PRESS RELEASE, — Seven civilians killed by Turkish actions across the Iraqi border which have been targeting Kurdish positions for five days. The Turkish action has been met by silence from the international community and media.
Kurdistan Solidarity Ireland (KSI) strongly condemns the cross border air raids being carried out against Kurdish targets – both civilian and guerrilla – by Turkey. Beginning on the night of Wednesday August 17 Turkish fighter jets have repeatedly targeted dozens of locations in the Medya Defence Regions – the areas of South Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) controlled by PKK – including villages.
The electricity supply to many villages has been interrupted in the area since Wednesday and a number of villages have been evacuated. Kurdish sources stated that the guerrillas have suffered no losses in the attacks, which had been anticipated. Today Firat News Agency named seven Kurdish civilians, including four children and one woman, who were killed by the Turkish attacks. The victims were reportedly fleeing the bombing when their vehicle was targeted by Turkish warplanes.
On behalf of Kurdish exiles living in Ireland, their friends and supporters, we condemn the Turkish government of AKP for these attacks and for their increasingly intolerant attitude to the Kurdish population. Despite constant calls for peace and dialogue from the Kurdish side, the government response has been intransigence, repression and denial, culminating in this latest escalation of war.
We call on European leaders and the Irish government in particular to condemn these airstrikes, to recognise Kurdish autonomy within the state of Turkey and to draw upon their own experience of peacemaking to encourage their Turkish counterparts to recognise the futility of a military response to this conflict and to seek a peaceful, negotiated and democratic solution to the Kurdish issue.