Sarah Glynn
This week I will focus on two places where civilians are fleeing for their lives. The second part of this review will look at Deir ez-Zor, the Achilles heel of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, where Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militias are carrying out attacks, and where eleven civilians were killed by a Syrian Army bombardment on Thursday night. But I will start with the Yazidi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Last Saturday, survivors of the Yazidi genocide marked ten years since their community came under deadly attack from ISIS. Yesterday, hundreds of Yazidi families were on the move again, fearful of a new attack by their Sunni Muslim neighbours.
Şengal
Şengal, or Sinjar, the Yazidi region, is one of the areas where Iraq’s 2005 Constitution recognised that control was disputed between the Federal Government and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. There was an expectation of a referendum so that the people could decide their own future, but that never happened. Instead, up until the ISIS attack in August 2014, Şengal was under the de facto control of the Kurdistan Regional Government, while some other disputed areas were left to the Federal Government. The region was liberated from ISIS in 2015, with the help of US air power, and control divided between the liberating forces: the Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Şengal Resistance Units (YBŞ) that they had trained, and the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMUs) – semi-independent, predominantly Shia militias, officially recognised by the Iraqi Government. After the disaster of the Kurdistan referendum of 2017, the KDP were forced to withdraw, and in 2018, the PKK removed their forces, leaving control with the YBŞ. The YBŞ and PMUs share a distrust of Turkey, which has been trying to exert control over the region. In 2020, with support from the United Nations and the United States and the blessing of Turkey, the Iraqi Federal Government and the KDP-dominated Kurdistan Regional Government signed an agreement to share control of the region, but they have been unable to implement this due to fierce local resistance.
A casual reading of the anniversary statements made by the Iraqi Federal Government and Kurdistan Regional Government would not suggest anything amiss. Iraq’s Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, praised the Iraqi security forces who “rallied to liberate the land and its people”, and talked about actions for reconstruction and rehabilitation. Masoud Barzani, President of the KDP, issued a statement that read “we honour the souls of the martyrs and victims of this crime, and we honour the heroic Peshmerga who sacrificed their lives to break the siege of Mount Sinjar, liberate Sinjar, defeat the terrorists, and avenge all the injustice and pain… The agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Federal Iraqi Government on the normalisation of the situation in Sinjar must be implemented… The parties must stop exploiting the suffering of Sinjar for political purposes.”
This all sounds very admirable until you realise that the reason it was possible for the genocide to take place was that the Iraqi army and the KDP Peshmerga left the Yazidis to their fate. The Iraqi army collapsed in the face of ISIS, but there were thousands of Peshmerga in Şengal who had promised to defend the people against ISIS. Faced with imminent attack, the KDP Peshmerga disappeared without warning, leaving the Yazidis totally unprotected. The Peshmerga had even taken weapons off Yazidi fighters. In the next few days, over 5,000 Yazidi men and including the elderly, were murdered, and over 6,000 Yazidi women and children were captured to be made into sex slaves and child soldiers.
Yazidis who managed to escape to Mount Sinjar were stranded until fighters from the PKK and from the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) opened a pathway into Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan). The PKK and YPG then helped the Yazidis to regain control of their homeland and to build their own autonomous administration and defence forces. Other Yazidis reached safety in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where they have been accommodated in IDP camps.
The betrayal of the Yazidis by the KDP has never been properly investigated and challenged. An investigation by the Kurdistan Regional Government was never made public. Theories range from military incompetence to religious prejudice and complicity. There is currently a lawsuit being held in the District Court in Washington DC accusing the KDP leader, Masoud Barzani, of deliberately orchestrating the genocide.
While it may seem inconceivable that any leader could regard ISIS as anything other than an enemy, there are many examples of countries, such as the United States, working with violent “jihadi” groups when they think it serves their interests. Turkey, to which the KDP has tied itself, has always given support to ISIS, not least by enabling thousands of foreign fighters to join them. Now, Turkey is bringing hundreds of jihadi mercenaries, including former ISIS fighters, into Iraq to attack the PKK, an attack in which Turkey is also supported by the KDP.
