ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- Two senior Kurdistan Communities Group (KCK), under whose umbrella Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) falls, were killed while on Mount Azmar overlooking the city of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region’s Asayesh (Security) announced on Tuesday following an investigation.
On October 15, Rudaw reported an explosion occurring atop Mount Azmar, which is a popular destination for tourists and spot to drink alcohol and take photos.
Initially, Sulaimani’s security forces labeled it an explosion and did not allow media to go to the scene. On Tuesday, they provided more details, stating that it was a targeted killing of senior PKK members.
“On October 15, 2019, between hours 17:10 to 17:15, two senior cadres of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) named Jameel and Demhat, atop Mount Azmar in a tourist location among civilians, were barbarically targeted,” Kurdistan Region’s Asayesh Agency announced in a statement on Tuesday.
Following “sophisticated and dense investigations” on the “crime scene”, they uncovered the identity of the targeted to be members of the KCK, an umbrella group under which PKK and its affiliated groups fall.
“While they had gone into that area without notifying the relevant authorities of the Kurdistan Region, they were targeted by a Turkish drone while among civilians and in the city of Sulaimani at a tourist location,” added the Asayesh.
“This is a dangerous violation, initiative and development that in no way serves shared security and co-existence,” it added.
While condemning the transgression, Asayesh also called on everyone not to use the Kurdistan Region’s or Iraq’s soil to attack neighboring countries.
Kurdistan Region’s airspace is controlled by Iraq’s civil aviation authority, and even radars stationed in the region belong to Iraq. The security agency, however, vowed to keep protecting the people.
After the Asayesh statement, KCK released their own, confirming the assassination of its members, identified as Demhat Ageed (born Sayidxan Ayaz) and Jameel Ahmed (Asar Ermak).
"The Turkish state, through this genocide, attacked the will and spirit of national unity in all the four parts of Kurdistan. Both of our comrades, through their national and political work, always tried to strengthen the unity between Kurdish forces," KCK said.
It claimed that international and regional forces, and their "despicable partners" including spies in the area, were responsible for the assassination.
KCK called on the Sulaimani and regional governments to "reveal" the plot against its members and "reject and condemn" Turkey's actions.
"This genocide is in parallel with the attacks on Rojava [northern Syria]. This indicates that the Turkish occupier attacks the Kurdish nation wherever it is," added the KCK.
Turkey’s defense ministry announced on the day the airstrike took place that they had killed two PKK members in the Gara Region.
“As a result of a coordinated action between the Turkish Armed Forces and National Intelligence Agency [MIT] in northern Iraq’s Gara region, two members of the PKK terrorist organization were neutralized in an airstrike,” Turkey’s National Defense Ministry had said on October 15.
On March 21 of this year, KCK spokesperson Serhat Armanos Varto was killed in a Turkish airstrike alongside 4 other PKK members.
This follows a series of successful Turkish operations against high ranking members. On July 5, senior PKK official Diyar Ghareeb was also killed in a Turkish airstrike.
Turkey has been increasingly employing its own domestic made drones to target the Kurdish guerilla organization PKK, engaged in a four decade-long struggle with the Turkish state for greater Kurdish political and cultural rights.
Turkey considers the PKK to be a terrorist organization.
Since the beginning of the year, Turkey has launched Operation Claw, now in its third phase, in the mountainous regions and border areas of the Kurdistan Region. The operation targets members of the PKK and its bases.
Last July 17, a Turkish diplomat, named Osman Kose and two Kurdish civilians, were shot dead at a Turkish restaurant in the upmarket Empire complex in Erbil.
While PKK never claimed responsibility and denied it carried out the assassination, Turkey did claim that it has started “neutralizing” those responsible, calling it a terror attack that it attributed to the PKK.
Turkey also considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG) Kurdish forces in Northern Syria an extension of the PKK, and it has waged a campaign it has termed “Operation Peace Spring” since October 9 to have Kurdish forces evicted from the border area.
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