The President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, made an official visit to France on November 3 at the invitation of the French President.
During their tête-à-tête meeting at the Élysée Palace, the two presidents discussed the situation in Kurdistan, the joint war against ISIS, the political situation in Iraq, relations between Erbil and Baghdad, and the regional context. France is an important member of the international coalition against ISIS, and the jihadist organization remains a serious threat. It is stepping up its terrorist actions in both Iraq and Syria. On November 20, CENTCOM (US Central Command) announced that coalition forces had carried out 79 operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in two months, killing 13 jihadists and arresting several ISIS leaders. France, like other coalition allies, is counting on the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga and Syrian Democratic Forces fighters to stem this threat and neutralize the thousands of jihadists operating from guerrilla hotbeds scattered across Iraq and Syria. The Kurdish forces' fight against ISIS is hampered by Turkish incursions and bombings, and Iranian interventions through Iraqi militias that destabilize the region. France has few means of exerting pressure on Ankara and Teheran, but it has played, and continues to play, a mediating role between Baghdad and Erbil in order to reach a settlement of their differences through dialogue. It wants a strong and prosperous Kurdistan in a democratic, stable and sovereign Iraq, free from the interference of its neighbors.
President Barzani informed the French President of the economic crisis in Kurdistan following the halt in its oil exports and the intermittent payment of its share of the Iraqi budget, despite agreements signed and reiterated many times. As a result, salaries and pensions of employees and civil servants are sometimes not paid for several months. This situation undermines the authority of the Kurdistan government and the motivation of the Peshmergas, regularly deprived of their pay, in the war against ISIS. The two presidents praised the excellence of Franco-Kurdish relations.
During his short visit, the President of Kurdistan was also received by the French Minister of Defense, Sébastien Lecornu. Their talks focused on military cooperation. The French minister had already visited Erbil in October to prepare Nechirvan Barzani's visit to Paris.
The French president had planned to visit Baghdad in November, but the flare-up of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict led him to postpone this visit, as well as the regional conference on the stabilization of Iraq.
The war in Gaza has had repercussions throughout the Middle East, including Iraq and Kurdistan, neighboring Iran and Turkey, which are committed to defending Hamas and vehemently criticizing US and other Western countries' support for Israel.
While the Turkish president has confined himself to thundering gesticulations while continuing his fruitful trade relations with the Hebrew state, Iran has mobilized its entire vast network of militias against American interests, including in Iraq. According to statistics released on November 15 by Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, since October 17 there have been 27 drone or rocket attacks by pro-Iranian militias against US bases in Iraq and 28 attacks in Syria. 60 American soldiers have been wounded. A dozen of these attacks targeted international coalition bases in Kurdistan (Erbil) Harir. On November 9, a fuel depot at Harir military airport caught fire following a suicide drone attack. A pro-Iranian militia calling itself the "Islamic Resistance" claimed responsibility for the attack. The Americans pointed the finger at Iran and promised that the aggressors would be punished.
On November 23, a few days after retaliating against an ammunition depot and training camps of pro-Iranian militias in Syria, the US air force bombed a major command and rocket manufacturing center of the powerful pro-Iranian militia Kataib Hezbollah, south of Baghdad, killing 8 people. The previous day, the Americans had fired a drone at a vehicle belonging to the Hashd as-chaabi militia in the Abu Ghraib region, near Baghdad, killing 1 person and wounding several others. The Iraqi government and Iran protested against this "flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty", but the American command retorted that it was a precision action in self-defense. During his brief visit to Baghdad, U.S. Secretary of Defense Antony Blinken again called on the Iraqi government to arrest the perpetrators of the attacks on U.S. bases and ensure their protection. The promises made by the Iraqi Prime Minister remain in vain, as he has no authority over these militias.
As part of the international coalition against ISIS, there are currently 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria. Iran and the militias in its service are demanding the departure of these forces, and are engaged in relentless harassment against them. To avoid widespread conflict with Iran, President Biden is ordering his forces to respond proportionately and precisely to attacks against them. During the month, the Iraqi Prime Minister visited Erbil, where he met the main Kurdish leaders; he was accompanied by the Oil Minister who, after meeting his Kurdish counterpart, announced "the resumption in a few days of oil exports from Kurdistan". This statement was not followed up, nor was the Prime Minister's promise to release Kurdistan's share of the budget in order to pay salaries and pensions. At the end of November, a Kurdish government delegation travelled to Baghdad, where it met the Prime Minister and the relevant ministers to discuss the Kurdistan budget for the umpteenth time.
