ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The offices of local and international NGOs were looted by “unnamed” forces during last month’s clashes between security forces and loyalists of the opposition People’s Front (Baray Gal) leader Lahur Talabany, a media advocacy group said Sunday, warning that the attack could deter foreigners from working in the Kurdistan Region.
The Metro Center for Journalists' Rights and Advocacy reported that the office of the Italian NGO Un Ponte Per (UPP), as well as local institutions such as the Paia consulting agency, Art Plus, Waterkeepers Iraq, and the Beneficiary Organization for Youth Development, were raided.
“During the bloody conflict in Lalazar in the Sarchnar hills of Sulaimani city, armed forces stormed the building housing the offices of these domestic and international organizations,” Metro said in a statement.
It added that the “unnamed” forces took “cash safes containing project funds, four color and black-and-white printers, Thuraya satellite phones, several computer sets, nine various laptops, data show sets, three Sony camera sets with Canon lenses, Asiacell and Fastlink and IQ WiFi devices, money counting machines, several TV screens, employee passports, headphones, speakers, mobile phones, and several UPS units, down to very simple items like tooth brushing cups and employee shaving equipment.”
The forces also seized sewing machines, overlock machines, electric drills, electrical cables, drawers with money, and bags from other organizations in the building, according to the watchdog.
Metro called the looting “a clear violation of humanitarian law,” which “risks placing the Kurdistan Region in a red zone for foreign organization work,” stressing that the organizations were not involved in the conflict and urging both an apology and compensation.
But it also expressed surprise at the silence from the involved NGOs.
A source from the Paia agency told Rudaw English that the office chose to remain silent at first due to the intense media coverage of the Lalezar Hotel clash during the first two weeks.
“Our place is ruined and emptied, and a committee is looking into it,” said Sirwan Ali.
On August 22, security forces surrounded Lalezar Hotel to arrest Talabany and his brothers, Polad and Aso Sheikh Jangi, along with more than 150 of his supporters, after nearly four hours of heavy gunfire which killed at least four people.
Talabany, also known as Lahur Sheikh Jangi, is facing charges of criminal conspiracy.
Both his party and his family have accused the leadership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the ruling party in Sulaimani, of abusing the courts and security forces.
Tensions have been high between cousins Bafel Talabani and Lahur Talabany since 2021 when Bafel forced him out of the PUK leadership. Talabany went on to form his own party, Baray Gal, which stands in opposition to the PUK and currently holds two seats in the Kurdistan Parliament.
