MENA WATCH : Kurdistan’s Weekly Brief, September 14, 2021

• The Iranian regime acted on its previous threats to carry out operations in Iraqi Kurdistan by dispatching warplanes, UAVs, and at least one suicide drone to attack Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDP-I) positions near Erbil Governorate’s Choman and Sadikan subdistricts on Thursday and Friday. The Cooperation Center for Iranian Kurdistan’s Political Parties (CCIKP) condemned the attacks, which damaged property but caused no reported casualties, and accused the Iranian regime of “running away from dozens of internal crises by creating another.” The CCIKP also called for the Government of Iraq (GOI), Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), international community, and freedom seekers to “put an end to the regime’s violations.”
• The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence officers (Ettela’at) tortured a Kurdish activist named Yasir Mangori to death in Urmia. Moreover, Iranian security forces detained eight Kurds in Mehabad, two siblings, Bahrouz and Rasul Azizi, in Sanandaj (Sena), Kamil Salahi in Baneh, and a teenager named Mohammed Fardani in Sardasht. Lastly, Mehabad’s Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced a Kurdish man named Saed Fathi to four years and two months in prison for “membership in a Kurdish opposition party.”
• Iranian border guards killed a Kurdish border porter (kolbar) named Rasul Karimi and wounded three near Baneh on Saturday. Iranian border guards also wounded two shepherds in the same area on Friday. Lastly, Iranian authorities killed a kolbar named Sirwan Golzari near Marivan, and another was injured when he fell from a cliff near Nowsud.

Iraq 

• Iranian-backed militias targeted US personnel stationed at Erbil International Airport with two suicide drones late Saturday, but US defense systems shot down both drones and ensured the attack caused no casualties and minimal disruption of airport activities. The US and KRG both condemned the attacks, while several Kurdish officials also blamed a lack of cooperation between Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga in the “Disputed Territories” for creating a security environment favorable to Iranian proxies and called for the implementation of several previous agreements intended to facilitate joint operations. Saturday’s attack, which was the sixth in Erbil since September 2020, coincided with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Khadimi’s visit to Tehran that was intended to reduce the number of Iranian proxy operations in Iraq.
• ISIS (Da’esh) again exploited the fragile security situation in the “Disputed Territories” by killing a police officer and three civilians near Makhmour on Saturday. That said, the US provided the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces with additional equipment to bolster their ability to combat terrorist organizations.
• The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) ended its four-year absence from Kirkuk by launching a parliamentary election campaign in the governorate. KDP candidate Shakhwan Abdullah claimed the party intends to reopen its Kirkuk headquarters, which was occupied and closed by Iraqi security forces on October 16, 2017, next week. Meanwhile, Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has formed a committee to supervise the nation’s parliamentary elections scheduled for October 10, though lack of primary services and sectarian and ethnic tensions have led to expectations of low voter turnout.
• Turkish warplanes injured two civilians and damaged homes in Sulaymaniyah Governorate’s Sangaser subdistrict last Tuesday. Ongoing Turkish operations in Iraqi Kurdistan, which Turkey has repeatedly claimed are targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), have killed dozens of civilians and forced the evacuation of hundreds of villages.

Syria 

• The League of Arab States (LAS) held its 156th session of foreign ministers in Cairo on Thursday and released a statement that rejected Turkish aggression in Turkey and Libya and called for Turkey to stop “hosting radical groups” and withdraw its forces from Arab states. The LAS statement also denounced Iran’s “continuous interference in Arab affairs” and emphasized the necessity of Iran halting its support of groups that fuel conflicts on Arab soil.
• The Turkish military and its Islamist proxies shelled several villages in Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-controlled territory near Ain Essa, Tal Tamer, and Manbij last week. Turkish artillery strikes also wounded two Syrian Arab Army (SAA) personnel west of Turkish-occupied Giri Sip (Tal Abyad). That said, the SDF announced it repelled Turkish-backed fighters’ attempt to infiltrate several areas northwest of Manbij.
• The head of the SDF’s Office of Media and Information, Farhad Shami, released footage that purportedly shows several members of the Turkish-backed “Sunni Hawk” group torturing a civilian. Simultaneously, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported Turkish proxies in Afrin arbitrarily arrested five Kurdish civilians, seized a Kurdish man’s house, and imposed levies on residents in Barrad village for harvesting their crops.

Tukey 

• In an op-ed published in Turkish news outlets, the jailed Kurdish politician and former head of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtaş called on Turkey’s components to work together in the upcoming “most important” elections. “Kurds, Alevis, conservatives, socialists, Kemalists, democratic nationalists, should be able to act together over common ground,” said Demirtaş, claiming that if not, then Turkey’s ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) will try to make its “authoritarian regime permanent.” Demirtaş’s remarks come as the HDP faces closure by the government and Turkish opposition parties have yet to form any alliances for the 2023 elections.
• On Thursday, the 5th High Criminal Court in Diyarbakir (Amed) held a new hearing for the jailed Kurdish politician and co-founder of the Rosa Women’s Association, Ayla Akat Ata. The Turkish government has accused Ata of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” in what has become known as the “Kobani Trial.” Furthermore, during a hearing against another prominent Kurdish activist, Ayşe Gökkan, the judge had lawyers removed and court police attempted to arrest several of those related to Gökkan who were in attendance. Meanwhile, the Turkish police arrested a human rights activist named Tahir Tüyben in Mersin for social media posts.