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Iraqi Supreme Court Orders Suspension Of Kurdish Referendum

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Kurdish Peshmerga fighters march in Irbil on September 13 in support of the planned independence referendum.

Iraq’s Supreme Court has ordered the suspension of an independence referendum in the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan scheduled for next week.

The Supreme Court in Baghdad said in a September 18 statement that it has “issued a national order to suspend the referendum procedures…until the resolution of the cases regarding the constitutionality of said decision.”

It is not clear if Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq would abide by the court’s ruling.

Baghdad has repeatedly condemned the referendum as unconstitutional.

The United States and the United Nations have called on the Iraqi Kurdistan region to hold off the vote amid concerns that it could contribute to instability as Iraqi forces fight the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on September 17 warned that the planned September 25 referendum “would detract from the need to defeat” IS and to rebuild cities captured from the extremists.

Countries in the region, including Iran and Turkey, have also have also vehemently opposed the referendum amid fears that it could encourage their Kurdish minorities to break away.

Iran on September 17 warned that should Iraq’s Kurdistan region gain its independence, it would mean an end to all border and security arrangements agreed previously between Tehran and the regional government.

Turkey on September 18 launched a military drill with tanks close to the Iraqi border, the army said.

Ankara’s national security council will meet on September 22 to discuss the country’s official position on the referendum.

Iraq could use force if Kurdish referendum leads to violence

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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi speaking during an interview with the Associated Press. Photo: AP videopm,force,kurdistan

By Associated Press,

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq is prepared to intervene militarily if the Kurdish region’s planned independence referendum results in violence, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Saturday.

If the Iraqi population is “threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily,” he said.

Iraq’s Kurdish region plans to hold the referendum on support for independence from Iraq on Sept. 25 in three governorates that make up their autonomous region, and in disputed areas controlled by Kurdish forces but which are claimed by Baghdad.

“If you challenge the constitution and if you challenge the borders of Iraq and the borders of the region, this is a public invitation to the countries in the region to violate Iraqi borders as well, which is a very dangerous escalation,” al-Abadi said.

The leaders of Iraq’s Kurdish region have said they hope the referendum will push Baghdad to come to the negotiating table and create a path for independence. However, al-Abadi said such negotiations would likely be complicated by the referendum vote.

“It will make it harder and more difficult,” he said, but added: “I will never close the door to negotiations. Negotiations are always possible.”

Iraq’s Kurds have come under increasing pressure to call off the vote from regional powers and the United States, a key ally, as well as Baghdad.

In a statement released late Friday night the White House called for the Kurdish region to call off the referendum “and enter into serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad.”

“Holding the referendum in disputed areas is particularly provocative and destabilizing,” the statement read.

Tensions between Irbil and Baghdad have flared in the lead-up to the Sept. 25 vote.

Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, has repeatedly threatened violence if Iraqi military or Shiite militias attempt to move into disputed territories that are now under the control of Kurdish fighters known as Peshmerga, specifically the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

“It’s chaotic there,” Muhammad Mahdi al-Bayati, a senior leader of Iraq’s mostly Shiite fighters known as the popular mobilization forces, said earlier this week, describing Kirkuk in the lead up to the vote.

Al-Bayati’s forces – sanctioned by Baghdad, but many with close ties to Iran – are deployed around Kirkuk as well as other disputed territories in Iraq’s north.

“Everyone is under pressure,” he said, explaining that he feared a rogue group of fighters could trigger larger clashes. “Anything could be the spark that burns it all down.”

Al-Abadi said he is focused on legal responses to the Kurdish referendum on independence. Earlier this week Iraq’s parliament rejected the referendum in a vote boycotted by Kurdish lawmakers.

Iraq’s Kurds have long held a dream of statehood. Brutally oppressed under Saddam Hussein, whose military in the 1980s killed at least 50,000 of them, many with chemical weapons, Iraq’s Kurds established a regional government in 1992 after the U.S. enforced a no-fly zone across the north following the Gulf War.

After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion ousted Saddam, the region secured constitutional recognition of its autonomy, but remained part of the Iraqi state.

