MESOPOTAMIA NEWS OVERVIEW KURDISTAN IRAQ- Kirkuk Minute May 6, 2021

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

Kirkuk 

  • Three peshmerga were martyred and two others were injured in an ISIS (Da’esh) assault on two military posts north of Kirkuk on Saturday. The attack began when Da’esh operatives covertly gathered near the two posts and fired on the Peshmerga, sparking clashes that lasted about an hour. Following the attack, Kurdish officials again warned of Da’esh’s ongoing exploitation of the security vacuum in Iraq’s “Disputed Territories” that was greatly exacerbated when Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed militias took control of the area following the events of October 16, 2017. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met with Iraqi and Peshmerga officials to discuss ongoing security issues in the region. According to the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, Jabar Yawar, al-Kadhimi agreed to facilitate improved coordination between Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga in an attempt to counter the ongoing Da’esh presence.
  • On Sunday, Da’esh attacked a federal police position near Rashad sub-district west of Kirkuk. Additionally, Da’esh terrorists attacked Iranian-backed Turkmen militants in the vicinity of Bashir, south of Kirkuk city. The attack resulted in the death of one Turkmen militant and three others being wounded.
  • In Daquq district, Dae’sh terrorists attacked the Iraqi Army and the federal police on multiple fronts including near Tmour village. On the same night, the federal police were also attacked near Zandana (Zenana) village east of Tuz Khurmatu.
  • On Wednesday night, Da’esh terrorists blew up two oil fields (Fields 177 and 183) of Bai Hassan near Dibis district. As a result, an oil company police officer was killed.
  • As a result of increased terror attacks by Da’esh, security forces launched large scale raids on several homes in Kirkuk in attempts to arrest wanted terrorists including those hiding among the displaced people from Tikrit and Diyala. Furthermore, the Iraqi Minister of Defense transferred three brigades of Iraq’s 31st army division from the Kurdish Shwan sub-district to Hawija district in the western part of the province while four more army brigades from Baghdad have been stationed near Sargaran sub-district to protect the oil installations.
  • On Thursday, local police forces arrested several Iranian-backed Turkmen militants for attacking police officers on the streets Wednesday night. Initially the attackers refused to surrender to police which led the security forces to rally more forces surrounding the Turkmen Front headquarters building. The Iranian-backed Turkmen militants attackers are part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and members of a group known as “Kirkuk Shield.”
  • Due to an increase of coronavirus cases in Kirkuk, at least 27 people died last week. Despite lockdowns, the virus has spread largely in the province amid poor health services.

Tuz-Khurmatu

  • After continued attacks by Da’esh, the Iraqi security forces launched a new security operation in Saladin province, mainly in areas bordering the Hawija and Tuz Khurmatu districts. On Sunday, four army personnel were injured due to an IED explosion north of Tuz Khurmatu.

Khanaqin 

  • Due to frequent terror attacks, at least 23 Kurdish villages have been vacated since 2019 as residents were forced to flee. The vacated villages are located in the Aliawa and Bawa Mahmud areas. Da’esh has launched a number of attacks on Khanaqin’s western and southern areas including the kidnapping of shepherds.

Makhmour

  • In Mahmudia village of Qaraj Sub-district, a Da’esh IED severely wounded Iraqi army personnel on Sunday. Iraq’s second Brigade of the 14th army division has been in charge of the security in the area.

Shingal (Sinjar)

  • On Sunday, members of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) arrested an Iraqi army officer in Snuny town near Shingal. The officer was held for one day before the YBS released him. Arresting the officer came as retaliation for the detention of two YBS members by the Iraqi army last week. Tensions remain high in the Yazidi region between a number of different security forces stationed there including Iranian-backed militias.

 

MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : ERDOGAN’S GHOST  TOWNS IN KURDISTAN

Silvan is abandoned and deserted  Nurcan Baysal AHVAL NEWS – May 09 2021

It’s hard to believe that five and half years have passed since my last visit to Silvan in Diyarbakır.

We had gathered together some aid on the morning of Nov. 28, 2015 and headed to the city with a few activists. It was in ruins. While out visiting some local families, Fırat Anlı, who was the co-mayor of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality at that time, called to tell me that Tahir Elçi had been killed and that he was in the morgue. Everything has been a disaster ever since.

Five and a half years later, I’m back. Some of the houses damaged in the period from 2015 to 2016 were repaired, very few of them were demolished. Local people reveal the government has granted them 5,000 to 20,000 Turkish liras in aid. As everywhere, agriculture and animal husbandry have decreased. There are seven or eight garment workshops. Most people find seasonal or daily work.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS BAYERN/CSU – „LEGALE CLANKRIMINALITÄT “

Neuer Masken-Skandal: Tochter von Ex-CSU-Politiker soll Millionen kassiert haben – Aktualisiert am 08. Mai 2021

  • Andrea Tandler, Tochter des langjährigen CSU-Politikers Gerold Tandler, hatte beim Masken-Deal der Schweizer Firma Emix offenbar ihre Finger im Spiel.
  • Nach Informationen von WDR, NDR und SZ bekam sie dafür viele Millionen Euro.

Laut Berichten von NDR, WDR und “Süddeutscher Zeitung” soll Andrea Tandler, Tochter des früheren CSU-Generalsekretärs Gerold, zwei Schweizer Jungunternehmern und deren Firma Emix geholfen haben, Corona-Schutzmasken aus China an deutsche Ministerien zu verkaufen. Dafür habe sie Provisionen in zweistelliger Millionenhöhe erhalten.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TODAYS QUOTATION:“Every banned book, canceled author, tumbled statue, and dismissed academic brings the US closer to defeat.”

