British MPs call concerted action to stop further Iranian aggression after Koya attack
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Four UK MPs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq on Thursday called for more actions to stop further Iranian aggression after missile attacks on Iranian Kurdish parties on Sept. 8 killed at least 15.
“Our increasingly smaller world allows some victims of violence to use round-the-clock news and smartphones to encourage international remedies and justice,” the four MPS said in a statement on behalf of the APPG Kurdistan Region in Iraq. “But some issues fall through the cracks into relative silence and invisibility, which encourages the guilty to believe they can continue with impunity.”
“Iran’s recent missile attack against an Iranian Kurdish refugee camp in Koya in [the Kurdistan Region] could fall into that category, although we welcome good statements from the UK and the US,” the group stated.
The missile attacks were an attempt to intimidate the Kurdistan Region “whose leaders are possibly pivotal to the process of selecting a new coalition and Prime Minister in Baghdad,” the statement added.
On Thursday, Qader Ezatti, a Peshmerga and member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDP-I), died from his injuries.
“The Kurdistan Regional Government remains a vital ally in resisting extremism and in creating [decentralized] forms of governance plus reconstruction and economic prosperity that can prevent any further resurgence of extremism,” the MPs said.
“Its security is vital to our interests, and that means continuing and more concerted action to stop further Iranian aggression.”
Earlier, the UK government described the Iranian missile attack on Koya as “dangerous” and “disproportionate.”
On Sept. 14, British ambassador Jon Wilks said the missile attack gave a wrong message to peace in the region.
He argued the Kurdish groups that were attacked in Koya “believe in political solution to achieve their goals.”
“What sort of message does that send when Iranian missiles achieve that level of death and destruction?” Wilks asked.
However, Iranian Kurdish officials say the statements are not enough.
Mohammed Salih Qadiri, a representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDK-I) in Erbil, welcomed the United States and the United Kingdom condemning the Iranian actions but said more needs to be done.
“What could make it better [is] if there are other practical steps,” he told Kurdistan 24, “to limit Iran from inside its own border.”
Qadiri said his party is hopeful the new US administration can limit Iranian terrorist activities but noted the PDK-I is “still waiting for other countries to support the opposition freedom movement to stand strongly in front of Iran.”
“In my opinion, it would be something human and ethical from everybody to support the changing of the Iranian regime toward a democratic government that respects human rights.”
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany