Kurdistan’s Weekly Brief Nov 1, 2022

Delivering the Kurdish Voice to Washington Kurdistan’s Weekly Brief Nov 1, 2022A weekly brief of events occurred in the Kurdistan regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.Interactive MapIran On October 29, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami warned protestors not to participate in anti-government demonstrations. “Do not come to the streets! Today is the last day of the riots,” said Salami. That said, Salami’s warning and the IRGC’s violent crackdown did not stop protesters from continuing to call for regime change, especially in the Kurdish region, where Iranian security forces killed at least thirteen Kurds, including Sheikh Saqa, Zaynar Bakri, Shaho Kherzy, and a female activist named Freishta Ahmadi in Mehabad on Thursday. Iranian security forces also killed five protestors, including a 16-year-old girl, in Sena (Sanandaj), two in Baneh, and one in Qasr-e Shirin. Simultaneously, Iranian authorities kidnapped 16 activists in Bokan, 14 in Qasr-e Shirin, Shilan Koistani in Sena, and Nashid Jali in Kermanshah. Moreover, the regime deployed thousands of troops and set up additional checkpoints in multiple cities to prevent gatherings. The regime also arrested 57 more people last week. Despite the regime’s ongoing campaign of repression, however, massive demonstrations supporting the Iranian uprisings took place in Berlin, London, and Washington, DC. Further, the US Treasury Department sanctioned ten Iranian officials responsible for attacks on civilians and the 15 Khordad Foundation for placing a bounty on British writer Salman Rushdie, who was recently stabbed in New York. Likewise, the Canadian government banned IRGC leaders from entering Canada and vowed more sanctions. Lastly, the European Union (EU) is considering listing the IRGC as a terrorist organization. IraqOn Thursday, Iraq’s Council of Representatives gave a vote of confidence to Prime Minister Mohammed Shi’a Sabbar al Sudani’s new government. 250 legislators, including those from Iraq’s main Kurdish parties, approved several nominees for ministerial posts during the parliamentary session. The Kurds received four ministries, with the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) Fuad Hussein taking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) Khalid Shwani taking over the Ministry of Justice. Disagreements between the KDP and PUK delayed voting on the ministries of Environment and Construction, Housing, Municipalities, and Public Works. Despite the PUK and KDP’s disagreements on ministerial appointments, Iraq’s Kurdish leaders vowed they would fully support the new government and called for an end to the disputes between Baghdad and Erbil. The IRGC fired on three Kurdish men who were crossing the Iran-Iraq border in Sulaymaniyah Governorate’s Sharbashger subdistrict and killed a man named Dastan Rasoul. Rasoul’s family told Rudaw their son was visiting his cousins in Iranian Kurdistan.A Turkish drone struck a vehicle carrying members of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) in Shingal (Sinjar). Additionally, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Kidnapped Yazidi Rescue Office announced six more Yazidis were freed in Shingal. The Kidnapped Yazidi Rescue Office also stated that 2,713 Yazidis remain unaccounted for since the ISIS (Da’esh)-perpetrated genocide against the Yazidi community in 2014.

Syria 

• The chaotic situation continued in the Turkish-occupied Afrin after al Qaeda’s offshoot Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), controlled several districts. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), nearly fifteen civilians, mainly Kurds, have been kidnapped by the HTS and so-called Syrian National Army (SNA) in a week. The Kurdish-led Afrin Human Rights also reported Turkey’s installation of concrete walls between its proxies to avoid more clashes. The HTS and the SNA also confiscated a large amount of olive crops owned by Kurdish farmers under Zakat (Islamic almsgiving). According to the Kurdish-led Manbij Military Council spokesperson, Sharvan Darwesh, the Turkish-backed HTS has also deployed in six villages north of Manbij, replacing al Shamia Front. Darwesh accuses Turkey of “a new project” aiming to open the way for HTS to expand in the region. Moreover, Turkey and its proxies continued bombing Zargan, Ain Essa, and Tal Rifat. 
• For the second week in a row, the Fourth Division of the Syrian regime’s army has besieged the Kurdish district of Sheikh Maqsoud in Aleppo. The self-administration in the district announced the reduction of electricity to “reserve fuel” for hospitals and bakeries. The Syrian authorities use the area to pressure the Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES). 

Turkey 

• On October 26, Istanbul police arrested the president of Turkey’s Medical Association, Dr. Sebnem Fincanc, after she called for investigations into Turkey’s use of chemical weapons against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq. The Turkish government is accusing her of “spreading terrorist propaganda” after her comments during a press conference in Germany on videos showing members of PKK suffering breathing issues. The PKK and several other organizations have repeatedly accused Turkey of using chemical weapons, laying evidence during Turkey’s military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) also called for investigations and described it as a “war crime.” “The use of chemicals is contrary to the Geneva Convention, a war crime, and a clear crime against humanity.” read the HDP statement. The HDP will hold a “Humanity March Against Chemical Weapons” rally on November 6 in Istanbul. The police arrested at least twenty people in Mersin for “terrorist propaganda” for posting videos and posts on social media about Turkey’s use of chemical weapons. 
• Washington Kurdish Institute