Radio Kurdistan

This is your 60 Second Update by Radio Kurdistan, May 20, 2022. Today, sources close to Marlene Forster and Matej Kavcic now report that the two foreign journalists who were arrested in Sinjar on April 20 have been allowed to leave Iraq today. Despite the Iraqi government's blanket accusations that the journalists worked with terrorists, followed by an unfounded claim of espionage, the government suddenly released the journalists without any substantiated charges at all. In recent years, Human Rights Watch has documented the Iraqi and the KRG governments' arbitrary use of vaguely worded laws to imprison and intimidate journalists. At the same time, Iraq has failed to investigate beatings and killing of journalists based on the stories they cover. These attacks on journalists have intensified following the October 2019 anti-corruption protests. During these protests, according to Human Rights Watch, security forces used excessive force, including firing live ammunition at protesters, killing at least 544 people and wounding at least an additional 24,000.

This is your 60 Second Update by Radio Kurdistan, May 20, 2022. Two european journalists working in Sinjar who have been detained by Iraq since April 20 finally received their day in court this week. On May 15, Slovenian journalist Matej Kavcic met with his lawyer. German journalist Marlene Forster met her lawyer the following day, May 16. Soon thereafter, the website freemarleneandmatej.org reported that each had a court hearing. According to the website, Marlene's hearing revealed that she is currently being investigated for charges of espionage, although no further details are available. There is no information regarding the charges against Matej. Meanwhile, a petition calling for the journalists' release has received over 50,000 signatures.

Şervan hikes the mountain with a YBS militia unit when it gets pursued by a Turkish Bayraktar drone. He escapes with a few fighters into a vast tunnel system in the mountains. The same day, we have an extended conversation about Turkish drones with Dr. Thoreau Redcrow (known to Kurds as “Soro”), an American global conflict analyst and geopolitical specialist with extensive knowledge on Kurdish issues – some of it gained from embedding with Kurdistan’s guerrillas.

Will turkish drones defeat the kurds? Recent overhype about the superior technology of the Turkish Bayraktar drones can mess with our heads, creating this impression that the empire is invincible against a guerilla revolution.

Volunteer fighters of YBS International (Bahoz Sores [Commander] and Hunesh Ameriki) came to talk with Tahseen and me about the recent defections from YBS, and at the same time, we learn a lot about what it's like to be an American or European volunteer fighting alongside the Yazidis and the Kurds.

Although fighting in the region has paused, residents see signs that fighting could again return to Sinjar. The Iraqi Army has not concluded talks with the Yazidi protection forces following armed clashes in Sinjar which began on April 18. Although it appears that the Iraqi army has not been firing on YBS positions for five days since May 3, Iraqi troops do not appear to be withdrawing at the present time. Sources close to the negotiation say that the two sides are still in a stalemate regarding Iraqi government's demands that the YBS, YJS, and Asayis forces organized by the Yazidi people withdraw from the area. Meanwhile, thousands of residents of Sinjar have left the area for refugee tents in places like Sardest, high in the mountains.

The Autonomous Administration of SInjar (Shengal) has announced an agreement with the Iraqi Army, ending days of armed conflict..

I am a guest on the new upcoming podcast Where Many Worlds Fit, which is a collaboration between Emergency Committee on Rojava, supporting the Kurdish and Yezidi revolution, and the Sexta Grietas del Norte, supporting the Zapatista Revolution.

A journalist who has been detained for almost two weeks used a hunger strike to force the Iraqi government to divulge her location and allow a visit from the German Embassy. Marlene Forster, a German media worker, was researching the culture and social conditions of the Yazidi people in this region when she and her colleague were arrested by the Iraqi Army.

Iraqi Army arrests two foreign journalists, causing international outcry and an immediate call for their release under the hashtag #freemarleneandmatej. The Iraqi Army builds up armored personnel carriers and tanks near Sinjar in preparation for a major military action which they clearly wish to execute without the world watching.

The mainstream news celebrates Turnkey's "anti-terrorist" airstrikes into Northern Iraq. But they missed the story: that at the same time, the Iraqi Army has begun to attack the protection forces of the Yezidi towns of Sinjar, the YBS, YJS, and the Asayis. Are Turkey's attacks coordinated with Iraq's? And why is the Iraqi Army trying to eliminate the towns' defenses right as Turkish forces are landing in Northern Iraq?

Driving through Baghdad today is a surreal experience for an American The next morning, my contact in the Kurdish revolution drives me to Mt. SInjar, Northern Iraq. I am here on the invitation of the revolutionary government which rebuilds and protects the Yezidi townspeople as they rebuild their community and prepare to defend it against deadly threats..