Kurdish parliamentary factions call on Iraqi government to act against Turkish shelling

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Several factions in the Kurdistan Region’s Parliament have called on the federal government of Iraq to act against the violations of its territorial sovereignty in the wake of Turkish airstrikes taking place further past the border.

Over the past few months, Turkey had increased the frequency of its bombardments along its border with the Kurdistan Region, targeting outlawed fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara has deemed a “terrorist organization.”

On Friday and Saturday, Turkish armed forces stated they had shelled the towns of Sinjar (Shingal) and Makhmour, claiming to have killed several PKK members.

“We will bury them in the holes they dug,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened in a speech addressed to his supporters in Turkey’s southwestern city of Denizli on Saturday.

In the Kurdistan Region, which maintains strong economic relations with Turkey, civilians have often become casualties of those airstrikes.

Local residents have repeatedly expressed their concerns regarding the Turkish bombardments, stating that in addition to civilian casualties, they cause great damages to their farms and livelihoods as they live in constant fear of being targeted.

Factions in the semi-autonomous region’s Parliament consider the airstrikes to be a clear violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and have called on Ankara to put an end to its military action outside of its borders.

“We believe that neither the PKK can destroy the Turkish government by targeting their military outposts, nor can the Kurdish question in Turkey be addressed by shelling PKK bases,” Zana Mala-Khalid, a member from the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday, urging the federal government of Iraq to react.

Sherko Jawdat, from the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) opposition party, affirmed both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government of Iraq should oppose the Turkish incursions.

“We, as the KIU, believe the KRG and the federal government of Iraq should act because this is a violation of the Kurdistan Region’s borders,” Jawdat told Kurdistan 24.

Mahiyadin Hassan, an Azadi (Freedom) faction lawmaker, added it is the federal government of Iraq’s responsibility to protect its borders.

“Iraq can call for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to halt the Turkish violations,” Hassan told Kurdistan 24.

Kurdish officials, including the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, over the past few years have repeatedly asked the PKK to avoid launching attacks on the Kurdistan Region’s neighboring states and then seek refuge in the semi-autonomous region’s mountainous terrain.

Barzani has also called on the PKK and Turkey to contain their conflict to within Turkey’s borders rather than use the Kurdistan Region’s territory as a battleground.

The Deputy for the Iraqi Speaker of Parliament, Bashir Haddad, on Saturday asserted that he met with the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim at the Jerusalem (Quds) conference in Istanbul and discussed Ankara’s military actions at the border.

“Turkey must review its policies and stop its bombardments as most of its casualties are civilians,” he argued according to Haddad’s press office.

He also urged Turkey to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Iraqi authorities summoned Turkey’s ambassador in Baghdad on Friday after Ankara claimed to have killed eight PKK militants. Turkey said it would continue attacking the PKK as long as it sought refuge in Iraq.

On Saturday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry affirmed its military operations in Iraq against “terror groups” would continue “wherever they exist.”

Editing by Nadia Riva