Civilian killed by Turkish airstrike amid rising tensions in Iraqi Kurdistan's Duhok

A Kurdish civilian was killed by a Turkish airstrike early on Thursday while the situation in Duhok province is deteriorating due to the ongoing Turkish army’s aggression deep into the Iraqi Kurdistan region to fight against militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a US-based rights organisation monitoring the situation said.

Turkey deployed hundreds of troops and military vehicles into Kurdistan in June, establishing checkpoints and conducting patrols in Duhok’s Barwari Bala and Amedi town, located 90 km northeast of Duhok.  Turkey's current military campaign has resulted in several civilian casualties, forced evacuations of Kurdish and Christian villagers, and widespread destruction of wild pastures and forests, according to Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). 

"The situation in Amedi is very bad," Kamaran Osman, a member of CPT, a human rights organisation that monitors Turkey's incursions in the Kurdistan region, said to The New Arab.

"Villages in Nheli and Gara Mountain are completely burnt. When you look at the scene, it is one entire blackness; 85 percent of agricultural and forests at the foot of Gara Mountain have been burnt. Miska village, in which Muslims and Christians used to live together, now has been evacuated and the village’s church has been destroyed," Osman claimed. 

Osman, who visited the area this week, also noted that Turkish soldiers are patrolling inside Amedi town during the night. He claims that local residents fear crossing through public roads between Bamarne sub-district, (nearly 52 kilometres northeast of Duhok) and Guharze village because the Turkish army is conducting patrols on the roads routinely. Kurdish villagers and Christians in the Barwari Bala area are also significantly affected by the Turkish military operations, according to the CPT member. 

"This morning, Turkish fighter jets bombed Bariske village in the Shiladze area and killed a civilian, Osman Rekani, 32 years old. Rekani was a Peshmerga, but was beekeeping when he was killed. The TAF in Iraqi Kurdistan has killed 9 civilians and injured 2 this year alone,"  a CPT post on the X platform said on Thursday.

The Turkish incursion, which represents a significant escalation by Turkey's military, unfolded amid a conspicuous silence from both Iraqi and Kurdish authorities, raising concerns over Iraq's sovereignty and the safety of its citizens. 

TNA spoke over the phone with Sakfan Sindi, deputy head of the Iraqi parliament's security and defence committee from the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP); however, he refused to talk on the issue to the press until after the upcoming meeting with the committee. When asked when the committee would convene, he replied, "God willing, the meeting will be on Saturday."

Earlier this month, Maj. Gen. Tahseen Al-Khafaji, spokesperson for the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, told TNA that the Turkish operation is "political" and unrelated to the Iraqi Joint Operations Command. 

"The new operation in the Barwari Bala area signifies the depth of Turkish military ground operations into Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkish Armed Forces have advanced 15 kilometres into Iraqi Kurdistan territory," the CPT said on 7 July.

This incursion marks a significant escalation compared to Turkey's 2021 operation, dubbed Claw-Lightning, when Turkish forces advanced 7 kilometres into the Kurdistan Region, CPT reported. The campaign aims to curb threats from the PKK along the border.
 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently said the military operation will end "very soon."

Meanwhile, the People's Defence Forces (HPG), the PKK's military wing, declared that they conducted several operations against the Turkish army in Kurdistan, claiming that they took down a Turkish helicopter and the destruction of a military convoy. The HPG also accused the Turkish army of using banned weapons against PKK fighters.

On the afternoon of July 10th, the Turkish AF conducted artillery strikes on Guharze village in Gre Bahar Mount, located in the Amedi region.

At least 17 bombs have struck the village of Guharze since the beginning of last year.#Turkey #Iraq #KRG pic.twitter.com/Or08ldxjSw

— CPT Iraqi Kurdistan (@cptiraq) July 11, 2024

The PKK, established in 1978 with Marxist inspirations, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey and many of its Western allies, including the United States and the European Union. Since 1984, the group has been involved in a sporadic armed insurgency within Turkey in a struggle for greater Kurdish rights.

Turkey launched "Operation Claw-Lock" in April 2022 to secure its border with northern Iraq, from where it accused Kurdish separatists of launching attacks against Turkish territory.