Politics

More Turkish airstrikes in the Kurdistan Region: Residents

Residents of border areas in the Kurdistan Region told a Kurdistan 24 correspondent on Thursday that Turkish warplanes conducted airstrikes overnight.

John J. Catherine 2018/03/29 09:42

middle east KRG Kurdistan Turkey PKK Iraq

RBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Residents of border areas in the Kurdistan Region told a Kurdistan 24 correspondent on Thursday that Turkish warplanes conducted airstrikes overnight.

The areas affected, according to the witnesses, were Saya, Sewok and Helaman Mountain, all located in the district of Rawanduz, 120 kilometers northeast of Erbil. Rawanduz is adjacent to Choman district, where similar late-night Turkish airstrikes killed four civilians last week.

It was not immediately clear if the attacks resulted in casualties or property damage.

Turkish bombardment of the vast border areas of Turkey, Iran, and the Kurdistan Region have become commonplace since the peace process between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) broke down in July 2015.

The PKK, now headquartered in the Qandil Mountains of the Kurdistan Region took up arms against Ankara in the 1980s to demand more rights for the Kurds in a conflict that has killed thousands of people on both sides.

Recently, Turkey has stepped up airstrikes against the PKK and has threatened to launch a military operation in the Qandil Mountains in the Kurdistan Region, where the PKK is headquartered, and the Kurdish-Ezidi city of Sinjar (Shingal) on the Syrian border.

In a speech given on Wednesday, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said that the region would, "in no way would allow its soil to be used to attack or make conflict with neighboring countries. This principle includes attacks on Turkey, Iran, Syria or any other countries."

The KRG has urged the PKK to withdraw from their posts on the Kurdistan Region’s border, so civilians, who have been targeted several times before, do not become casualties of war.

On Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim spoke to his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi in a telephone conversation, stating that Turkey respects the sovereignty of Iraq and will launch no military operations over the country’s border without the consent of its federal government.