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A weekly brief of events occurred in the Kurdistan regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- Poison gas attacks struck 19 more girls’ schools in Tehran, Saqqez, Kermanshah, Urmia, Karaj, Ahvaz, and Islamshahr. Iranian authorities have failed to stop the attacks so far, which regime critics claim are the work of government-aligned radicals intent on ending female education. Amnesty International expressed a similar view in a statement that read, “Since November 2022, thousands of schoolgirls have been poisoned and hospitalized. The authorities have failed to adequately investigate the attacks and dismissed girls’ symptoms as stress, excitement, and/or mental contagion.” Separately, the regime arrested 12 Kurds, including a physician in Bokan, last week. The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said Iranian authorities provided no information on why the detainees were arrested or what they were charged with. In Senna, authorities threatened to expel several students from local colleges if they failed to abide by hijab laws and forced them to sign compliance agreements. Concurrently, the regime fired a female Kurdish teacher at Senna’s Azad University for feminist activism.
- The Iranian opposition group known as the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy suffered another setback when one of its members, Hamed Esmaeilion, quit politics last week. Esmaeilion is a social activist representing the families of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, which the Iranian regime shot down in 2020. Esmaeilion claimed, “Pressure groups from outside the alliance tried to impose their positions in undemocratic methods.” Simultaneously, a report from Iran International noted members of the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy have been harassed on social media by supporters of Reza Pahlavi. The Alliance for Freedom and Democracy includes one Kurdish leader, Abdullah Mohatadi, but the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and several other Iranian opposition parties remain unwilling to join.
Iraq
- On April 21, Arab settlers attacked Kurdish residents of Kirkuk Governorate’s Palkana village and injured at least ten. The Arabs’ attempt to occupy Kurdish homes and confiscate property appears to be part of the Iraqi government’s renewed Arabization policy that it began imposing in the “Disputed Territories” on October 16, 2017. Palkana residents accused the Iraqi army and Iranian-backed militias of aiding and abetting the Arab attackers. Peshmerga forces stationed nearby intervened the next day and resolved the situation. Palkana village was subject to Arabization by the Ba’ath regime, and the current Iraqi government has yet to implement Article 140 of the Constitution of Iraq, which directs it to reverse the prior regime’s policy.
- Despite Iraqi officials’ earlier comments indicating an agreement with Turkey regarding the resumption of oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan, such exports remain paused one month after an international ruling suspended them. Baghdad and Erbil previously signed an agreement to resume oil exports on April 4. On Monday, an Iraqi official reaffirmed to Rudaw that oil exports would resume “in a few days.” The holdup is costing Iraq nearly $40 million a day because it is preventing the daily export of 75,000 barrels from Kirkuk and 450,000 barrels from Iraqi Kurdistan. On a separate note, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) remain unable to agree on the Kurdistan Region’s final election law, most notably the section dealing with minority seats. Iraqi Kurdistan’s minorities will be voting in one electoral district, but the KDP and PUK still disagree on how many seats will be reserved for Christians and Turkmen.
Syria
- On April 18, Assad regime representatives met with regional officials to discuss increased cooperation and Syria’s reentry into the Arab League. Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Faisal Mekdad met with his Tunisian counterpart Nabil Ammar to explore improving cooperation between the two nations. That same day, Syrian President Bashar al Assad received Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Damascus to discuss expanding bilateral ties between his regime and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Turkey is sending its defense minister, Hulusi Akar, to attempt another round of Astana peace talks with his Syrian, Russian, and Iranian counterparts on April 25. The European Union (EU) and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) both reaffirmed their commitment to a political solution to Syria’s ongoing conflict in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, which calls for a ceasefire and political settlement to the Syrian Civil War. Lastly, on April 20, the U.S. clarified its position on the Assad regime’s rapprochement efforts by stating it had no plans to normalize relations with Assad unless there is “authentic progress” towards a political solution to the conflict.
- ISIS (Da’esh) terrorists attacked a checkpoint in northern Deir Ez Zor Governorate on April 19 and wounded a number of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) personnel. Later that day, the corpses of two SDF members who were abducted from their workplace were found in western Deir Ez Zor Governorate. Da’esh claimed responsibility for killing the two SDF personnel, Mahmoud al Jamida and Mahmoud al Hamada, on Thursday. Unrelatedly, on April 24, the SDF launched “Operation al-Jazeera Thunderbolt” to target Da’esh cells in the rural areas surrounding Hasakah and Qamishli after an attack on the AANES Internal Security Forces (Asayish) headquarters in Hasakah. On April 22, a joint U.S.-SDF operation recovered a Da’esh stockpile of gold and weapons from a farmhouse in southern Raqqa Governorate.
- Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) shelled Ain Eissa in the Raqqa District with tanks and heavy artillery on April 21. SDF fighters are based in the village and have come under heavy fire from TAF and Turkish-backed militias in recent weeks. Before the attack, Turkish-backed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Syrian National Army (SNA) forces cut down and stolen dozens of olive trees and lumber from residents living in the Turkish occupied Afrin and robbed civilians of phones, money, vehicles, and homes. In response, residents threw stones at TAF soldiers and protested against the HTS and SNA militants.
Turkey
- Ahead of elections, the Turkish authorities arrested more than 150 Kurds, members of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), artists, journalists, and lawyers in Diyarbakir (Amed) on Tuesday. “The AKP-MHP government, which is on the eve of the biggest electoral defeat in its history, continues to attack our party, civil society organizations, social dynamics, and the opposition with its panic and fear.” Read a statement by the HDP.
- The HDP Co-chair Pervin Buldan called for unity and action from voters during a rally for candidates from the HDP’s new political entity for elections, the Green Left Party (YSP). The YSP has tentatively endorsed Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu because it hopes he will deliver on pledges to free political prisoners imprisoned by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. Kılıçdaroğlu provoked an Islamist response from Erdogan and verbal attacks after announcing his support for Turkey’s Alevis on April 18. In addition, offices of the CHP and Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) were vandalized and shot at over the weekend. Concomitantly, Turkey’s election authority decided the main opposition coalition known as the Nation Alliance could not use its name on ballots in 16 of Turkey’s provinces and would have to be represented by one of its member parties instead. This ruling is likely to hinder the Nation Alliance’s efforts to unseat the ruling AKP in the May 14 elections.
- On April 17, the Biden Administration announced plans to sell up to $259 million in F-16 upgrade kits to Turkey. The announcement provoked resistance from fellow Democrat and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, who reiterated his opposition to military transfers to Turkey on April 22. Senator Menendez echoed prior remarks and evidence from the U.S. State Department that Turkish forces have committed a litany of war crimes and human rights violations in Syria and Turkey.