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A weekly brief of events occurred in the Kurdistan regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- Iranian authorities flogged a Kurdish woman named Roya Hishmati 74 times for publicly refusing to wear the hijab in April 2023. The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported that Hishmati initially received a suspended one-year sentence and a three-year travel ban. Hishmati claimed on social media that the regime threatened her with more aggressive actions, including a new indictment, if she did not cease her activism. Simultaneously, Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court upheld the death sentence of four Kurdish activists on charges related to “espionage” for Israel. All four of the activists vehemently denied the charges. Meanwhile, a Kurdish teen in Sardasht died after being tortured for one year by Iranian security forces for participating in anti-government protests. Iranian authorities also arrested several Kurds in Naghadeh, Senna, Shinno, and Saqqez. Concomitantly, the regime detained a Kurdish student at the University of Isfahan for protesting on the anniversary of Qasem Soleimani’s death. Lastly, three protesters in Bokan are at risk of being sentenced to death after they were convicted of “spreading corruption on Earth” for taking part in the Women, Life, Freedom demonstrations.
Iraq
- The Iraqi Army continued deploying hundreds of troops to the Kurdish neighborhood of Newroz in Kirkuk. Newroz was occupied by military officers of the Ba’ath regime before it was given to displaced Kurdish families in 2003. The Iraqi Army instructed the neighborhood’s Kurdish residents to evacuate their homes and intends to allocate abandoned Kurdish houses to Iraqi military officers despite the Iraqi government’s promises to resolve the issue. Newroz’s Kurds responded by setting up tents and staging sit-in protests. On Sunday, a gunman opened fire on the Kurdish protesters, and neighborhood residents blamed Iraqi security forces for failing to protect the demonstrators.
- Iranian-backed militias claimed several more attacks on al Harir airbase, which is located 77 kilometers northeast of Erbil, after a U.S. airstrike killed the leader of Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba, Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, on January 4. No casualties were reported from the attacks on al Harir, but the militias vowed to continue attacking U.S. interests in Iraq. Politically, Iranian-backed lawmakers in Iraq’s Council of Representatives began collecting signatures for a petition to hold a special session to legally end the U.S. presence in Iraq. The petition was introduced after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani described the U.S. airstrike as a “violation of Iraq’s sovereignty” and announced the formation of a joint committee to schedule a U.S. withdrawal from the country. That said, Rudaw reported no Kurdish lawmakers have signed the petition.
- For the past four months, employees in the Kurdistan Region have not been paid their salaries as the federal government has yet to release the Kurdistan federal budget. A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is currently in Baghdad, engaging in discussions about the KRG’s contracts with foreign oil companies as the federal government has taken control of Kurdish oil exports. That said, Kurdistan’s oil exports remain halted by Turkey and Iraq since March 2023.
Syria
- An Iranian-backed militia leader informed North Press that the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have supplied military equipment to militants in eastern Syria, including drones and rockets. This development follows attacks by Iranian-backed militias on US bases in Syria, part of the broader global coalition against ISIS (Da’esh). On Monday, militants launched rockets at two US bases without reported casualties. Meanwhile, Turkish drones killed three members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near Ain Essa. Ilham Ahmed, the former leader of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), warned that Turkish attacks could lead to the establishment of a Daesh ‘Caliphate.’ On January 5, the SDF, with US air support, killed a senior Da’esh leader named “Abi Mahmud,” responsible for assassinations, during a raid. Da’esh attacks are increasing, particularly in the Syrian desert, where twenty-three Syrian soldiers were killed in two separate attacks this month.
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has reported the Turkish intelligence’s arrest of seven Kurds, including two children, in the Turkish-occupied Afrin. Simultaneously, factions backed by Turkey persist in extorting Kurdish families, seizing their properties, and even resorting to the destruction of 345 olive trees owned by Kurdish farmers.
Turkey
- The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) has announced the scheduling of primaries for municipal candidates on January 13 and 14. The DEM Party aims to regain several mayoral positions in the Kurdish region that were previously revoked from elected Kurds by the government. The party stated that nearly 10,000 members will be casting their votes to select candidates in 84 constituencies.
- The imprisoned Kurdish politician, Selahattin Demirtas, appeared in his hearing in the “Kobani Case,” where he criticized the prosecutors for taking his 2014 speeches out of context. Demirtas also spoke in depth about the Kurdish question in Turkey, laying out seven main points for its solution: “Acceptance of the Kurds as a people, free use of their mother tongue in all social areas; preserving and developing its history and culture; organization with its own identity; the constitutional guarantee of the recognition of the right to self-government.” Demirtas emphasized that the “arm struggle” should end, and “negotiating with the interlocutors” should begin. Dozens of Kurdish politicians remain behind bars since November of 2016 for speeches they delivered in 2012 in support of Syrian Kurds fighting Da’esh.
- On January 6, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey as part of an extensive tour of the Middle East. During his visit, he engaged in discussions with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan. A statement on the meeting with Erdogan revealed that the two sides addressed a range of issues in the Middle East, including “Sweden’s accession to NATO.” It is noteworthy that, despite an initial agreement last summer, Turkey has not given approval for Sweden’s NATO membership. Conditions imposed by Turkey include a demand for Sweden and the US to take action against Kurdish groups.