PUK forces briefly detained Tavgari Azadi’s spokeswoman, 50 others in Iraqi Kurdistan

SOUTH KURDISTAN (IRAQ) : PUK (THE TEHRAN BRANCH IN KURDISTAN) DETAINS PKK-PERSONS IN ORDER BY ANKARA

12 Jan 2019 – SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— The spokeswoman for the pro-PKK Kurdistan Free Society (Tavgari Azadi), Tara Hussein was arrested along with 50 others by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan PUK security forces in Azadi Park in Sulaimani on Friday, according to her brother Soran Hussein.

“A number of people had gathered at a platform in Azadi Park in order to screen a film about the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) assassinated female member Sakine Canciz,”

Later the spokeswoman Tara Hussein was released along with others, the party said.

A large security contingent surrounded the venue in the park where the screening was to take place and prevented it from being shown, NRT TV reported.The Asayish (security) forces also broke up a Tavgari Azadi gathering in Chamchamal, which was to have commemorated the memory of Canciz.A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Women organization told NRT TV that they had planned to hold a seminar at the Chamchamal Public Library and had obtained permission from the district’s mayor, but the security forces stopped the meeting.

“Preventing such an activity is a huge embarrassment for the Kurdistan Region, as well as it showed that the support of some political parties for our national movement is just for elections campaigns and seeking the people’s votes,” she said.

A co-founder of the PKK, Canciz was assassinated in Paris on January 9, 2013, along with two other Kurdish women activists.

Last week, the PUK Asayish security forces raided a property belonging to the Tavgari Azadi in the Kalar district in Iraqi Kurdistan Region and arrested nine party members. In November 2018, most offices belonging to the Tavgari Azadi have been shut down by the ruling PUK Asayish forces in Sulaimani province in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

Turkey’s consul general to Iraqi Kurdistan capital of Erbil hails the actions by PUK against Tavgari Azadi offices in Sulaimani province.Turkey has effectively isolated Sulaimani by closing its airspace to any flights directly to or from Sulaimaniyah International Airport.

The Turkish government currently bans flights travelling to or from Sulaimani International Airport from using its airspace. The office closures are believed to be part of negotiations to resume flights between the city and Turkish destinations.

In the past, the Turkish government has called on the locally-dominant PUK to close the offices of organizations with close ties to the PKK like Tavgari Azadi.

Tavgari Azadi was established in October 2014. It has 10 offices across Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, eight of which are in Sulaimani and Garmiyan, one in Kirkuk and another in Tuz Khurmatu.