When asked if he would ever accept an independent Kurdistan, Al-Abadi said: “It’s not up to me, this is a constitutional” matter.

“If (Iraq’s Kurds) want to go along that road, they should work toward amending the constitution,” al-Abadi said. “In that case we have to go all the way through parliament and a referendum to the whole Iraqi people.

“For them to call for only the Kurds to vote, I think this is a hostile move toward the whole of the Iraqi population,” he said.

“Tit for Tat” Netanyahu Support kurdistan independence because Erdogan Support Hamas

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Netanyahu’s message to Turkey is that as long as it supports Hamas, it can expect stones to be thrown at its glass house
Analysis Kurdistan independence: One day in September could wreak havoc in the Middle East

“Israel opposes the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [the PKK] and sees it as a terror organization, as opposed to Turkey, which supports the terror organization Hamas. But while Israel opposes terror as such, it supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to achieve a state of their own,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week.
Perhaps it was no coincidence that his statement came only a few days after a speech by one of his Habayit Hayehudi partner-rivals, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, at the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya, in which she touched on Kurdish independence. But she took it even further and said, “The Israeli and American interest is that there should be a Kurdish state, firstly in Iraq. It’s about time that the United States supports this.”

“Firstly in Iraq?” And where after that, Turkey? Iran?

Israel’s support for Kurdish independence is not new; Netanyahu has made similar declarations as far back as 2014. But the timing, less than two weeks before a September 25 referendum slated to be held in Iraqi Kurdistan, makes the Israeli message more than just moral support for the Kurdish people’s desire for an independent state. The statement, the first of its kind to be made by any world leader, is a dagger right in the eyes of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is ideologically and strategically opposed to the establishment of a Kurdish state.
Netanyahu was delivering a double message to Turkey, although not solely to Turkey. As long as Turkey supports Hamas and doesn’t define it as a terror group, it can expect stones to be thrown at the glass house in which it lives. In addition, whoever supports an independent Palestinian state should be prepared for Israel to encourage the establishment of a Kurdish state.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.812469

Kurdish authorities temporarily block regional broadcaster, ahead of a regional referendum

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Beirut, August 30, 2017–The Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq should allow the independent media outlet Nalia Radio and Television (NRT) to resume broadcasting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Local Kurdish authorities in Erbil, a city in northern Iraq, on August 28 blocked NRT’s local broadcast signal for one week ahead of a regional referendum on Kurdish independence, which is set to take place on September 25, according to media reports.
Kurdish authorities said the news outlet violated distribution regulations and licensing procedures, and aired material from a channel that was not legally registered, according to news reports.
Monday’s broadcast block came after Asayish security officials affiliated with the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party on August 22 denied NRT journalists entry into their studios in Erbil. According to media reports, this prevented the network from airing a program about the “No for Now” campaign, which calls to delay the Kurdish independence vote.
“If the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq want to be seen in the eyes of the international community as a champion of free press they should start by allowing media to cover all opinions on next month’s independence referendum,” said CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney from New York. “Kurdish authorities should allow NRT to resume broadcasting immediately.”
NRT has frequently drawn the ire of authorities of the two main political factions–the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan–that are vying for influence in northern Iraq, CPJ research shows.
NRT’s founder and financial backer, Kurdish businessman Shaswar Abdulwahid, is also at the forefront of the “No for Now” movement, the creation of which he announced in an interview that aired July 25 on NRT.
While “No for Now” has launched a television channel with Abdulwahid’s backing, the two outlets are separate entities with different staff and offices, the NRT deputy newsroom manager Soran Rashid told CPJ.
Rashid told CPJ that the Kurdish authorities did not have a valid cause to cut off NRT’s broadcast as the channel’s license is up to date. He also denied that NRT had broadcasted material from an unlicensed television channel as the Kurdish authorities claimed.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s press officer in Washington D.C. told CPJ Kurdish officials have previously stopped television channels affiliated with political factions from broadcasting. In this case, however, the press officer said, the NRT media organization had failed to keep up with its licensing fees.
Source:

Committee to Protect Journalists – MENA <mena@cpj.org>

 

Yazidis and Assyrians remain unconvinced by Iraqi Kurdistan referendum

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Gareth Browne

Barzani and the KDP abandoned us, the only Yazidis that support them now are the ones they are paying. We don’t want to be with them, we don’t want their referendum, a Yazidi student says.

