Iranian Kurdish opposition forced to relocate from strongholds in Sulaymaniyah

SULAYMANIYAH — Under increasing pressure from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kurdish Iranian opposition parties are being forced to evacuate their strongholds in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, and move to a controlled camp within the governorate, officials said Thursday.

On March 19, 2023, Iran and Iraq signed a security agreement aimed at preventing Iranian Kurdish groups from launching operations in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. An Iraqi security official present at the treaty signing said that Iraq agreed not to allow its territory in the Kurdish region to be used for launching attacks across the border into Iran. As part of the treaty’s implementation, Iraq’s central government has deployed military personnel to patrol the border between the Kurdistan Region and Iran, and the groups had agreed to evacuate their positions along the Iran-Iraq border by Sept. 19, 2023.

Three factions—the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, the Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan, and Komala Kurdistan’s Organization of the Communist Party of Iran—each established bases in three adjacent villages near Sulaymaniyah: Zrgwez, Zrgwezalla, and Banagawra. These villages were home to members and their families.

Now, under pressure from Iran, both the Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad have forced these groups to evacuate and relocate to the Surdash camp near the Dukan district. This camp was previously used as a refuge for internally displaced people from the Sinjar area and had been emptied last year. Three senior officials told 964media that they could no longer resist the pressure and had agreed to evacuate the villages. “As part of the first phase, about 10 families have left the area today and have moved to the Surdash camp,” one of the officials said.

Another official, who asked to remain anonymous as “we agreed not to talk to the press,” told 964media, “We have no choice but to do this. We don’t like it, and we’re in a very desperate situation, but there are no other options left for us.” He added, “I visited the new camp, and it’s very poorly structured. We’ve asked them to build more than 700 houses for us.”

The officials said they had multiple meetings with Asayish security forces in Sulaymaniyah to discuss the situation. A representative from National Security Advisor Qasim Al-Araji’s office also met with them to enforce the evacuation, they said. When asked whether they feel safe at the new camp, another official stated, “The Iraqis and KRG authorities have promised to protect us from Iranian attacks, and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq has also committed to monitoring the situation.”

“The new camp will be under the control of KRG security forces,” the official continued. “We’ve been given until the first of October to evacuate all members and families.”

Describing their dire situation, Amjad Hossein Panahi, commander of the Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan’s Peshmerga fighters, wrote on Facebook, “The Kurds only have the mountains as their friends. The mountains are our only friends!” Another Komala official told 964media, “KRG officials could have done more to resist some of the pressure, but they didn’t take any action.”

“The first phase of the evacuation has started today. Once it’s completed, we will hand over our position to Sulaymaniyah Asayish forces,” the officials said.

The Iran-Iraq agreement applies to all Iranian opposition groups, including the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, which has set up camps near Koy Sanjaq [Koya], in Erbil governorate. On Nov. 14, 2022, Iran launched missile and drone strikes targeting these groups in Koya and Sulaymaniyah, accusing them of inciting unrest after the protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s dress code for women.

Earlier attacks by Iran in late September 2022 resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen members and their families. Despite these pressures, a Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran official told 964media that they have no plans to vacate their long-held positions in Koya, where they have been based since 1993. “We have not received any orders to evacuate our positions,” the official said.