Also of note was the visit to Erbil of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who came to lend his support to the Kurdish people.
Turkey's two highest judicial bodies, the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation, publicly clash over the fate of imprisoned opponent Can Atalay, who was elected deputy while behind bars.
On October 25, the Turkish Constitutional Court ordered the release of Can Atalay, who had been imprisoned for over a year and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for "attempting to overthrow the Republic", in fact for a crime of opinion, having been elected deputy last May on the list of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP). According to the high magistrates of the Constitutional Court, the deputy's "constitutional right to vote and to be elected" and "right to security and freedom" had been violated. The authorities blame the 47-year-old lawyer for his participation in the peaceful protests in Gezi Park in 2013. Defenders of this rare green space in the heart of Istanbul, doomed to disappear in favor of a government housing project, are accused of attempting to overthrow the regime, a regime haunted by the syndrome of the "color revolutions" that brought down several autocracies in Eastern Europe. Other defendants in the Gezi trial include Turkish businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala, sentenced to "aggravated life imprisonment" and incarcerated since2016 despite two rulings by the European Court of Human Rights ordering his immediate release. These rulings have not been respected by Turkey, which risks being suspended or even excluded from the Council of Europe. For months, the Turkish case has been before the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, the only body empowered to impose sanctions on an offending state. The Committee seems in no hurry to make a decision.
The electoral commission had authorized Can Atalay to run from prison as a candidate for a left-wing Turkish Legal Party (TIP). Elected in the province of Hatay (Antioch), recently partly destroyed by the earthquake, Mr. Atalay requested his release on the grounds that, as a member of parliament, he enjoyed parliamentary immunity under article 83 of the Turkish Constitution. This request was rejected on July 13 by the Court of Cassation. As a last resort, the Constitutional Court ruled on October 23 and ordered the release of the imprisoned MP. Under Turkish law, the decisions and rulings of this supreme court are final and must be respected by all. But the Court of Cassation, controlled by judges close to the far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP) associated with the government, ignored the ruling and illegally decided on November 8 to keep Can Atalay in detention. It went even further, filing a criminal complaint against the judges of the Constitutional Court.
And yet, according to article 153 of the Turkish Constitution, "the decisions of the Constitutional Court are binding on legislative, executive and judicial bodies, administrative authorities and natural and legal persons". This is not the opinion of the country's supreme judge, the Turkish president, who declared on November 10 that "no one can set aside a decision by the Court of Cassation, which is a high court. Unfortunately, at this stage the Constitutional Court is making mistakes". What, then, of the already severely shaken rules of what remains of the rule of law in Turkey? For Erinc Sagkan, President of the Union of Turkish Bars and Law Societies, this imbroglio "is not just a judicial crisis. It is a crisis of the state, with the judiciary clearly violating the constitution". For the new leader of the CHP, the main opposition party, Ozgur Ozel, it's a "coup d'état" (Le Monde, November 17). This former president of the Turkish Pharmacists' Union, who replaced Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, did not specify against whom this coup d'état was directed, given that the state is already President Erdogan, who has the last word on executive, legislative and judicial powers.
On November 15, the Turkish justice system, which refuses to release a member of parliament detained for a crime of opinion, ordered the release of the murderer of journalist Hrant Dink, founder of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos. During the emblematic journalist's much-publicized trial, 17 co-defendants were acquitted and none of the masterminds of this political assassination was prosecuted. During the emblematic journalist's much-publicized trial, 17 co-defendants were acquitted and none of the masterminds of this political assassination was prosecuted. The young ultranationalist gunman, Ogun Samast, was sentenced to life imprisonment. He has just been released for "good conduct" after 16 years in prison.
Journalists who persist in criticizing the government continue to be prosecuted by the Turkish justice system. On November 1, the judiciary decided to arrest Tolga Sardan, an investigative journalist with the online news site T24, for taking too close an interest in corruption networks within the judiciary (La Croix, November 3). He will join dozens of other colleagues in the Turkish geolos.