The world is slowly becoming aware of the plight of Iraq’s minorities, and yesterday US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson toldreporters that “ISIS is clearly responsible for genocide against Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims”.

one in the discourse of US officials, reserved only for the most serious of cases. But even with the international community awaking to the plight of Iraq’s minorities – especially the Yazidis and Christians, the path of their recovery is far from clear.

Now with a referendum on Kurdish independence looming, minority groups’ qualms with both the Baghdad and Erbil governments are becoming all the more prominent, and the minorities are refusing to see their concerns go ignored.

Iraq’s Christian community has dwindled in recent years. Once home to some 1.5 million Christians, the country now boasts a population of barely 250,000, according to a recent report by the World Council of Churches.

Dozens more are leaving every week for new lives in North America and Europe, but the ones who have remained do not appear convinced by the Kurdish case for independence.

In July, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities forcefully removed elected Assyrian mayor Ayez Abed Jawahreh, only to replace her with a Kurdish figure more friendly to the ruling Kurdish Democratic Party’s (KDP) agenda. Although there were murmurs of corruption on Jawahreh’s part, no evidence was presented and many believe it was just an exercise in restricting opposition to the KDP’s agenda.

Diana Sarkisian, an Assyrian human rights activist, suggested “this removal and meddling in the political leadership in Alqosh has shown how little minorities are respected by the KRG”.

Assyrians quickly gathered in Al-Qosh to protest, and the Kurdish flag was notably absent from their demonstrations, with the Iraqi one instead proudly held up by many of those present. Assyrians further voiced their disagreement with referendum at an event involving the KRG’s representative to the United States in Washington earlier this month. Protesters rushed the stage holding aloft placards such as “KRG is not a democracy” and “Assyrians say no to referendum”.

Sarkisian added that most of the Assyrians in Iraq wanted to remain so, in an “independent province” similar to “that of the KRG”, but that obviously it was for the people to decide for themselves.

One minority that has received far greater attention from the Iraqi and Kurdish governments is the Yazidis. The victims of the world’s latest genocide have been widely courted by Barzani’s KDP party, which traditionally attempts to portray itself as something of a protector of minorities.

Indeed Haydar Shasho, the head of the YBS, or Sinjar Resistance Units, a Yazidi militia charged with defending Yazidi homelands in Northern Iraq, went as far as saying that the genocide carried out against the Yazidi people by the Islamic State group “would not have happened” if there had been an independent Kurdistan.

The Iraqi parliament’s sole Yazidi MP, Vian Dakhil, has also aligned with the KDP-led push for Kurdish independence, suggesting that an independent Kurdistan would be a “beacon of hope and stability”.

However this is a far cry from the perspective of most Yazidis, who feel that Barzani’s Kurdish Peshmerga – who fled their defensive positions in Sinjar in August 2014 as IS approached – abandoned the Yazidis in their hour of need.

Several weeks after IS’ capture of Mosul, the jihadists marched on Sinjar, and the thousands of Peshmerga charged with maintaining security withdrew without a fight. What subsequently took place has been labelled genocide by the United Nations – as many as 5,000 were executed and 7,000 women and children were kidnapped and exploited as sex slaves by IS fighters and officials.

As Hishah Bashir, a Yazidi student now living in Erbil, said: “Barzani and the KDP abandoned us, the only Yazidis that support them now are the ones they are paying. We don’t want to be with them, we don’t want their referendum.” He added: “If we stay with Baghdad, at least we can push for a federal or independent Yazidi province in Sinjar and Nineveh. The Kurds will never give us that; they want full control over everything.”

Source: eKurd.com

Not all Kurds on board with Kurdish independence vote

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Protesters, most of them school teachers, demonstrate against the Kurdistan Regional Government for delays in paying their salaries, Sulaimaniyah province, Iraqi Kurdistan, Sept. 27, 2016. (photo by REUTERS/Ako Rasheed)

By Fazel Hawramy

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — The majority of Kurdish parties agreed on June 7 to hold a referendum for independence in September. While outside pressure to stop the controversial referendum has been constant, the deadliest blow might, however, come from within. Ordinary Kurds, in particular those in Sulaimaniyah, are angry about the government’s mismanagement of the economy, and many appear ready to express their dissatisfaction in their approach to the referendum.

Over the last two months, Al-Monitor has spoken with several dozen people, primarily in Sulaimaniyah, to gauge their views on the upcoming referendum. Those interviewed include police officers, teachers, peshmerga, shopkeepers, taxi drivers and civil servants, the overwhelming majority of whom reject the referendum outright. They consider it a ploy by the current leadership to distract attention from its failure to efficiently run the government and manage the economy for the last 25 years, since the establishment of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in 1992.

Sulaimaniyah, nestled between several mountain ranges, is the largest province in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, the other two being Dahuk and Erbil. Sulaimaniyah is home to around 2 million of the region’s total indigenous population of 5.2 million people. The anger and frustration among them is palpable.

“Why should I vote yes in the referendum?” Shaho Mahyaddin, a father of two, asked rhetorically. “After 17 years of being a traffic police officer, what do I have? No electricity. No water. I have no house or investment. I have nothing. The only thing I had was my salary [$980 a month], but over the last two years, they have cut it by more than 30%. How can I feed two children on that amount?”

Reeling from low oil prices, the KRG last year resorted to cutting the salaries of public sector employees — a bloated 1.4 million-person workforce — by up to 65% to counter the economic meltdown. The move had serious adverse effects for the economy, including a decline in purchasing power. Traders in the bazaar, already hit hard by the economic crisis, are now also worried about the possible impact of the upcoming referendum.

“People are buying only essential goods, such as flour and rice, because they are worried about the day after the referendum,” said Dashtawan, an assistant in a shop selling kitchen wares. “This July was the worst month in terms of trading in the bazaar for me, even worse than when Daesh attacked,” referring to the Islamic State offensive in summer 2014. Dashtawan said that with only few exceptions, the majority of the people he knows in the bazaar are angry about the economy and are very likely to vote no at the polls.

“We have had this business since 1953, but it has never been this bad,” said Najat, who has worked in his father’s tea house in Sulaimaniyah’s main bazaar since he was 15. Najat said his business has been in decline for the last three years, since Baghdad and Erbil began having serious disputes.

“I used to sell about 400 teas per day, but now it is around 120,” said Najat, as he poured tea for the only customer in the little tea house. “Despite this, I will vote yes in the referendum, because this is a once in a lifetime chance, and we should not miss it.”

Many civil servants have spent their savings since early 2014, when Baghdad refused to disburse Kurdistan’s share of funding in the national budget, and salaries were cut. With no social security net, many residents are anxious about the negative impact of the referendum. Teachers are one group that has been particularly hit by the financial crisis, with cuts to their salaries of almost 70%.

“I will go to the polls, and I will mark a resolute no,” said Nesar, a primary school teacher from Halabja who has taught for 18 years. “The government has slashed my salary of $900 by 65%.” When Al-Monitor asked whether he would vote yes if the government reinstated his salary, he responded, “No, because I have no trust whatsoever in the current leadership.”

It is ironic that under the British and other regimes in Iraq, the people of Sulaimaniyah have always been rebellious, including at the forefront of the independence movements, but 25 years of Kurdish rule have turned them against a referendum for independence. During parliamentary elections in September 1930, the Kurds of Sulaimaniyah called on the British government, which held the League of Nations mandate over Iraq, to allow them to create an independent state as a British protectorate so they would not be at the mercy of an Arab king in Baghdad.

When the Sulaimaniyah Kurds realized the futility of their effort, anger grew toward the British and what the Kurds saw as their betrayal. Rejecting Baghdad Arab rule, they poured into the streets while most of the rest of Kurdistan remained silent. By the end of election day, 14 residents were dead and many more wounded, killed or injured at the hands of British and Iraqi forces.

