Speaking about the ongoing military campaign by Turkey in the Kurdistan Region he said on Saturday, May 29, that whenever the Turkish state has occupied a piece of territory, it has never withdrawn from it.
Turkey routinely conducts operations in the Kurdistan Region and northern Iraq, establishing a network of bases and launching far beyond its borders. It justifies its actions as necessary to combat the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has conducted a decades-long insurgency for Kurdish rights and autonomy and has bases in the Kurdish region.
There have been no reported civilian casualties since Ankara launched Operation Claw-Lightning on April 23, but at least twelve civilians have been killed in Turkish airstrikes since Ankara launched Operation Claw-Eagle last June.
Over the past month of the new operation, hundreds of villagers have been displaced and several have been wounded, including two shepherds in Duhok governorate who were hurt in Turkish shelling on Wednesday.
Airstrikes and cross-border raids often destroy or drive people off valuable grazing and agricultural land, sparking fires that burn crops.
Barzani called on the United Nations and Iraq’s federal government to limit Turkey’s occupation of parts of the Kurdistan Region.
He demanded Turkey resolve its dispute with the PKK inside Turkey itself.
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