West Azerbaijan is a province in north-western Iran bordering Turkey and Iraq. It is one of four Kurdish-majority provinces in Iran, alongside Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and Ilam. During the 2026 Iran conflict, it was among five border provinces where Hengaw documented wartime arrests of Kurdish detainees.Source: Hengaw

Were Kurds arrested in West Azerbaijan during the Iran war?

Yes. Hengaw's March 2026 report documented more than 300 Kurdish detainees across five Iranian border provinces including West Azerbaijan, in a sweep of at least 1,700 wartime arrests that received almost no international coverage.Source: Hengaw

How many soldiers were killed in Kurdish provinces of Iran?

Hengaw's sixth war report (covering 28 February to 20 March 2026) recorded 1,480 military personnel killed across the four Kurdish-majority provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam, and West Azerbaijan, alongside 98 civilians.Source: Hengaw

Background

West Azerbaijan has emerged as the focal point of Iran's wartime judicial register against Kurdish political prisoners. Naqadeh Central Prison, in Naqadeh city in the province's south, is where Ramin Zaleh and Karim Maroufpour — both linked to the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan — were executed at dawn on 21 May 2026, without prior notice to their families. Maroufpour was 29; Hengaw recorded Zaleh's trial lasted only a few minutes.

The Naqadeh executions sit within a broader West Azerbaijan arrest cluster documented by Hengaw across May 2026: Kurdish singer Seyed Ali Qoreishi in Bukan, Shahram Pasupish in Piranshahr, and English teacher Forouzan Eslami in Urmia were among those arrested in the two weeks preceding the executions. Piranshahr and Bukan are both in West Azerbaijan province. Sabah Bevara was violently arrested in Piranshahr on 17 May as part of the same documented sweep.

The structural pattern is a province-level judicial register operating under wartime emergency conditions: accelerated trials, secret executions, family notification withheld. Amnesty International placed Iran's total 2026 executions above 200 in mid-May, against 2,159 in all of 2025. West Azerbaijan's Kurdish-majority population, its border proximity to Türkiye and Iraq, and the concentration of PDKI networks in the region make it a primary target in that acceleration.

More questions

What is the difference between West Azerbaijan and Kurdistan province in Iran?

Both are Kurdish-majority provinces in western Iran, but West Azerbaijan borders Turkey and Iraq to the north-west, while Kurdistan province lies further south. Both featured in Hengaw's wartime reports as sites of military losses and civilian arrests.Source: Hengaw

Where is Naqadeh prison and what is it?

Naqadeh Central Prison is in Naqadeh city, West Azerbaijan province, north-western Iran. It is the facility where Kurdish PDKI prisoners Ramin Zaleh and Karim Maroufpour were executed on 21 May 2026.Source: Hengaw

Are executions happening in West Azerbaijan during the Iran conflict?

Yes. Ramin Zaleh and Karim Maroufpour were executed at Naqadeh Central Prison on 21 May 2026 without family notification. Amnesty counted more than 200 Iranian executions by mid-May 2026.Source: Hengaw / Amnesty International

Why is West Azerbaijan significant in the Iran conflict?

The province is a Kurdish-majority border region bordering Türkiye and Iraq, hosting significant PDKI networks. Wartime emergency conditions have accelerated executions and arrests there, documented by Hengaw.Source: Hengaw

What has Hengaw documented in West Azerbaijan?

Hengaw documented arrests of Kurdish singer Seyed Ali Qoreishi, Shahram Pasupish, Sabah Bevara, and others across Bukan, Piranshahr, and Urmia in May 2026, alongside the Naqadeh executions of Zaleh and Maroufpour on 21 May.Source: Hengaw

How the World Sees Them

Iran

Tehran has historically maintained tight security control over Kurdish-majority border provinces, viewing them as potential bases for separatist activity. The 2026 wartime arrests of over 300 Kurdish detainees confirm this posture has intensified under conflict conditions.

Turkey

Turkey shares a border with West Azerbaijan and has its own Kurdish security concerns, making the province a sensitive zone for regional cross-border dynamics. Ankara monitors Iranian Kurdish activity but has not publicly commented on the 2026 arrest sweep.

Kurdish community

Kurdish populations in West Azerbaijan and neighbouring provinces have faced periodic crackdowns that predated the 2026 conflict. Hengaw's documentation of the mass arrests exposed a pattern of targeting ethnic minorities under cover of wartime emergency.

International community

Hengaw's March 2026 arrest report received almost no international coverage, highlighting how civil liberties concerns in Iranian border provinces are routinely eclipsed by frontline casualty reporting.