UK PM says ‘will study’ Turkish attack on Kurdish refugee camp

The UK premier's statement came in response to a query on the incident from Labour Party lawmaker Navendu Mishra.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. (Photo: UK government)
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. (Photo: UK government)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday said he “will study” a Turkish attack earlier this month on a Kurdish refugee camp near Iraq’s disputed Makhmour town that killed three civilians.

Johnson’s statement during the weekly Prime Minister’s Question Time event in the UK parliament in response to a query from Labour Party lawmaker Navendu Mishra.

“This afternoon I asked the Prime Minister if he would condemn the Turkish Government over their sustained action against the Kurdish community,” Mishra said in a tweet accompanied by a clip of the parliamentary session during which he posed the question.

On June 5, a Turkish drone allegedly killed three civilians in the Makhmour refugee camp. The Turkish government claimed it targeted a senior official from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

Read More: Turkish drone bombs Kurdish refugee camp in disputed Makhmour

“This is all part of a sustained military action from the Turkish state against the Kurds which has been ongoing since April,” Mishra told the attendees of the session.

In April, Turkey launched a ground operation – dubbed Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt – against its decades-old archenemy, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

The main battlefield for the renewed war is the border areas of the Kurdistan Region, which has resulted in the evacuation of several villages.

The Labour lawmaker added that Turkey’s chief prosecutors are attempting to shut down “the country’s leading pro-Kurdish political party.”

Read More: EU criticizes Turkey’s latest move to ban pro-Kurdish party

“This is a disgraceful attack on a minority community,” Mishra stated. “Will the Prime Minister condemn the actions of the Turkish Government and call on a NATO partner to stop these attacks on Kurdish communities?”

“There’s clearly a long-standing difficulty in their (Kurdish) relations with the Turkish forces who themselves are bearing the brunt of the huge crisis of refugee flows, but I will study the incident,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded.

He also added that the “situation in north western Iraq is extremely complex, and the, I think we must, we must accept that the Kurdish fighters have done an extraordinary job against ISIS, and against the forces of Bashar Al Assad.”