In the second half of the 20th century, the people of Sulaimaniyah rebelled several more times. Ordinary Kurds were only too happy to name their children after a famous peshmerga commander or a battle that the peshmerga won against the Iraqi army. They have supported the peshmerga with whatever they could, but many are now scratching their heads and looking for answers to what went wrong. These days it is difficult to mention the name of a certain former peshmerga commander turned politician and not elicit a curse from the average Kurd. The people today despise or have no patience for their Kurdish rulers.

“The main problem is the trust between the public and the political elite,” said Abdulbaset Ismail, who fought for four years as a peshmerga commander against the Iraqi army in the 1980s. “We fought to free the Kurds from the yoke of the Iraqi state, but I never thought we would create this mess.”

Ismail, whose nom de guerre in the mountain was Halo Soor, is driving a taxi these days in Erbil and has difficulty making ends meet. He had commanded a unit of 26 peshmerga in the mountains, 24 of whom lost their life fighting the Iraqi army in the pursuit of Kurdish independence.

“Don’t get me wrong. I am all for independence, but not under the banner of these thieves,” Ismail asserted. Asked if he would vote on Sept. 25, he replied, “I’d rather cut off my index finger than vote in the referendum.”

Fazel Hawramy is an independent journalist currently based in Iraqi Kurdistan. Twitter: @FazelHawramy

61% voted ‘No’ for independent Iraqi Kurdistan in social media poll

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SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Most of the Kurdish people have voted ‘No’ for the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan in a vote on Kurdish NRT TV social media in which 119,000 people participated and 92,000 voted.

NRT held a major vote through Facebook, which began on June 10 and ended on 10 July. The question on the referendum was – What will your vote be in the Kurdistan Region’s referendum: Yes or No?

Up to 119,000 people have participated in the referendum in the month long period and 92,083 people have voted. According to the participants’ votes, 61.74 percent have voted no and 38.26 percent have voted yes for the independence of Kurdistan.

56,855 people have voted “No” and 35,228 others have voted “Yes” out of the 92,083 people who answered the question on the referendum from NRT.

The NRT referendum is the largest vote which has been held by Kurdish media, in which nearly 100,000 people have participated in the referendum and showed their opinion regarding the Kurdistan Region’s referendum.

Many Kurds criticized Massoud Barzani, whose term as Kurdistan President ended on August 20, 2015 but refused to step down and remains unofficially in office and closed parliament, over an attempt to use the referendum on Iraqi Kurdistan region’s independence from Baghdad to stay in power, regain personal and party credibility that had been lost due to political and economic crises recently experienced by the Iraqi Kurds.

The Kurdistan Independence referendum of January 2005 that was conducted by the Kurdistan Referendum Movement alongside the Iraqi parliamentary elections and Iraqi Kurdistan elections of 2005, was an informal referendum asking the people of Iraqi Kurdistan whether they favor remaining a part of Iraq or in favor of an independent Kurdistan.

The 2005 result was an overwhelming majority of 98.8% favoring an independent Kurdistan.

The Kurdistan Region’s political parties, not including the second biggest party of Change (Gorran) Movement and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), came to an agreement on June 7 to hold a referendum on the region’s independence on September 25, 2017.

Terrorist State of Turkey’s parliament committee bans “genocide” “Kurdistan” word

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Turkey ban Genocide and KurdistanTurkish parliament’s constitutional committee adopted amendments on changes in regulations proposed by the ruling Justice and Development party.

Representatives of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party and Republican People’s Party slammed the bill which was finally adopted.

New regulations suggest using sanctions in case of insult or accusations against the history of the Turkish people and the common past of the people living in Turkey. In such a case, for example, deputies can be removed from meetings and deprived of 2/3 of their salaries. In this context, the words “genocide” and “Kurdistan” can be a reason for punishment.

Iraqi Kurdistan: Expelle Yezidi Fighters and Families “Collective Punishment”

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KRG Expel YazidiForced Returns, Threats Amount to Collective Punishment,

(Beirut) – Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) forces have expelled at least four Yezidi families and threatened others since June 2017 because of their relatives’ participation in Iraqi government forces, Human Rights Watch said today. The KRG’s security forces, Asayish, returned the displaced families to Sinjar, where access to basic goods and services is very limited.

