KRG expresses concern over Turkey's targeting of Kurdistan Region villages

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Thursday expressed its concerns over Turkey’s targeting of the Kurdistan Region’s border areas aimed at the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who the KRG urged to leave the region.

Overnight Turkish airstrikes killed four civilians camping in rural areas as part of Newroz celebrations in the Choman district of the Kurdistan Region, 160 kilometers northeast of Erbil.

The KRG statement said four young Kurds, who were celebrating the Kurdish New Year in the mountainous areas of Kurdistan, were “martyred” on Thursday due to Turkish airstrikes in the Balakayati area.

“We express our concerns over the targeting of villages and inhabited areas in the Kurdistan Region,” the statement said, adding that the airstrikes were targeting PKK positions in the area.

The KRG 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.

According to a Kurdistan 24 correspondent in Balakayati, at least 10 PKK fighters were killed in the airstrikes.

Muthana Ameen, a Kurdish MP from the Kurdistan Islamic Union in the Iraqi Parliament, called on Iraqi authorities to take action to stop the Turkish military attacks inside the Kurdistan Region.

“Turkey must be obliged to halt such attacks, and compensate the locals hurt due to the Turkish airstrikes,” Ameen stated during a press conference.

He also urged the PKK to move their military positions away from the inhabited areas and villages so it would not give Turkey an excuse for such attacks.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany