KURDWATCH NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2012 (III)

ʿAyn al-ʿArab: Local committee of the Kurdish National Council ends cooperation with the People’s Council

KURDWATCH, October 16, 2012—On October 5, only a few days after the formation of joint security committees, the local committee of the Kurdish National Council in ʿAyn al‑ʿArab (Kobanî) ended its involvement in the Supreme Kurdish Committee, which is comprised of representatives from the Kurdish National Council and the People’s Council of West Kurdistan.

The decision was based on the involvement of members of the People’s Defense Units in the security committees as well as the fact that the People’s Council was not adhering to the Erbil agreement. Members of the People’s Council of West Kurdistan made similar accusations against the Kurdish National Council.

ʿAfrin: Seven dead in air attacks

KURDWATCH, October 21, 2012—A total of seven people were killed and numerous others injured in Syrian Air Force attacks on two minivans near ʿAndan (twenty kilometers south-eastern of ʿAfrin) on October 5 and 9, 2012. On October 5, Yasmin ʿUmar (married, two children), Mustafa Muslim ʿAbdulmajid, and ʿAbdurrahman ʿUmar (b. 1975 in ʿAfrin) were killed. Hanifa Yusuf, Havin Shamo, Kamiran Muhammad ʿAli, and Manan Hanif ʿAli died on October 9.

Aleppo: Two children killed by missiles

KURDWATCH, October 21, 2012—Two children, ʿAliya Muhyiddin ʿIsa and Ahmad Ramadan, were killed in missile attacks in the mainly Kurdish district of Shaikh Maqsud in Aleppo on September 30, 2012. Twelve additional people are said to have been injured by the rockets, some severely.

Al-Qamishli: PYD protests in memory of Öcalan’s arrest

KURDWATCH, October 18, 2012—Nationwide protests on October 12, 2012, resulted again in numerous dead and injured. Throughout the country, demonstrators demanded the fall of the regime. In large parts of the country, protestors took to the streets under the slogan »The freemen of the coast are carving out our victory«. Supporters of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) demonstrated under the motto »We congratulate Leader Öcalan on his resistance«. In al‑Qamishli, one demonstration took place in each of the districts of al‑ʿAntariyah (organized by the Biratî, Rojava, Shaikh Maʿschuq, and Farhad Martyrs youth groups), Kurnish (organized by supporters of the Kurdish Future Movement in Syria under Rezan Bari Shaikhmus, the Sewa youth group, and other independent youth groups), and Munir Habib (organized by the Kurdish National Council), as well as at the Qasimo mosque in the western district (organized by the PYD). In ʿAmudah there were three separate demonstrations, organized by the PYD, the Kurdish National Council, and various youth groups. Three demonstrations also took place in al‑Hasakah. Two demonstrations, organized by the Kurdish National Council and the PYD, took place in each of the cities of ad‑Darbasiyah, Raʾs al‑ʿAyn (Serê Kaniyê), ʿAyn al‑ʿArab (Kobanî), and al‑Qahtaniyah (Tirbesipî). A protest organized by the Kurdish National Council took place in al‑Jawadiyah (Çil Axa). The PYD demonstrated in Tall Tamr, al‑Maʿbada (Girkê Legê), and al‑Malikiyah (Dêrik). A protest march of PYD supporters, which had started south of Basuta on Thursday, arrived in ʿAfrin; the protestors remembered the arrest of Abdullah Öcalan in 1998 in Kenya. There were no protests in the mainly Kurdish districts of Aleppo and Damascus.

Al-Qamishli: Shots exchanged near the airport

KURDWATCH, October 17, 2012—On October 4 and 12,  2012, shots were exchanged between Syrian security forces and members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) near the al‑Qamishli airport on the main road toward al‑Hasakah. The exchanges lasted approximately an hour the first time and roughly fifteen minutes, the second time.

Damascus: Arrests during raid

KURDWATCH, October 17, 2012—On October 3, 2012, Syrian security forces, including Syrian Army soldiers, stormed several houses in the majority Kurdish district of Wadi al‑Mashariʿ (Zorava) in Damascus and arrested the fifty-year-old ʿAbdurrahman Khalid and the thirty-eight-year-old Rascal Tamr Yaʿqub. Khalid had already been arrested on March 5 along with his three sons and one of Rashal Tamr Yaʿqub’s brothers [further information on the case]. The reasons behind the raid and the arrests are not yet known.

Ad-Darbasiyah: Fighters for the People’s Defense Units fatally shot by Turkish soldiers

KURDWATCH, October 16, 2012—On October 2, 2012, Hogir Bashir ʿArabo (b. in ad Darbasiyah), a member of the Democratic Union Party’s (PYD) People’s Defense Units, was fatally shot by Turkish border guards. According to statements by the People’s Defense Units, the fighters Tamr Hawass and Mazlum Rashad were also injured. ʿArabo was buried in ad Darbasiyah the same day.

ʿAfrin: Three dead in fighting between People’s Defense Units and a Kurdish unit of the Free Syrian Army

KURDWATCH, October 14, 2012—On September 27, 2012, Jigar ʿAbdurrahman Oso (b. 1981 in ʿAfrin) and Zuhair Hasan Muhammad (b. 1976 in ʿAfrin), members of the Kurdish Salahuddin-al‑Aiyubi battalion of the Free Syrian Army, were killed fighting members of the Democratic Union Party’s (PYD) Peoples Protection Units in the village of Isko near ʿAfrin. The Peoples Protectio Units member Ibrahim Maʿmo was also killed. The two parties each blamed the other of having lured them into an ambush. PYD-affiliated media accused the Salahuddin-al‑Aiyubi battalion of receiving financial support from the Turkish government and being close to the Syrian-Kurdish politician Salah Badruddin. In PKK circles, Badruddin is seen as a traitor financed by Turkey.

Al-Malikiyah: Peoples Protection Units members attack demonstrators

KURDWATCH, October 13, 2012—On October 7, 2012, Peoples’ Protection Unit members of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) attacked a demonstration by various youth groups in al‑Malikiyah (Dêrik) who gathered in remembrance of the assassination of Mishʿal at‑Tammu one year ago [further information on the case]. An activist told KurdWatch: »They came with four or five vehicles, armed with machine guns. In addition, many of them were masked and armed with clubs or iron pipes. They beat us brutally and without warning, destroying our speakers and all of our media representatives’ recording equipment. Moreover they ripped up the Kurdish flag and threw it to the ground.«

Al-Qamishli: Aluji’s successor elected

KURDWATCH, October 12, 2012—The Kurdish Democratic Party—Syria of ʿAbdurrahman Aluji, who died last May, held a party congress on October 4 and 5, 2012 in al‑Qamishli. Dr. Lazgin Mahmud Fakhri was elected the new chairman. There were no changes to the party platform. ʿAbdulkarim Sako, a failed candidate for the chairmanship, left the party congress with a group of his supporters, indicating that a split in the party is imminent.

Al-Qamishli: Demonstrators remember Mishʿal at-Tammu

Al-Hasakah: Another witness exonerates defendant

Aleppo: Member of the People’s Protection Units fatally shot

Al-Qamishli: Several dead in attack on intelligence service headquarters

ʿAyn al-ʿArab: Seventy-two dead after Syrian Air Force attack

Al-Qamishli/ʿAyn al-ʿArab: PYD and Azadî supporters attack demonstrators

Al-Hasakah: Another activist murdered

Aleppo: People’s Protection Committees cooperate with the Supreme Kurdish Committee, despite declaration to the contrary

New documents: Closing statement of the Kurdish Patriotic Conference in Syria on October 26, 2011 and Declaration of the Kurdish National Council’s assembly on April 21, 2012

New document: Closing statement of the Syrian National Council’s first conference in Tunis

Raʾs al-ʿAyn: Member of Kurdish National Council assassinated

Al-Qamishli: PYD kidnaps member of the Future Movement

Al-Qamishli: Activists injured in illegal border crossing