The expulsion of Yezidi families from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) because a relative joined the Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Sha’abi or PMF) amounts to collective punishment in violation of international law, Human Rights Watch said.

“Kurdistan Regional Government authorities should stop expelling Yezidi families because of their relatives’ actions, a form of collective punishment,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “These displaced families have the right not to be forcibly returned to their still-damaged home villages.”

Human Rights Watch spoke to three Yezidi commanders who said that Yezidi forces had been integrated into the PMF under the name Yezidi Brigades (Kata’ib Ezidkhan), with the forces holding positions in four areas of Sinjar. Sinjar is technically under Iraqi central government administrative control, but KRG security forces remain active in the area and control the main road from Sinjar to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

In late June and early July, Human Rights Watch interviewed nine displaced Yezidis originally from Kocho, Tel Kassab, and Siba Sheikh Khidr villages in Sinjar, which the PMF retook from the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) in May. All had been living in the KRI and did not want to return to their villages because of widespread destruction of property, mass graves, unexploded improvised explosive devices, and the lack of water and electricity. Their families had fled Sinjar in August 2014, after ISIS attacked the area, massacring and enslaving thousands of Yezidis. All those interviewed said that Asayish threatened them with expulsion because they had relatives who joined the Yezidi Brigades, and in four cases, they alleged that Asayish forces had forcibly expelled them to Sinjar as recently as July 5, 2017.

A Yezidi man who had been living in a camp near the town of Zakho in the KRI said that in late May, three of his sons joined the PMF’s Yezidi Brigades. On June 12, an Asayish officer told him to appear at the local Asayish office the following day. He said that when he arrived, officers told him that if he did not get his sons to leave the PMF and return to the camp, he and 15 family members would need to leave the KRI by June 21 and return to Kocho.

His sons did not leave the group, and on June 29, Asayish officers at the camp ordered him and his family to leave immediately. He asked for a 24-hour extension to get his family ready, but the officers refused. An officer drove him and his family to Sinjar. “I don’t know what to do next,” he said. “My village was completely destroyed, and there is no water or electricity in the area.”

Another Yezidi man who had been living in a camp near the city of Dohuk said that his father had joined the Yezidi Brigades in late May. On June 21, Asayish officers at the camp told him his family of 10 had one week to convince his father to come home or they would be expelled from the KRI. On June 30, the officers told him that because his father had not returned, the family would need to leave that same day, he said.

He said his uncle has close ties with the KRG, and so officers said they would spare the family the shame of picking them up at their tent, and would instead allow a relative to drive them to Sinjar. “We are now living with a relative in Khanasoor [in Sinjar], because our village is still littered in landmines,” he said. “We don’t know what we will do.”

A Yezidi man living in a camp near Zakho said that on June 17, two Asayish officers from the camp management office told him that they knew his brother had joined the Yezidi Brigades, and that if his brother did not leave the group within four days, his family of 10 would be returned to Kocho, in Sinjar. The man said that he had two brothers who had joined the Yezidi Brigades and that they would not be willing to leave the armed group. At least 10 other families at the camp told him that Asayish had made the same demand of them. He said he and the other families expected to be expelled any day.

One Yezidi Brigades commander said that on June 24, Asayish officers called his family, who live in a village near Dohuk, into the city’s Asayish office. An officer made his wife sign a pledge that she and her two daughters would leave the KRI within seven days because of her husband’s role within the PMF, he said. “I don’t know where I should move my family,” he said. “I can’t bring them here to Sinjar. My older daughter is an engineering student at the American University of Dohuk and we cannot interrupt her studies.”

A Yezidi woman who had been held captive by ISIS for a year and a half, now living with two relatives in a town near Dohuk, said that her brother joined the Yezidi Brigades in mid-May. On June 14, an Asayish officer came to her home and told her to come to the local Asayish office the following morning. When she arrived, an officer there told her that if her brother did not leave the PMF, she and her two relatives would need to return to Kocho. She said she had persuaded her brother to leave the Yezidi Brigades and he informed Asayish that he had.