Ideology Is Losing. China Is Winning – By Lev StesinMay 9, 2021

  • A woman participating in a protest in Washington, DC holding a burning US flag, 2021,  – BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,018, May 9, 2021 – ISRAEL

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The clash with China is upon us and the US is losing. It is not losing technologically, or at least not yet. It is losing ideologically. China is winning not because it has a more appealing ideology than the US but because it has none.

China is officially a Communist country, but nobody believes the party slogans of yesteryear—neither the Chinese citizens who hear them nor the officials who half-heartedly repeat them. China, a nationalist centralized totalitarian state, does not aspire to true Communism. Its only goal is national glory. In its dealings with other countries, Beijing does not care about the natures of regimes, human rights, or ideology. It is concerned solely with the ways other countries’ policies either interfere with or boost its own ascent to greatness.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : KURDISH PKK Abducts Six Civilians, Forces Families to Speak Against Their Children

Basnews English 2021/05/08 – 16:56 ERBIL — The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has abducted six civilians in the Qandil area of Kurdistan Region and now forces their families to speak against the abductees.

PKK-affiliated media outlets have published statements from several people who commend the PKK for abducting their children on alleged spy charges.

In the statements, a woman, said to be the mother of one abductee, says her son “is paying for his mistake”, a controversial statement that is rather to legitimize the unlawful actions of the PKK against the people of Kurdistan Region.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS PKK LEADERSHIP STATEMENT : Bounty Hunting Can Have No Place in US Policy Towards the Kurds

On April 14, 2021, it was reported that the US Ambassador to Ankara, Mr David M Satterfield, posted a statement on his Twitter account announcing that the United States was offering a $12 million reward to persons who could provide information leading to the arrest of Kurdish leaders Cemil Bayık, Murat Karayılan and Duran Kalkan.

To offer such a reward is akin to placing a bounty on a person’s head and, as such, is more akin to the Wild West than the considered diplomacy that one would expect from a democratic state of the modern era. Some would even describe it as a practise reminiscent of the Middle Ages.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : – Drought conditions threaten Kurdistan’s rice cultivation as rain remains scarce

Hiwa Shilani The Harir and Batas Plain in Erbil province. ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Harir and Batas Plain is one of the most famous areas for rice production in the Kurdistan Region, but the effects of drought are now causing fears that this year’s harvest will be much less than in previous years.

Water from irrigation projects in the area may not be enough to save this year’s harvest, especially as the Kurdistan Regional Government has declared 2021 a “year of drought,” and are preparing a plan to confront the lack of rainfall.

The drought could bring about one of the worst rice crops in years.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : “VIVE LA FRANCE!”  – Schrift sei „nicht inklusiv“ : Frankreich verbietet schriftliches Gendern an Schulen

07.05.2021-19:57 FAZ – Der französische Bildungsminister hat   Verwendung geschlechtsneutraler Schriftsprache an Schulen per Erlass verboten. Die in Frankreich verwendeten Pünktchenwörter behinderten das Lesen.

Frankreichs Bildungsminister Jean-Michel Blanquer hat die Nutzung der gendergerechten Schriftsprache an Schulen und in seinem Ministerium verboten. Zur Begründung hieß es in seinem am Donnerstag in Kraft getretenen Erlass, die „inklusive“ Schrift stimme nicht mit den in den Lehrplänen vereinbarten Regeln überein. Gleichzeitig aber sollen demnach Berufe und andere Funktionen, wenn sie von Frauen ausgeübt werden, künftig in der weiblichen Form genannt werden.

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Vom Hitlerjugendmädchen zur Ikone des Widerstands– vor hundert Jahren wurde Sophie Scholl geboren

MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : VOR DEM FALLBEIL BAT SIE UM DAS ABENDMAHL !

Sophie Scholl verkörpert die Auflehnung gegen das NS-Regime. Ihre komplexe Biografie geht darob oft vergessen.

Maren Gottschalk 07.05.2021, 05.30 Uhr  NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG –  Sophie Scholl um 1937.

Sophie Scholl ist Kult. Seit Jahren nimmt die Popularität der weltweit bekannten Widerstandskämpferin der NS-Zeit stetig zu. Schon vor zwanzig Jahren wählten die Leserinnen einer Frauenzeitschrift Sophie Scholl zur Frau des Jahrhunderts, seit 2003 hat ihre Marmorbüste einen Platz in der Gedenkstätte Walhalla, und 2008 wurde sie in das Berliner Wachsfigurenkabinett von Madame Tussauds aufgenommen. Längst ist ihr Name auch in den sozialen Netzwerken präsent, werden dort ihre Statements geteilt, die echten – und die unechten «Kuckuckszitate». Doch der Mensch Sophie Scholl droht hinter dem Mythos zu verschwinden: Wer war die junge Frau, und wie wurde sie zu der Figur, die wir heute alle kennen?

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS Intel: UN finds undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in Syria

The Syrian government is not being transparent with chemical weapons inspections, say UN officials. –  Al-Monitor Staff May 7, 2021 – United Nations investigators uncovered previously undisclosed stockpiles of Syria’s chemical weapons, the UN’s top official for disarmament revealed to the Security Council on Thursday.

The discovery is the latest sign that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad has not fully complied with an US and Russia-brokered agreement in 2013 to destroy the country’s stockpiles.

Analysis of samples from storage containers at a previously declared chemical weapons facility revealed a “large volume” of a chemical warfare agent, the UN’s disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu said yesterday.

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