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A weekly brief of events that occurred in the Kurdish regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- In the most recent chapter of the Iranian regime’s campaign against Kurdish political rights, a prominent Kurdish activist named Latifd Abdi began serving a two-year prison sentence for “membership of a Kurdistani party” in Paveh (Pawa). Abdi was jailed for over three months in Kermanshah while awaiting sentencing and launched a hunger strike on Monday to protest his imprisonment. Concurrently, Marivan’s Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced a Kurdish man named Khairat Paiza to six months in prison for “cooperation with a Kurdistani opposition party.” Lastly, Iranian intelligence officers arrested an elderly Kurdish man named Waled Qalawazy in Sanandaj on Sunday. Qalawazy’s family received no information regarding his detainment or pending charges.
- The Iranian regime killed two more Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) last week and is now responsible for most of the more than 70 Kolbar deaths that have occurred in 2020. The Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) reported Iranian border guards killed a Kolbar named Farzad Sadozada near Salmas on Sunday. Iranian border guards also killed a Kolbar named Pihzad Mohammadi on Thursday in Sistan and Baluchistan Province. Moreover, Iranian authorities shot and wounded a Kolbar named Sherwan Mosapanah near Sardasht, and another Kolbar named Khader Rasouli was injured when he fell from a cliff while evading Iranian border guards near Baneh.
Iraq
- Anti-government protests began in several towns and cities in Iraqi Kurdistan, including Sulaymania, on Sunday. Protestors set fire to government buildings and the branches of five political parties in several locations, and at least three protestors were killed by security forces. The protests were sparked by the KRG’s continuing failure to pay the salaries of government employees due to the Government of Iraq’s (GOI) refusal to provide its share of the federal budget, corruption, low oil prices, and the coronavirus pandemic. That said, KRG officials claimed Erbil and Baghdad “have a good understanding” regarding the 2021 budget, and Iraqi Kurdistan’s ruling parties met on Tuesday and selected a delegation to engage in further talks with the GOI on the budget and other outstanding issues.
- Iraqi forces began returning control of entry points in Kirkuk city to local police last week. Unconfirmed reports also suggested the Iraqi military intends to hand security responsibilities for Kirkuk Governorate to local security forces, as Kurdish representatives and their Arab counterparts have discussed the formation of a new force comprised of all the governate’s ethnicities. The Iraqi military and Iranian-backed militias removed the Peshmerga from Kirkuk Governorate and took over security in the province after the 2017 Kurdish independence referendum. Meanwhile, a US airstrike killed six ISIS (Da’esh) terrorists in southern Kirkuk Governorate on Sunday, and Iraqi forces detained six Da’esh operatives, including an intelligence officer, in the same area. On another note, a representative of Kirkuk Governorate’s Sargaran subdistrict’s Palkana village claimed Iranian-backed militias gave the village’s Kurdish residents 48 hours to evacuate so they could be replaced with imported Arab tribes.
Syria
- The Turkish military and its proxies struck Ain Essa and the strategic M4 Motorway with indirect fire attacks for the fourth week in a row. Several reports, which were confirmed by the Washington Kurdish Institute, claimed Russia told the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) they could hand Ain Essa to the Syrian regime or have it invaded by Turkey. Local Kurdish leaders see Russia’s most recent request as echoing its 2018 decision to greenlight Turkey’s invasion of Afrin after the Kurds refused to surrender it to the Assad regime. That said, the SDF and local Kurdish leaders have rejected the Russian request and are waiting for the US to take a position on the issue. The US Department of State’s Special Envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn is scheduled to visit the region and meet with representatives from the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). Meanwhile, joint Turkish-Russian patrols, escorted by drones and attack helicopters, took place near Ain Essa and along the Turkish-Syrian border.
- Da’esh IED and small arms attacks killed at least five SDF personnel in Deir Ez Zor Governorate’s Tayanna and Diban towns. Granted, the US-led coalition supported several SDF raids targeting Da’esh terror cells in the rural areas of Deir Ez Zor and al Hasakah governorates.
Turkey
- Three Turkish military personnel killed a 16-year old Kurdish boy named Özcan Erbaş while he was picnicking with his family in Hakkari last week. Erbas’s uncle witnessed the incident and stated the Turkish soldiers shot him in the back three times. Meanwhile, the Turkish military began conducting operations near Diyarbakir (Amed) Province’s Lice District, and the governor of Bitlis Province imposed a curfew in 46 villages on Friday in anticipation of military operations the Turkish government claims will target the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). At the same time, Turkish police arrested at least five senior members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party in Shirnak Province, including the co-mayor of Cizre District Berivan Kutlu.