The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) allegedly installed a hidden camera-trap in the district of Bilê in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) in early September. The camera, placed in a forest on the side of a path, has recorded the movement of people in the area. The surveillance is linked to the ongoing and deepening collaboration between the KDP and the Turkish government, whose army has driven an incursion deep into the Iraqi Kurdish region since mid-June, Roj News reported.
The news agency, based in Iraqi Kurdistan, has released footage captured by the camera trap, which was ambushed by an anonymous source. According to their report, Serwan Xelîl Bazî Barzanî, head of KDP’s security forces, was responsible for setting the camera. The KDP, the dominant party in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has pursued a collaboration with the Turkish state during this year’s ramped up incursion of the Turkish Armed Forces into the region.
Cooperation between the KDP and Turkey has been developing for decades, with the KDP providing support to its Turkish neighbours by placing checkpoints within Iraqi territory and attacking the guerrilla forces of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The video released is considered to be evidencea pointing to the KDP’s collection of intelligence information to serve Turkey’s cross-border interests.
The camera-trap, visible in the video, was found to have been prepared and tested in a local garage by a KDP officer, Ferhed Mihemed, before secretly being placed in location. The device has tracked all movement, including local residents passing by.
