- July 2018 – The Iran-based Kurdistan’s Free Life Party (PJAK), an offshoot of Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), was responsible for the deaths of eleven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps(IRGC) soldiers. The clashes took place Friday between PJAK fighters and IRGC members in the Kurdish village (Dari) near Mariwan city, Kurdistan Province. Both Iran and Turkey have been bombarding the Kurdistan Region targeting Kurdish opposition groups. Turkey criticizes the lack of cooperation between Iraq and Iran to secure the border, justifying its own military incursions into the Kurdistan region against the PKK.
- Amid Iran’s increased level of crackdowns against Kurdish activists and opposition groups, on July 17th, well-known Kurdish activist Eqbal Muradi was assassinated in the town of Penjwin in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He was found with seven gunshot wounds after his body had been pulled from a river. Muradi, a long-time member of the Kurdistan Human Rights Association, was targeted by the Iranian government. Muradi’s son, Zaynar, is currently a political prisoner on death row in Iran.
- The Iranian government has executed ten Kurds in this past week alone. International efforts to halt the execution of Kurdish activist Ramin Hossein Panahi, continue.
- Under consideration are plans between the Kurdistan Region and Iran to build a $650 million industrial city. Construction will soon begin by two Iranian and Kurdish firms that are reportedly contracted to build the city near Parwezkhan (one of the three international borders between the Kurdistan Region and Iran. This project has the full support of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) which says that it supports its trade partner, Iran, whose firms in the Kurdistan region create hundreds of local jobs.
- www.mesop.de