Peshmerga commander slams Turkmen leader, says PKK not terrorist
Kirkuk, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A Peshmerga commander in charge of fighting the Islamic State (IS) group at Kirkuk front dismissed a Turkmen leader's labeling of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters as terrorists.
Speaking to reporters at a frontline south of the city of Kirkuk on Monday, Kurdish General Westa Rasool refuted the Head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front Arshad Salihi's claim that the PKK was a danger to the ethnic Turkmen presence in the governorate.
Salihi, who is also a member of the Iraqi Parliament, had said that PKK was a terrorist organization and was damaging Kurdish-Turkmen relations, at a press conference on Saturday.
"We regard the PKK as a native Kurdish party. And we as the Peshmerga forces of Kurdistan won't let anyone insult the PKK guerrillas who have fought shoulder to shoulder with us against Daesh, and given blood and martyrs in all over Kurdistan," said the Peshmerga commander in response to Salihi, using an Arabic pejorative acronym for the IS.
PKK is designated a terrorist group by the United States, European Union, and Turkey against whom it has been waging a decades-long war for recognizing Kurdish rights.
Still, Rasool insisted PKK was de-facto a part of the International anti-IS Coalition against the IS and the Turkmen leader was speaking on behalf of Turkey.
"The people of Kirkuk appreciate all Kurdish fighters for their sacrifice. Arshad Salihi has not once visited Peshmerga on the frontlines or the wounded in hospitals," said the Peshmerga leader in a complaining tone.
Rasool added that the Governor of Kirkuk, Najmiddin Karim requested military help from the PKK leadership in Qandil mountains when the city came under direct threat from an IS on the offensive in the summer of 2014.
Salihi had also claimed that the presence of the PKK amounted to an occupation and called for their removal from the multi-ethnic governorate of Kirkuk.
"PKK sent 100 fighters for the protection of Kirkuk. And since then we have deployed them to the frontlines most difficult to hold. Right now there are only 50 of them on duty defending Kirkuk," revealed the Peshmerga commander.
TURKISH BOMBARDMENT
Meanwhile, in Duhok governorate a Kurdistan24 reporter said Turkish Army shelled the surroundings of Kesta village in Barwari area near the border.
Turkish warplanes could be heard flying over the area, targeting assumed PKK positions, said the reporter.
There was no statement regarding any sorties or bombardments in Kurdistan Region on the website of Turkey's General Staff as of the time of publishing this report.
The PKK-Turkey conflict restarted after a two years held peace talks and ceasefire collapsed in August 2015 leading to the whole destruction of numerous Kurdish cities and loss of hundreds of lives on both sides, including civilians.
Editing by Ava Homa
(Reporting by Ari Khalidi)