CPT-IK monitors the growing regional war’s impact on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, documenting 196 Iranian and affiliated attacks that have killed four people and injured nineteen.

After nearly six months without any bombardments or attacks by Turkish military forces in Iraqi Kurdistan due to the ongoing peace negotiations between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkey conducted three bombardments in Khnera village of the Sidakan district and detonated explosive ordnance in Galy Rashava, in the Deraluk subdistrict of Duhok Governorate. This underscores the ongoing fragility of the peace process, as both parties continue to mobilize, expand their military road and tunnel networks, build new military bases, and reinforce existing ones.

CPT began doing the trainings in 2014. It was inspired by the Alternatives to Violence Project - an initiative begun by Quakers in the 1970’s who went into prisons to engage with violent offenders.

The context in Iraqi Kurdistan is very different to an American prison, but violence has been a frequent part of life for many people here. Of course there’s the wars - six separate conflicts since the 1980’s, plus decades of Iraqi violent repression and Kurdish armed resistance. These days there is still an undeclared war being fought in the border regions, with Turkish bombings and incursions an everyday occurrence.