesday, Iranian authorities in Marrivan city arrested a Kurdish feminist named Parween Adawai. On Friday, two more Kurds from Marrivan were arrested by Iranian intelligence officers (Ettela’at). Both Kurds, Hamdi Kawan and Shaho Kawan, remain in an Ettela’at prison. In Piranshahr, a Kurdish man was arrested on July 31 by the security forces. Simultaneously, two Kurdish men were detained by Iranian security forces for “aiding the Kurdish opposition parties” in Shinno. The two men were identified as Aso Garmiani and Majeed Darii. Since the beginning of 2019, more than 250 Kurds, mostly civilian activists, have been arrested by the Iranian regime.
• In Urmia, five Kurdish political prisoners launched a hunger strike to protest detainee conditions in Iranian prisons last week. Additionally, incarcerated Kurdish singer Payman Mirzada started a hunger strike after he received one hundred lashes as part of his sentence for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
• Three more arson attacks occurred in the Kurdish region of Iran during the week of July 28 to August 4. On July 31, a sizeable acreage was set ablaze in Dalahu County, Kermanshah. According to a KMMK report, the fires raged for four days without any attempt by Iranian authorities to intervene. This eventually forced environmental activists and local volunteers to mobilize and contain the fires. On Saturday, large fires stuck a forest near Javanrud while around 123 acres of forest were incinerated near Sardasht.

Iraq 

• On Wednesday night, Islamic State (Da’esh) terrorists launched a mortar attack on Kolachoie village southeast of Kirkuk. Following the attack, Dae’sh opened fire on Kurdish Asayesh forces and killed two personnel. Later that evening, another Da’esh attack resulted in the death of two Asayesh personnel near Sirwan Lake. Kolachoie village falls between the Kurdish-run Garmian Administration and territory under the administration of the Iraqi government. This area has experienced a lack of security following the seizure of Kirkuk Province by Iraqi security forces and Iranian-backed militias from the Peshmerga on October 16, 2017. Da’esh cells have carried out dozens of operations since March that have targeted civilians and security forces. Meanwhile, the U.S.-led coalition conducted airstrikes on Da’esh positions near Makhmour between Erbil and Kirkuk.
• On the fifth anniversary of Da’esh’s genocidal campaign against the Yazidi Kurds, the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament passed a resolution designating August 3 as “Yezidi Genocide Remembrance Day.” The former Da’esh captive and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad thanked the Kurdistan Parliament for the resolution.
• Turkey’s military operation inside Iraqi Kurdistan region continued with intensified airstrikes targeting the Amedi region. The incursion has resulted in dozens of civilian casualties and the evacuation of hundreds of villages since May. Turkey previously announced the operation is targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) bases in the Qandil Mountains between the Kurdish regions of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey.
• Another mass grave was discovered in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah in al Muthana Province. The mass grave is believed to contain the remains of Kurds murdered by Saddam Hussein’s regime during the Anfal genocide of the 1980s. The Anfal genocide was overseen by Ali Hassan al-Majid, aka “Chemical Ali,” and resulted in the death of as many as 182,000 Kurds.

Syria 

• On Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Turkey would invade northeastern Syria. This coincides with a Turkish military buildup along the Syrian border, which has been ongoing for several weeks. President Erdogan’s threat comes after repeated failures to reach an agreement with the United States over a proposed “safe zone” in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The U.S. responded to Erdogan’s statement by telling media sources a potential Turkish military incursion is “of grave concern” due to the Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) ongoing struggle against Da’esh. On Monday, a high-level U.S. Department of Defense delegation met with Turkish government officials in a final effort to avoid conflict.
• Russia, Turkey, and Iran released a joint statement opposing the AANES on Friday, denouncing “self-rule initiatives” and “attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism.” Although the SDF was instrumental in defeating Da’esh, the three countries are politically opposed to it. Russia and Iran would like Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad to recover all territory lost during his nation’s nine-year civil war. Concurrently, Turkey perceives liberated Kurds near its border as a threat and maintains an interest in the region’s oil deposits.
• In Afrin, Turkish and Turkish-allied forces reportedly set fire to thousands of olive trees during the past week. Since Turkey invaded Afrin in January of 2018, an invasion that has displaced over 150,000 people, its forces have burned more than 14,000 hectares of agricultural land that is an essential source of food and revenue for the region’s civilians.

Turkey 

• President Erdogan headed a meeting of the Turkish National Security Council (MGK) on Wednesday to discuss an invasion of the Kurdish region of Syria referred to by the MGK as “Peace Corridor.” The leader of the opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), also supported the plan to invade Syria’s Kurdish region. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) opposes the proposed military operation.
• Turkish police arrested nine people in Izmir province. Meanwhile, four members of the HDP and the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) remain in jail following their arrest two weeks ago. The jailed members are Alaattin Semir Zuğurli, Sedat Ay, and Mardin Provincial Co-chairs Sehmus Sun and Leyla Bozkurt. Turkish police also attacked protestors opposing the Ilisu Dam, which will submerge and destroy multiple Kurdish towns and villages. The dam project is in its final stages of construction and slated to be activated soon.