Another corruption case made headlines, this time in the United States. That of New York mayor Eric Adams, suspected by the American justice system of being corrupted by Turkey. Donations from Turkish businessmen close to Erdogan to Mr. Adams' campaign and his numerous trips to Turkey have raised suspicions of corruption and are the subject of a judicial investigation (New York Times, November 14).
More than corruption, which is endemic and widespread in Turkey, what worries Turkish citizens most is the excessive cost of living. Officially, annual inflation is only 65%, but in reality it is well over 100%. The cost of basic foodstuffs, transport and housing is at record levels, and ordinary people are struggling to survive. In the metropolises, rents, often paid in dollars, have become unaffordable even for the now impoverished middle classes. The new CEO of Turkey's central bank, who has just raised the key lending rate to 40%, is reportedly unable to find herself an affordable rental in Istanbul. In the meantime, since her return from the United States, this "wonder woman" called in to help put the nation's accounts in order, has been staying with her parents during her visits to Istanbul. But, like the Turkish president, she promises a brighter future with single-digit inflation in a year's time, and everyone is asked to take her word for it.
According to an assessment drawn up and made public on November 2 by the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), Iran has carried out more than 600 executions since the start of the year, or "two state murders a day". This toll, which covers just 10 months, is already a record since 2015, a black year with a frightening score of 972 executions. In 2022 the tally was 592 executions. Many condemned prisoners are still waiting on the Iranian regime's death row, including an activist linked to the protest movement "Femme, vie, liberté"(AFP November 14) or a couple sentenced to death by a Tehran court for adultery (Libération November 3).
In a press release issued on the occasion of the International Day of Violence against Women, the Kurdish human rights NGO Hengaw reports that since the beginning of 2023, 16 women have been executed and 128 women activists have been sentenced to various penalties. Human rights defenders are outraged at the lack of reaction from the international community. Following the execution of a 17-year-old and a 22-year-old on November 24, a spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, Elisabeth Throssell, reminded "Tehran of its obligation under international conventions to prohibit death sentences and their application for crimes committed by persons under the age of 18" (AFP November 29). It expressed "concern at the execution of an eighth person, on November 24, in connection with the September 2022 protests". The UN "deplores these executions", while allowing Iran to chair the Social Forum of its Human Rights Council, held on November 2-3 in Geneva (Le Figaro, November 2). Reacting to this, the LICRA said that "reality sometimes surpasses fiction", and "this is no joke" commented the NGO UN Watch, which has launched a protest petition.
Throughout the month, "ordinary" repression against protesters and opponents continued with great brutality. The "hijab war" continues to rage. The Iranian authorities refused to take Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi "without a headscarf" to hospital in the infirmary of Evin prison, where she is incarcerated (Libération, November 2). In the end, a women's medical team had to go to the women's section of this sinister prison to provide her with urgent care.
According to the Kurdish human rights NGO Hengaw, the Iranian regime has arrested several Kurdish civilians, including Hamza Pirozi and Soran Sahragard in Marivan, Saman Mohammedi and Woria Ibrahimi in Senna, Mohammed Kadakhoda in Bokan, and Ramin Wali Najad and Hamid Himati in Ilam. Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Jiwanro sentenced a Kurdish environmental activist named Yasser Noori to four months in prison for "propaganda against the state". The Senna Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced two members of the Nojîn organization, which focuses on cultural and linguistic issues, to ten years in prison. Finally, Iranian border guards killed two Kurdish border porters (kolbar) in separate incidents near Baneh and Marivan. Regime forces also wounded at least ten kolbars near Nowsud. According to Hengaw, Iranian border guards killed three kolbars and wounded 23 in October.
A Kurd, Qasem Abasteh, who was originally sentenced to death in 2015 for "waging war against God", was executed. Abatesh was accused of holding Salafist beliefs, a charge he denied. In October, the Iranian regime executed at least 78 people, according to NGO figures.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Ebrahim Raïsi visited the Kurdish town of Senna for the second time in a year, amid the severe economic crisis that the regime's policies have inflicted on Iranian Kurdistan. Raisi oversaw the opening of a new railroad line between Senna and Hamadan, but activists denounced the visit and issued slogans protesting against Raisi and the Iranian government's policy towards the Kurds. Raïsi's visit coincided with the arrest of Kurdish activists in Salas-e Babajani, Mehabad, Awdanan, Senna, Jiwanro and Saqqez.
According to Hengaw, three kolbars have been killed and 40 wounded since Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's recent visit to Baneh. Meanwhile, security forces have continued their crackdown on militants and civilians. Among those arrested were an imam, a woman and a civilian in Bokan; two Kurdish civilians in Khoy; a trade union activist in Kamyaran; two Kurdish men in Saulawa; a Kurdish language teacher, Siarous Abbasi, in Dewalan; a musician in Senna; and a political activist in Marivan. In Piranshahr, security forces arrested five teenagers. In addition, the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Senna sentenced a Kurd named Kaywan Zandagi to five years in prison for his involvement and role in the Jîna Amini uprisings last year.
Meanwhile, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (PDKI), Sorhab Rahmati, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Erbil. Rahmati, a dedicated lawyer known for representing victims of the Iranian regime's terrorist attacks, was wounded when an assailant shot him twice with a silenced firearm. In a statement, the PDKI accused the Iranian regime's "terrorist agency" of being behind the assassination (Rudaw, November 16).
Several demonstrations took place in various cities, including the Kurdish town of Kermanshah, as well as in Isfahan, Ahwaz and Shush, denouncing social security laws and appalling living conditions. The protests were coordinated by unions representing various industries, including metalworkers, public sector employees, nurses, oil company workers and municipal employees. At the same time, security forces, particularly border guards, stepped up their crackdown on Kurdish border porters (kolbar), resulting in the deaths of two people, including a teenager, and the injury of a dozen others near Baneh, Nowsud and Urmia. In addition, two kolbars tragically succumbed to freezing temperatures in Piranshahr and Urmia.
The US State Department has condemned Iran's deceptive execution process targeting Kurdish singer Saman Yasin. Yasin, who was imprisoned by the Iranian regime for over a year after last year's Jîna Amini uprising, faced a mock execution as part of psychological pressure tactics because of his songs against the regime. The US State Department's Persian Twitter account stressed, "The use of mock executions, torture and death sentences without due process not only violates human rights, but also runs counter to fundamental respect for human dignity." Yasin now faces a life sentence following the annulment of his execution sentence, pending a new trial.
Louis Arnaud was also sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment on November 8 by a Tehran court without his lawyers present. The 36-year-old Frenchman, who had been detained for over three years, was accused of "propaganda and undermining the security of the Iranian state", a vague and unfounded accusation that makes him a "state hostage" to be traded in future dealings with France (Libération, November 9).
The month of November was marked by all-out military clashes between the international coalition and Daech and pro-Iranian militias, between Daech and Syrian government forces, between the latter and the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDS), as well as by aerial bombardments and drone attacks by the Turkish air force against Kurdish civilian (infrastructure) and military targets in Kurdish-administered provinces.
In the territories under Turkish occupation, where Turkey boasts of having already settled more than 500,000 displaced Syrian Arabs on land emptied of its Kurdish population, ethnic cleansing is proceeding apace in the silence or indifference of the international community. In the town of Serê Kaniyê (Ras al-Ayn), which before the Turkish invasion of 2019 had a population of 175,000, including 85,000 Kurds, there are reportedly only 50 Kurds left. In Girê Spî (Tell Abyad), also under Turkish occupation, the situation is just as dramatic.
In the canton of Afrin, occupied since 2018 by the Turkish army, where the vast majority of the Kurdish population has been driven out and replaced by Syrian militia families in the service of the Turkish occupation, the process of ethnic cleansing is coupled with the plundering of the country's wealth and the confiscation of the property and businesses of Kurdish inhabitants who have had to flee the terror of the occupation. Those who have remained, particularly in the villages, to tend their olive groves - the symbol of Afrin - are faced with the predatory actions of Syrian militias acting as auxiliaries to the Turkish army.
Several factions of the Syrian National Army (SNA), a ragtag coalition of pro-Turkish militias, have clashed violently over revenues from olive harvests and olive oil stolen from local Kurds. Turkish-backed groups have stolen many of the region's olive trees and extorted money from local farmers. The conflict over revenues from the olive trade is said to stem in particular from disputes between two commanders of the Sultan Murad Division in the village of Qornah, in Afrin's Bobol district, although other factions and groups are likely to become involved in the coming weeks.
