Kurdistan Region pipeline under attack

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) condemns the attempts at sabotaging the Kurdistan Region-Turkey oil pipeline.

In a statement released on Thursday, MNR stated, “Crude oil exports from the Kurdistan Region to Ceyhan has been interrupted since Tuesday following attacks on the pipeline near Urfa in Turkey.”

The statement added that the attacks on the pipeline will “directly damage the welfare of the people of Kurdistan Region and will harm the KRG’s ability to pay its Peshmerga and fund the fight against ISIS.”

No group has yet claimed responsibility for its damage. In late July, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) military wing in Turkey claimed its forces carried out a sabotage operation against the pipeline in the area between Silopi and the Cizre district where the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline transports Kurdistan Region oil.

The Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) which is affiliated with the PKK, declared today that they will stand against the establishment of a natural gas pipeline between Kurdistan Region and Turkey.

The KCK will firmly stand against the Kurdistan Region's natural gas exports to Turkey, the head of KCK Foreign Relations, Demhat Agid, told BasNews on Thursday.

In response, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani announced in a press conference, “This [oil export] is a domestic matter of the Kurdistan Region… PKK should not interfere in the Region’s affairs. It is neither in their interest nor necessary, and this behavior is not acceptable.”

Reporting by Baxtiyar Goran

Editing by Ava Homa and Benjamin Kweskin