The Turkish Government’s Crimes against Humanity Continue
Turkish military jets have continued to bomb in Qandil (Iraqi Kurdistan) and surrounding villages in the past 24 hours. In the early hours of 1st of August, between 4-5 am local time, Turkish jets bombed Qandil and Kurdish civilians again. In the last few hours the village of Zergelê was the target of repeated bombings. Eye witnesses stated that the Turkish jets were targeting Zergelê house by house, resulting in high levels of casualties and injured.
The attack resulted in 9 civilian casualties and dozens injured. The known names of the civilians are Nedim, Piro, Necip, Salih, Karox, Hemine, Êyşê and Abdulkadir. 15 of the injured civilians are currently in a critical condition. Some of the injured were transported to the local village health clinic. Local sources and eye witnesses have also expressed concern that the number of deaths will likely increase. The jets also targeted civilians in the surrounding villages who were attempting to provide support and aid to the injured civilians in Zergelê.
However, due to the continuation of the bombardment a number of injured and dead civilians remain trapped within the village and destroyed homes, raising further concerns.
At the same time, the bombardment of the Turkish jets in Iraqi Kurdistan areas of Gare, Zap, Xakurke, Metina and Haftanin are still continuing. Turkish jets are deliberately targeting civilians and attempting to cause high levels of civilian casualties.
Has the time not come to stop ISIS-Turkish collaboration?
Since the 24th of July Turkish jets are bombing the Kurdish guerrilla and civilian’s non-stop. Turkey’s allies UN, EU, USA have expressed support for Turkey’s right to defend itself against ‘terrorism’. However, Turkey\s deliberate and persistent policy of targeting civilians is not self-defence. Rather, it is an act of state-terrorism, which the Kurds are being subjected to.
The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, have stated their clear intention to continue with the bombings, which means that the deliberate targeting of civilians will continue.
We call all the international democratic forces, public opinion and humanity to stand against the Turkish government’s indiscriminate bombing and to end its campaign of state-terror.
We call the UN, EU and US to act immediately against this human rights violation and not to remain silent in the face of the overwhelming levels of Turkish violation of Kurdish human rights.
The ongoing international silence, combined with the continued Turkish military attacks against the Kurds is further serving to empower ISIS terrorism and increase their morale.
Kurdistan National Congress – KNK