Many Afrin residents can no longer afford to buy olive oil due to the increasing involvement of Turkish mercenaries in the olive trade. The smuggling of olive oil by Turkish-backed groups into Assad regime-controlled territory and into Turkey has driven up the price of a single container by more than one hundred percent since 2022. In addition, some residents have expressed concern that the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and other groups' exploitation of the olive trade could ruin the future of Afrin's olive industry. Olive oil exported to Turkey is often repackaged and sold in other countries without any indication that it comes from Afrin.
The Afrin displaced persons who have taken refuge in Aleppo province are also being attacked by Syrian government forces. Indeed, the Syrian Arab Army's Fourth Division maintains a blockade on the Kurdish-majority area of Aleppo's northern countryside, jointly governed by the autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria and the Assad regime. The Fourth Division is accustomed to imposing blockades and levying charges on goods entering the area, including fuel. The blockade has led to the closure of public transport and schools due to fuel shortages, and concerns remain over possible disruption to water sources and bakeries. The blockade particularly affects around 100,000 displaced people from Afrin who fled after Turkey invaded northwest Syria in 2018.
Throughout the month, pro-Assad regime fighters and Iranian-backed militias continued to attempt to attack and undermine the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria (AANES) in Deir ez-Zor governorate. Further mortar and artillery attacks from the west bank of the Euphrates targeted the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-controlled town of Dhiban, killing a woman and her four-year-old daughter and wounding a man and his child. The conflict began when the FDS dismissed and arrested one of their commanders, Abu Khawla, accused of smuggling, various trafficking and collaboration with the Assad regime. Khawla's arrest led to a tribal uprising among his supporters, which Damascus and Teheran exploited in an attempt to overthrow the AANES and reclaim all of northeastern Syria.
On November 19, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in eastern Deir ez-Zor experienced a second consecutive day of attacks by unidentified gunmen, following artillery and mortar assaults launched by pro-Assad forces from across the Euphrates into SDF-controlled territory. Various groups of armed men, probably affiliated to pro-Damascus and pro-Iran militias, attacked SDF personnel in several locations in Deir ez-Zor, using machine guns, rockets and even motorcycles for their attacks. According to a report by the Nord news agency, these gunmen are believed to be part of the anti-SDF insurgency initiated by pro-government and pro-Iranian factions, aiming to overthrow the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria (AANES).
The SDF announced that its counter-terrorism units (YAT) had arrested a senior Daech commander named Muhammad Sakhr al-Bakr, aka Khaled al Shami, in Raqqa. Al Shami was Daesh's deputy military commander for wilayat al Sham, which refers to the entire territory claimed by the organization in Syria. The SDF claimed that al Shami was involved in planning and organizing the raid on the Al Sina'a prison in Hassaké in January 2022. Al Shami also played a major role in planning and facilitating terrorist attacks and military operations aimed at overthrowing the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and restoring Daesh's territorial control over the region.
Separately, the US Department of Defense reported 60 attacks by pro-Iranian militias over the past month against US military personnel stationed in Syria and Iraq. These attacks left 59 injured. The Islamic Resistance group, among other pro-Iranian militias, has claimed responsibility for these repeated drone and rocket attacks on US bases. In response, the US military carried out several airstrikes targeting pro-Iranian militia and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Council (IRGC) installations in Syria.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that US airstrikes were targeting the IRGC in Deir ez-Zor and Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, in response to Iran's recent attacks on the American personnel. Austin also warned that the United States would not hesitate to strike other Iranian targets if Iran and its mercenaries did not cease their attacks on American personnel in the region. The OSDH says the strikes killed at least eight pro-Iranian fighters and estimated that the death toll is likely to rise. The strikes destroyed a major munitions warehouse and a missile launcher.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), attacks by IS (Daesh) in the Syrian desert over the past month have resulted in the deaths of 67 members of the pro-Assad government forces. Thirteen ISIS militants were also reported killed, apparently due to Russian air attacks. The main centers of violence are Homs, Deir ez-Zor, southern Raqqa and Aleppo. These attacks follow a pattern of successful ISIS incursions against pro-Damascus forces, posing a persistent threat despite ISIS's territorial defeat by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The jihadist group continues to wage an insurgency to restore its “caliphate” and take control of the region.
