Rashad Kalali, an official in the Kurdistan National Union Party in Iraq, stated that a Turkish airstrike resulted in at least three fatalities on Saturday at a refugee camp in northern Iraq. The attack occurred at a camp housing thousands of Kurdish refugees from Turkey, just three days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned Iraq that Turkey would "cleanse" a refugee camp that it claims shelters Kurdish militants. An unnamed Iraqi security official confirmed that an airstrike caused casualties at the camp but did not provide further details.
Turkish forces have intensified attacks on the bases of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq over the past year, primarily focusing their fire and incursions on an area extending up to 30 kilometers into Iraq. Erdoğan stated on Thursday that the Makhmour camp, located 180 kilometers south of the Turkish border and accommodating thousands of Turkish refugees for over 20 years, represents a "hub" for militants and must be dealt with.
The camp was established in the 1990s when thousands of Kurds crossed the border from Turkey, a move that Ankara claims was instigated by the PKK. The PKK, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, has been waging war against the state in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey since 1984, leading to over 40,000 deaths in the conflict.
Turkish airstrikes targeted Makhmour a year ago, but there were no reports of casualties at that time. A senior Turkish official indicated that targeting the camp has now become a priority for Ankara.
Later on Saturday, dozens protested in the Kurdish province of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, waving Kurdish flags and chanting "Our voices are voices of freedom against occupation," to denounce the Turkish incursion into Iraq. Protester Omid Saleh remarked, "They are killing innocent women and children... Turkey wants to occupy Kurdistan, but we Kurds here and the PKK will fight until the last moment of our lives."
Turkey has shifted its decades-long conflict with Kurdish militants into the depths of northern Iraq, where it has established military bases and deployed military drones against fighters in their mountain strongholds.
In a separate incident, the Peshmerga Ministry reported early Saturday that five Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed and four were injured in an ambush by the PKK in northern Iraq. The clashes occurred on Mount Metina in the Amadiyah district of the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. The PKK has yet to comment on the incident.
The Peshmerga Ministry is urging the Iraqi federal government to take immediate action to halt the ongoing Turkish military operations in the Kurdistan region. It also called on the PKK to relocate its fighting to another area away from Kurdish homes and the Kurdistan region.
