Kurdistan schools near Turkish border close down amid airstrikes: official

Seven schools in the autonomous Kurdistan Region’s northern region of Amadiya (Amedi) have shut down due to the repeated bombing of nearby areas by Turkish jets.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Seven schools in the autonomous Kurdistan Region’s northern region of Amadiya (Amedi) have shut down due to the repeated bombing of nearby areas by Turkish jets, targeting alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions, an official from the area said.

“Since last year, as a result of Turkish warplanes’ bombs, schools in seven villages have closed their doors,” the head of Amedi’s Education Directorate told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday. He added that more education facilities were at risk of being shuttered.

Turkey has routinely shelled and bombarded territory well past its border with the Kurdistan Region, claiming nearby detection of members of the PKK, a group fighting a decades-long insurgency with Ankara over Kurdish rights and self-rule.

Just in the past three days, the Turkish army has claimed to have “neutralized” up to 14 PKK fighters in separate operations, totaling over 400 members since May 27, when Ankara launched “Operation Claw” in the Kurdistan Region.

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Ankara, along with Washington and NATO, designates the PKK as a terrorist organization. The group is thought to have fighters near hundreds of villages inside the Kurdistan Region, mainly in the mountainous areas near the Turkish border. Erbil has repeatedly called on the group to stop using the region as a launchpad for its attacks.

As part of the conflict, the Turkish army has crossed its southern border several times in the past near two years, in some places up 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) deep into the Kurdistan Region.

Ankara’s incursion and the battles that take place near civilians’ homes has pushed many to leave their areas and seek safety, southward, at the cost of losing their lands and livelihoods.

In early December, a school in a Christian village sixty kilometers westward temporarily halted all activities due to intermittent Turkish shelling near the area. Fifteen days later, the facility was reopened after the local government was able to provide more teachers to replace those who had vacated.

Editing by Nadia Riva