Responding to accusations of collaboration with the Turkish military, Muhammed said in a statement that it is in fact the PKK that has dragged the Turkish army into the Kurdistan Region and created complexity, destruction, and instability.

“The PKK knows well that if the [KDP] had its hands in this fight, the PKK would be in a worse situation,” he said.

He said that the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), a PKK affiliated group, had published “unfounded accusations” against the KDP.

Earlier on Thursday, the KCK said in a statement that “Turkey cannot attack Gara Mountain without the support of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.”

Muhammed responded by saying that “it is not the [KDP’s] fault that the PKK cannot fight and is always fleeing.”

He concluded by saying that the KDP thinks that the best solution is for the PKK to stop using the Kurdistan Region to fight the Turkish government.

Turkey regularly carries out cross-border operations in northern Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, justifying its actions as necessary to combat the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency for Kurdish rights in Turkey’s southeast.

On Wednesday, the Turkish military launched Operation Claw-Eagle 2 with airstrikes and airborne operations in Duhok governorate.

Reporter's code: 50101