KRG to PKK: stop sabotaging pipeline

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Political parties in Kurdistan Region stand against the sabotage of the Ceyhan pipeline by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Rebaz Berkoty, a member of the Erbil Provincial Council from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) bloc, told K24 that PKK’s actions interfere with domestic affairs.

“This move [sabotaging the oil pipeline] damages the Region's economy, which [in turn] affects the people and the government,” he told K24 in a live interview.

Political parties in Kurdistan Region have helped the PKK before, but they are not considering the [economic] situation in the Region, Berkoty said.

“In the name of the Erbil Provincial Council and people of Erbil, we call upon PKK to stop their interference in the Region’s affairs...this will not serve any side [and] it does not assist the peace process and our brotherhood,” Berkoty told K24.

On Feb. 16, Kirkuk-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline near the city of Urfa in southeastern Turkey was sabotaged, triggering a long-lasting interruption in oil flow and millions in damages. The PKK claimed responsibility for the attack.

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

A Kurdish MP in the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), Haji Karwan, told K24, “PKK should be supporting Kurdistan and its people [during these] difficult economic and financial times…if they have problems with Turkey; they have to resolve it with them.”

Karwan stated that if PKK did not stop its attacks on the oil pipeline, the issue should be raised in the international community.

In late July, the PKK military wing in Turkey claimed its forces carried out an operation against the pipeline in the area between Silopi and Cizre district, where the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline transports Kurdistan Region's oil.

Reporting by Baxtiyar Goran

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany and Benjamin Kweskin

(Hoshmand Sadiq from Erbil contributed to this report)