The agreement to give control of Şengal to the forces who failed to protect them from ISIS, is rejected by the Yazidis themselves, who were not consulted over the arrangement. They want to retain the autonomy they achieved with the help of the PKK and YPG, which would be perfectly possible within Iraq’s constitution, and not to have to rely on others for defence.
The anniversary statement from the United States urged “full implementation” of the 2020 agreement, adding the contradictory phrase, “in consultation with the communities that call Sinjar home”. The European Union also called for the implementation of the agreement.
The Iraqi Government
Just days after the anniversary, the Iraqi government announced that they were banning the Yazidi Freedom and Democracy Party (PADÊ) that supports Yazidi autonomy. PADÊ has been banned alongside two other parties in Iraq that follow the political philosophy of Abdullah Öcalan – the Kurdistan Society Freedom Movement (Tevgera Azadî) and the Party of the Democratic Struggle (PTD). The Democratic Autonomous Assembly of Şengal points out that “PADÊ has acted according to Iraqi laws since the day it was founded. It has organised dozens of congresses and conferences and participated in elections legally. Despite a successful result in the Mosul Provincial Council elections, the coup d’état of the Turkish state and the KDP prevented it from entering the provincial council.”
The bans follow Iraq’s decision to ban the PKK, which itself followed intense diplomacy between Turkey and Iraq, including a personal visit by Turkish President Erdoğan. Iraq claims that the banned parties are linked to the PKK and threaten national security. Tevgera Azadî state that they only discovered about the ban on social media. If legal appeals fail, the parties will have their offices closed and their assets seized. The London-based New Arab comments, “The dissolution of these parties not only highlights the influence of external actors, like Turkey, but also raises questions about the balance between security measures and democratic freedoms in Iraq. As the parties prepare to appeal the ruling, the outcome will likely have significant implications for the future of political pluralism and stability in the region.”
Hate speech and threats
The need for Yazidi self-defence has been brought sharply into focus by another wave of anti-Yazidi hate speech. Yazidis have been described as “devil worshippers” since the Middle Ages, and some Muslim preachers still fire the flames of ancient and endemic prejudice. Yazidis describe the ISIS attack as their 74th genocide, and some of the historic examples have been even more devastating.
The spark that ignited the smouldering hatred this time was a comment made in an anniversary speech by Qasim Shasho, leader of the KDP-affiliated Yazidi Peshmerga. Shasho said that “as long as Mohammed [i.e. Islam] exists, genocides against us will not end. They are the enemies of our religion.” While this was clearly unwise phrasing, Shasho claims that he was referring only to Muslim extremists. His subsequent charge for blasphemy has exacerbated the situation, as well as being contrary to freedom of speech.
The hate speech and threats this prompted have not been limited to social media but have also been preached from the pulpits of some of Kurdistan’s mosques.
Yazidis had been unwilling to leave the IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to return to a homeland that is still in ruins and that is menaced by Turkish air attacks, but as I write this on Friday afternoon, there are reports of hundreds of Yazidi families fleeing the IDP camps in Duhok and Zakho to get to Şengal, and of other Yazidi families stuck at the border crossing into North and East Syria, where the KDP is not letting them through. As well as welcoming the fleeing families, the Autonomous Administration in Şengal has asked the Iraqi authorities to protect the people remaining in the camps.
Religion and law
There have been other worrying developments in Iraq, where the government is heavily influenced by Iran and conservative religious parties. The Iraqi parliament is pressing ahead with a highly controversial bill that would amend the Personal Status Law. This amendment would allow religious authorities greater control over inheritance and marriage laws, in place of the unified civil code brought in in 1959, and raises especial alarm over the status of women and the potential legalisation of child marriage.
Turkish ecocide
Meanwhile, Turkish attacks on the mountains of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq continue, with Turkey trying to destroy the PKK’s bases and to bring a wide band of Iraqi territory under Turkish control. Kurdistan’s natural environment has itself become a target, and Turkey continues to carry out large-scale deforestation and to deliberately set fire to acres of woodland.
