ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The latest Turkish attacks on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Duhok province have caused the displacement of 184 families, said a monitoring group on Tuesday. It added that nine villages have been evacuated since the tensions escalated last month.
The US-based Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a rights group that closely monitors the Turkey-PKK conflict, published a new report on Tuesday, detailing the latest developments related to Turkey’s fresh attacks on the PKK in Duhok province’s villages.
The report said nine villages have been “completely” emptied and 184 families have been displaced since the tensions began mid-June.
“Eight of the villages are located in the Amedi district with one located in the Batifa district,” the group said.
“Approximately 68,000 dunams of land have been burned,” it added.
The recent clashes between the Turkish army and the PKK have been focused on the Amedi area, close to scores of villages. They have sparked a wildfire that burned for days, damaging the orchards of Sadiq and other farmers.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier this year repeatedly said that his country planned a military campaign in the Kurdistan Region to “secure” the border.
Baghdad listed the PKK as a “banned” organization earlier this year.