Human Rights Watch received reports from a Yezidi rights’ activist of another 15 Yezidi families who were expelled and returned to Sinjar by Asayish forces, but could not confirm the report.

On June 23, Human Rights Watch sent a set of questions regarding these allegations to Dr. Dindar Zebari, chairperson of the KRG’s High Committee to Evaluate and Respond to International Reports. Human Rights Watch has not received a response.

In 2016, Human Rights Watch documented severe restrictions on moving goods in and out of Sinjar that interfered with residents’ livelihoods and their ability to get food, water, and medical care. Three aid workers told Human Rights Watch that the situation had improved dramatically since May. However, while more goods are moving into Sinjar as more families have returned in 2017, many items have been heavily taxed, making them beyond the reach of many families.

In 2016, Human Rights Watch had also documented cases in which Asayish forces ordered families to leave the same camps and areas in and around Dohuk and threatened to expel others from the KRI after learning that their children had joined forces affiliated with the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê or PKK) in Sinjar.

International humanitarian law prohibits collective punishment, which includes any form of punitive sanction or harassment by authorities on targeted groups of people for actions that they did not personally commit.

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement provide that all internally displaced persons have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose their residence (principle 14). They also have the right to seek safety in another part of the country and to be protected against forcible return to “any place where their life, safety, liberty and/or health would be at risk” (principle 15).

“While the Kurdistan Regional Government may not like the Popular Mobilization Forces, punishing family members of PMF fighters is the wrong – and unlawful – way to address the issue,” Fakih said.

Iran opposes Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum

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Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi (Ghasemi). Photo: ISNA

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi (Ghasemi). Photo: ISNA

TEHRAN,— Iran voiced its opposition on Saturday to an announcement by Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region that it will organise a vote on independence later this year.

“Iran’s principal position is to support the territorial integrity of Iraq,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said.

“The Kurdistan region is part of the Iraqi republic and unilateral decisions outside the national and legal framework, especially the Iraqi constitution… can only lead to new problems.”

Iraqi Kurdish leaders announced on Wednesday that they will organise an independence referendum on September 25, not only in their three-province autonomous region but also in other historically Kurdish-majority areas they have long sought to incorporate in it.

Iran worries about separatism among its own Kurds, most of whom live in Iranian Kurdistan, the areas along the border with Iraqi Kurdistan.

Rebels of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) launch sporadic attacks into Iran from rear-bases in Iraq, triggering sometimes deadly clashes with the security forces.

After an upsurge attacks in 2011, Iranian troops launched a cross-border incursion, forcing KDPI to retreat deeper into Iraqi Kurdistan.

The federal government in Baghdad is deeply opposed to the referendum plan of the regional government in Erbil, as is neighbouring Turkey, which has a large and restive Kurdish minority of its own.

Washington has expressed concern that it could distract from the joint fight against the Islamic State group by stoking tensions between the Kurds, and Arabs and Turkmen in northern Iraq.

“An integrated, stable and democratic Iraq guarantees the interests of the whole people (of Iraq) from all ethnic and religious groups,” Ghasemi said.

“Today, Iraq more than ever needs peace and national unity and differences between Erbil and Baghdad must be resolved within the framework of dialogue and in compliance with Iraq’s constitution.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday “Russia supports Iraq’s unity and territorial integrity, provided that the legal rights of all ethnic and religious groups are respected, while the Kurds are one of those groups,”

Turkey called a plan by Iraqi Kurds to hold a referendum on independence a “grave mistake“, saying on Friday that Iraq’s territorial integrity and political unity was a fundamental principle for Ankara.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called the decision “irresponsible”, adding that Ankara championed Iraq’s territorial integrity.

German Foreign Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, expressed concerns by his country on Thursday against Kurdish government’s decision to hold a referendum.

“We can only warn against one-sided steps on this issue. The unity of Iraq is on the line,” Gabriel said as quoted by German media outlets. “Redrawing the lines of the state is not the right way and could exacerbate an already difficult and unstable situation, in Erbil as well as Baghdad.” Gabriel said.

Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s political parties, not including the Change Movement (Gorran) and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG) came to an agreement on Wednesday to hold the referendum on the region’s independence this year on September 25.