Deforestation and fires have also been standard practice in Turkish-occupied Afrin (Efrîn) in northern Syria, where it is estimated that 21 million fruit and olive trees have been destroyed.
But, before looking at further Turkish attacks in Syria, I will turn my attention to Deir ez-Zor (Dêrezor), where problems had been simmering since they last flared up nearly a year ago.
Deir ez-Zor
As I explained at that time, Deir ez-Zor was the last part of the region controlled by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) to be liberated from ISIS by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and it is the least integrated into the Administration’s Öcalan-inspired social system. The Administration understands that democracy has to be built up painstakingly from below and can’t be foisted on people from above. But, so far, in Deir ez-Zor, they have not managed to go much beyond working with existing tribal structures in an attempt to maintain stability.
Maintaining stability is not easy. ISIS still has a presence here, demanding protection money, and attacking individuals who work with the Administration or with the SDF. And the Syrian government and allied Iranian-supported militias carry out attacks and raids across the Euphrates in order to weaken the Administration. The lack of consolidated structures makes Deir ez-Zor especially vulnerable to attack, while the presence of oil makes it especially attractive. The presence of a US base near the oil fields ups the stakes. The Americans will protect themselves, if not their SDF partners; and forcing the US out of Syria is an important aim for both the Syrian and Iranian governments.
The current round of attacks, which began on Tuesday night, are believed to have been jointly planned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Syrian Intelligence. That first night, a ground attack infiltrated towns and villages and attacked SDF posts. Two civilians were killed, and others were wounded, and two water stations were destroyed.
In the small hours of Friday morning, Syrian government forces fired rockets and artillery shells across the Euphrates from the west bank. The attack killed eleven civilians, including five children, and forced residents to flee from the targeted areas. The Syrian army has now brought in more military reinforcements and heavy weapons. The commander of the Russian forces in Syria has held a meeting with officials of the SDF and of the Syrian Government.
Turkish attacks
While the SDF was fighting off attacks on Deir ez-Zor, Turkey began bombarding villages in the Manbij countryside. Earlier, Turkey had destroyed a water pumping station and an olive oil factory in Qamishli. And North and East Syria is still suffering from Turkey’s large-scale bombardments last winter. Although the SDF remains in control of the Deir ez-Zor oil wells, the Administration is unable to access much oil due to the damage caused in those attacks, and the region’s industry is suffering from lack of fuel.
Inside Turkey
In Turkey itself, authoritarian control continues to tighten. After banning Instagram, Turkish Government representatives have been discussing with representatives from Instagram the possibility of increased control over posts, including posts deemed to be in support of the PKK. And there have been noises about closing Tik Tok. A new rule in the eastern city of Van gives the state-appointed Governor the power to oversee the form taken by wedding celebrations, further intruding on Kurdish traditions.
Resistance in Evin Prison
After outlining so many attacks, I want to give an example of resistance maintained in the most severe of circumstances. Warisha Moradi, a member of the Free Women’s Society of Rojhilat Kurdistan (KJAR), is locked up in Iran’s Evin Prison. She refused to attend her court hearing in protest against the injustice of a judiciary that issued death sentences for the activists Beshkan Azizi and Sharifa Mohammadi. And she has just been tortured again for protesting the execution of Rida Rasayi on Tuesday. Moradi wrote a long letter that concludes, “I affirm that over the past year, nothing has caused me to doubt my commitment to fulfilling my human duties to society, especially to women, and nothing ever will. As a Kurdish woman in the Middle East, I have lived not for myself but for the social freedom of the region’s people. A life truly worth living must be rich in meaning and freedom; otherwise, it is not worth living at all.”
I will end with updates on two cases that I have written about before. Serdar Karakoç, a Kurdish journalist, has been fighting a German request to extradite him from the Netherlands and try him for “terrorism-related” offences. He has lost the case against extradition – which could only be technical and not look at the substantial issue – but has also vanished before he could be taken to Germany. And VB has finally left Serbia.
Sarah Glynn is a writer and activist – check her website and follow her on Twitter
