Kurdistan’s Weekly Brief | May 14, 2024

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

Iran 

• Iranian ambassador to Iraq Mohammad Kazem al Sadegh told an Iranian outlet that the three elements of Iran’s 2023 security agreement with Iraq are “border control by Iraq’s central government, disarmament of opposition groups and exchanges of criminals, and the transfer of opposition groups away from Iraq’s border with Iran.” Al Sadegh also said previous security agreements with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) did not solve the issue of Iranian opposition groups operating on Iraqi soil. The Iranian regime has targeted Kurdish opposition groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan on multiple occasions. Separately, al Sadegh called the anti-U.S. Iraqi “resistance” independent but said, “We (Iran) have helped the resistance at times, and we have officially announced it, and we do not hesitate to express it.” 

• A Hengaw Organization for Human Rights report claimed medical neglect caused the death of a Kurdish prisoner from Kermanshah in Tehran. Additionally, the Iranian regime executed 16 people, including four Kurds, on charges unrelated to political activism last week. Moreover, Iranian authorities detained five Kurds in Bokan, seven in Saien Qala, two in Sardasht, and two in Piranshahr for participating in Newroz celebrations on March 21. The regime also arrested three Kurdish men and a Kurdish woman in West Azerbaijan Province. Simultaneously, an Iranian court handed out sentences ranging from one to ten years in prison to four Kurds in Piranshahr for membership in the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI). Lastly, Iranian border guards killed two Kurdish border porters (kolbar) near Baneh and Sardasht and wounded five others in the same areas during separate incidents.

Iraq 

• Tensions between native Kurds and Arab settlers led to unrest in five villages in Kirkuk Governorate after the Iraqi military supported the settlers by preventing Kurdish farmers from harvesting their crops. Locals told Rudaw that the issue has been arising annually right before harvest. Arab settlers also tried to seize more than 12,000 acres from Kurds in Kirkuk Governorate’s Daquq District. Concurrently, Iraq’s Ministry of Defense sued Kirkuk’s Department of Real Estate for attempting to transfer the titles of Kurdish-owned lands back to the municipalities. The Ba’athist regime confiscated nearly 300,000 acres of farmland and distributed them to Arab settlers and government ministries in the “Disputed Territories.” The Constitution of Iraq, which was ratified in 2005, demands the return of the confiscated land and the annulment of the prior regime’s Arabization laws. The Iraqi government has yet to implement these provisions, however.

• Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani formally requested the end of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) by the end of 2025. Al Sudani’s request was submitted to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on May 8. Iranian-backed parties are believed to have orchestrated the move in response to the UNAMI’s involvement with human rights issues and advocacy for democratic norms, though Iran and its allies may have also viewed UNAMI’s mission as threatening their favored position in Iraq. On Monday, U.S. Department of State Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said, “The U.S. has strongly supported the mission’s work in providing not just electoral assistance but through facilitating regional dialogue.” Patel went on to stress that the U.S. is working with Iraq and the U.N. Security Council to ensure an “orderly and responsible wind-down.” 

• Security officials in Iraqi Kurdistan denied reports of new attacks on Harrir Air Base in Erbil Governorate and the Khor Mor gas field in Chamchamal. On Sunday, however, a security official said several drones were observed hovering over Khor Mor before security forces opened fire and forced them to leave the area. 

Syria 

• The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) released 69 Syrian families (254 individuals) from al Hol camp last week. The released will return to their homes in Deir Ez Zor Governorate under a 2020 agreement between the AANES and Arab tribes who sponsor the detainees and are supposed to guarantee they do not rejoin ISIS (Da’esh). Last week’s release follows the repatriation of detainees to several countries, including the U.S., to relieve the strain the detainees are placing on the AANES’s resources and mitigate the risk of a Da’esh reemergence. That said, on May 10, a Da’esh car bomb in Deir Ez Zor Governorate’s al Shahil town killed three members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and wounded seven. Da’esh has also killed dozens of Syrian Arab Army personnel and pro-Assad militiamen in the Badia al Sham in 2024, including at least five last week.
• Turkish intelligence, along with their Syrian proxies, recently detained five Kurdish men over alleged ties to the former Kurdish administration in the Turkish-occupied Afrin region. This comes amidst ongoing reports of human rights abuses perpetrated by Turkey and its Syrian factions. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported a protest led by families of armed personnel who had fought alongside Russia in Niger. The demonstrators expressed their grievances against the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, highlighting the paradox of some of its members aligning with Russia despite the latter’s actions against Syrians.

Turkey 

• Following the elections, leaders of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy and Equality Party (DEM) engaged in discussions with the Felicity Party (Sa’adat), focusing on topics such as the “views on the new constitution,” among other national issues. While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to initiate a new constitution, the DEM party prioritizes addressing economic concerns and establishing conditions for any potential constitutional amendments, particularly concerning the rights of Kurds and other minorities. Concurrently, DEM party leaders are maintaining dialogues with other Turkish counterparts. In a separate development, the fate of 108 politicians, former members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), remains uncertain pending the announcement of the verdict in the “Kobani case” on Thursday. Responding to this, 159 academics and public figures in Turkey have signed a petition advocating for an “end to injustice and the restoration of judicial independence.” The case has been criticized as politically motivated by President Erdogan against Kurdish politicians.