KRG’s Dizayee meets German delegate who was detained at Erbil airport

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s foreign affairs department met with a visiting German lawmaker on Tuesday who said he was detained for several hours at Erbil airport on his arrival as part of a delegation seeking to promote peace talks between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

Safeen Dizayee tweeted he met with Hakan Tas, and “We talked about current political, security situation, regional environment, addressing pressing challenges we face today and other issues of mutual concern."

“Our discussion also covered bilateral ties and fostering areas of cooperation,” he added. 

Tas is a member of the German Left Party. He said he was detained by security at Erbil airport for 15 hours on Saturday before being allowed to leave. Tas said that while detained, he was “interrogated twice by security guards” and was not allowed to clean himself, nor did he receive any food.

He traveled to the Kurdistan Region as part of a delegation to gather information about Turkey’s ongoing military operations against the PKK in northern Duhok, meeting with mayors and civil society organizations to promote peace. 

“We are happy that Hakan Tas has been released. We demand that all repression from Iraqi and Turkish authorities against members of the freedom delegation immediately stop and that everyone should be free to travel,” chairwoman of the Left Party Katina Schubert tweeted after he was released. 

Eighteen other members of the delegation, including another member of the German Left Party, Cansu Ozdemir, were detained by German police at Dusseldorf airport. Police said they were concerned about the group causing “long-lasting effects on Germany’s security concerns abroad.”

The delegation wanted to read out a statement in front of the United Nations office in Erbil on Monday, but said security forces barred them from leaving their hotel.

Prior to the delegations’ arrival, the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Interior accused the PKK of sending Europeans to the Kurdistan Region to disturb the peace. “If they really want peace, let them turn their backs on Qandil because the source of the violence and unrest is there,” the ministry stated, referring to the PKK’s headquarters in the Qandil mountains.

Turkey launched its ongoing military intervention against the PKK in late April. The PKK is an armed group fighting for greater rights for Kurds in Turkey and has bases in the Kurdistan Region's mountains. Several Peshmerga have been killed since Turkey began its operation. The KRG has blamed the PKK, which denies the charge.