Iraq calls on Turkey to halt strikes in Kurdistan, KRG blames PKK

2019-06-30 00:00:00 - From: Iraq News

BAGHDAD,— The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has called on the Turkish government to halt airstrikes on targets in the Kurdistan region.

The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ released a statement on Saturday that specifically mentioned a Turkish airstrike on Kurtak Mountain, which killed four people and wounded five others on Thursday.

At least six people total were killed and ten others wounded in three separate incidents within the borders of Iraq’s Kurdistan region last week.

Also on Thursday, Turkish warplanes bombed Khwakurk Mountain in Erbil governorate killing one and wounding four others.

One person was killed and another was wounded in an airstrike between Sidakan and Smelan sub-districts on Wednesday.

“While we are keen to establish long-term strategic relations and to prevent acts emanating from Iraqi territory against the security of neighboring Turkey, we believe that unilateral acts of war violate Iraqi sovereignty, contradict the principles of good neighborliness that govern the relations between two neighbors, [and are] a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” the statement read.

“Whatever the circumstances and justifications, we stress on the Turkish side the importance of stopping the bombardment on Iraqi areas, the need to respect sovereignty, and mutual cooperation to ensure the security of the borders of the two countries.”

The Turkish military routinely carries out airstrikes and artillery bombardments in Iraqi Kurdistan against suspected PKK targets, but their frequency has increased since Ankara launched “Operation Claw” in May, as have civilian casualties.

Ankara has long objected to the presence of these bases and has urged Baghdad and Erbil to do more to prevent the PKK from using them to plan operations.

Turkey also maintains a network of twenty-one bases in Duhok and Erbil governorates and has deployed units approximately 30 kilometers into the territory of Iraqi Kurdistan, some of which have come under attack from PKK fighters.

Kurdistan Regional Government tells PKK ‘stay away from villages’ after Turkish strikes

The KDP-led Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has close ties with Turkish government, said on Saturday that Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters operating in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan are endangering the lives of villagers,

Four civilians were killed on Thursday in a Turkish airstrike near the village of Kurtak at the foot of the Qandil Mountains, where the PKK is headquartered.

The KRG voiced its “deep concern” over the deaths, blaming the PKK for putting locals in harm’s way.

“The presence of PKK fighters in these areas, intentionally approaching and visiting villages and inhabited areas, recklessly endangering the lives of the villagers in these areas,” read the KRG statement published early on Saturday.

The KRG “will not tolerate or allow its soil to be used for attacking or stirring the security of neighboring countries which will put the lives of the Kurdistan Region’s people in danger,” it added.

The statement did not condemn the Turkish airstrikes, which regularly kill civilians and livestock and often cause wildfires. In January, villagers angered by the death of civilians in Duhok province stormed a Turkish military outpost in Shiladze.

The KRG said border villages should not be turned into a battlefield and “the PKK should stay away from villages and not endanger their lives”.

The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy in Turkish Kurdistan for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population. More than 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels, have been killed in the conflict.

A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974 and currently serving a life sentence in Turkey, has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.

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