ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Turkish army bombarded the vicinity of five populated villages in Duhok province on Tuesday, causing a great fire which has led to the scorching of thousands of dunams of land, a local official told Rudaw English on Wednesday. Sarbast Sabri, mayor of Kani Masi subdistrict, told Rudaw English that the vicinity of Dergelka, Ribarke, Qumri, Dashish, and Baqulke villages in the subdistrict were bombarded by Turkish forces Tuesday afternoon. Most of the fire has burned out so far but small flames remain, he said, adding that so far an estimated 3,000 dunams of land has been burned. “It was done by Turkey. I saw it because I was near there.” “When the villagers put out one part of the fire, another bomb would land and spark even more fires,” said the mayor. Turkey has burned 13,000 dunams of land in Kani Masi since it launched two military operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Duhok on April 23, according to Sabri. Captain Fuad Ahmed, head of media for the Duhok’s Forest Police and Environment Directorate, told Rudaw English in May that Turkey had burned 4,181 dunams of land in the province in the first five months of 2021. He added Ankara has also burned 56,731 dunams of land in Duhok in ten years. He also said the directorate cannot control fires in areas outside the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Turkey regularly attacks the Kurdistan Region’s bordering areas on the grounds of targeting PKK’s alleged positions. The PKK is an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization. The reports about Ankara’s deforestation of Duhok’s forests drew the ire of Kurds recently. Erbil and Ankara formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the claims but the results have yet to be announced. Ankara-PKK clashes in Duhok have caused the evacuation of several villages since April 23.
