Ankara has sent hundreds of troops into the Kurdistan Region in recent days ahead of a looming military operation, establishing checkpoints and military patrols which have caused many obstacles to local villagers.
“We, as the PUK faction in the Iraqi parliament, express our deep concern and condemn these violations of Kurdistan Region and Iraqi sovereignty, because it puts the security of the country and the safety of citizens at risk. It is also a violation of international law,” the PUK bloc said in a statement.
It blamed the Iraqi government for “not being able to strengthen itself” and respond to the repeated violations of sovereignty, calling on both the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to step up and block Ankara from carrying out their latest campaign.
“Such violations are aimed only at destroying the peace of the country and violating Iraqi sovereignty,” the Sulaimani-based party stressed.
Iraq had routinely issued statements of condemnation against Ankara after previous incursions into the Kurdistan Region’s territory, but no such statement has been issued yet. The PUK stated that Baghdad’s silence “will reflect on the credibility of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region within the international community and with its citizens in particular.”
Rudaw has learned that the Turkish army has begun operations near Kani Masi and Mount Metina in Duhok province. Soldiers patrol the area with heavy weapons and have created several checkpoints – the main of which being near Balave and Belizani villages on the main road between Bamarni and Kani Masi subdistricts, about 57 kilometers northeast of Duhok city.
“Unfortunately, the continuous operations have damaged the fields and orchards of the area’s citizens and the situation has become a source of nuisance to the people,” the PUK said.
Ankara’s latest military incursion is aimed at curbing stated threats from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) along its border with the Kurdistan Region.
The PKK is a Kurdish group that has waged an armed insurgency against the Turkish state for decades in the struggle for greater Kurdish rights and is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.
The recent escalation is part of Turkey’s plans to fully oust the Kurdish group along its border with the Kurdistan Region. In March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara is close to completing a zone that will “permanently resolve” the security issues along the border by summer.
But Ankara’s relentless military strikes and the deployment of ground troops have also stoked fear in the local villagers of Duhok province’s mountainous areas, fearing displacement from their villages as mortar shells and constant gunfire prompt panic.
An anonymous source confirmed to Rudaw on Saturday that the village of Dargala Musabag on the slopes of Mount Metina in Duhok province’s Barwari Bala region has been abandoned.
The residents of the villages, who make up around 20 households, decided to evacuate on the orders of the village elders after intense fighting between the Turkish army and the PKK compounded risks to their safety.
On Saturday evening, a mortar shell fell around 50 meters away from a house in Duhok province’s Deraluk town. There were no fatalities, but a village local was injured.
Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a US-based human rights organization and conflict monitor tracking Ankara’s operations in the Kurdistan Region, said that the mortal shell was fired by PKK fighters.
Turkish AF have started a new military offensive in IK with up to 300 military tanks. Troops have been seen walking inside villages of Kesta, Aradna, Chalke, Babire, Ura and Sararo in the Kani Mase sub-district.
— CPT Iraqi Kurdistan (@cptiraq) June 25, 2024
Footage is from inside Kesta as Turkish soldiers are walking thru. pic.twitter.com/DtfcEjYyzh
Iraqi and Turkish security delegations have held several meetings to address border security issues. In March, their foreign ministries in a joint statement “stressed that the PKK organization represents a security threat to both Turkey and Iraq, and it is certain that the presence of the organization on Iraqi territory represents a violation of the Iraqi constitution.”
Iraq later banned the PKK and both sides discussed measures against the Kurdish group.
Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock in northern Duhok province in April 2022, with the goal of targeting PKK positions in Metina, Zap, Avashin, and Basyan areas. Ankara said at the time that the operation’s aim was to remove the PKK from the border areas and cut off its access to mainland Turkey.
According to CPT, Turkey has carried out over 800 attacks on the Kurdistan Region and Nineveh province so far in 2024.
Civilians are often caught in the crossfire of the Turkey-PKK conflict. Many families have been forced to flee their homes because of clashes, especially those in northern Duhok province near the border with Turkey, leaving entire villages empty. A Kurdistan Region parliamentary report published in 2020 said that the Turkey-PKK conflict has left over 500 villages empty across the Region.
