ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A group of Peshmerga forces came under fire from both the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkish forces in the Sidakan area of northeastern Erbil province on Friday, according to a Peshmerga commander. There were no casualties.
“At 10:15 am we wanted to go to the memorial ceremony for Brigadier Zuber Hali in Gurasha,” Colonel Salam Mohammed, commander of Peshmerga Battalion 2, told Rudaw English. Hali was an Iraqi border guard killed in a Turkish drone strike on Tuesday.
“Suddenly, we came under fire from behind from the PKK side. Then Turkish army fired at us from their side as well. Our car’s tyre was punctured,” Mohammed recounted.
He was traveling in a group of 10 Peshmerga in two vehicles. They did not return fire to either side “because we are in the region to protect its residents, not to attack anyone.”
When the incident occurred, the Peshmerga were driving in an area known for clashes between the PKK and Turkish forces.
Ihsan Chalabi, mayor of Sidakan area who was not at the scene but spoke to people involved, told Rudaw English that the PKK opened fire first.
The PKK, an armed Kurdish group fighting for greater cultural and political rights in Turkey, has its headquarters in the Kurdistan Region’s Qandil mountains. Turkey launched an air and ground operation against the PKK within the Kurdistan Region borders on June 15. At least seven civilians have been killed by Turkey.
This week, two Iraqi border guard commanders and a soldier were killed in a Turkish drone strike while they met with a PKK delegation. Baghdad and Arab and European allies have criticized Turkey’s violations of Iraqi sovereignty.
Baghdad summoned Turkish Ambassador Fatih Yildiz, demanding Turkey cease its bombardment and withdraw its troops from Iraqi soil. Turkey, however, has carried out at least two deadly airstrikes since that meeting and Ankara demanded Baghdad take measures against the PKK and “assume a principled stance against terrorism.”
On Friday, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein had separate phone calls with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Germany Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, and British Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa James Cleverley. He asked the Europeans to “play an active role to stop the repeated attacks from the Turkish side and make it withdraw its forces from Iraqi land.”
Paris has condemned Turkish military strikes in the Kurdistan Region and is backing Greece in a dispute with Turkey over exploitation of gas reserves in the Mediterranean, moves Ankara called “bullying.”
"France especially should avoid steps that will increase tensions," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on a visit to Switzerland on Friday, AFP reported. "They will not get anywhere by acting like bullies, whether in Libya, the northeast of Syria, in Iraq or the Mediterranean."
The United States has urged Ankara to coordinate its anti-PKK activities with Baghdad.
