Turkish bombs scorch Sulaimani farmland, orchards: Official

Karwan Faidhi Dri

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish air forces bombarded several areas in Sulaimani province in the early hours of Friday morning, damaging the orchards and farms of villagers, a local official said. Ankara claimed it only targeted alleged positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and was careful not to harm civilian property. 

Turkish warplanes and drones bombarded the vicinity of Galala village ten times, Kamaran Hassan, mayor of Mawat district, which includes the village in northern Sulaimani province, told Rudaw. The attack damaged farms and orchards and sparked a fire that burned from midnight to 10 o’clock the next morning.

“A number of other areas close to Mount Asos were bombarded too, but there were no casualties or material loss,” he said. 

The Turkish defence ministry said in a statement that it “destroyed” the mouths of 16 caves, four shelters, and two depots allegedly belonging to the PKK in airstrikes on Mount Asos and Mount Qandil.  

“Before the operation, the targets were carefully chosen, and maximum attention and sensitivity was paid to the safety of lives and property of the civilian population and the protection of historical, religious, cultural assets,” said the ministry.

Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK), a PKK-affiliated force fighting against Iran, denied the PKK had been hit and accused Turkey of publishing misinformation. Turkish forces “only damaged the farms and orchards of the residents of the area,” it was cited by PKK-affiliated Rojnews as saying.  

The PKK is an armed group which claims to struggle for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. It is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, which has launched numerous operations against the group and its alleged offshoots in the Kurdistan Region and Syria. 

Kurdish civilians and rights organizations have criticized Turkey’s military campaign as civilian lives and property are frequently caught in the crossfire. 

In a recent escalation of its activity in Sulaimani province, Ankara has carried out drone attacks on busy roads that link major urban centres, leading to civilian deaths.  

Kamaran Osman, a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a human rights organisation that monitors Turkey's operations in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw last month that Turkish forces had targeted 82 sites in the Kurdistan Region since the beginning of this year. In these attacks, eight civilians were killed and three others were injured. 

According to CPT data, Ankara has killed at least 147 people and injured 219 since 2015. During this period, 158 villages were abandoned because life there had become impossible. About 600 others are under threat of being emptied as well.

The US consulate in Erbil told Rudaw English in mid-August that it condemned “any loss of civilian life” in the drone strikes in Sulaimani and called on Turkey to coordinate cross-border operations with authorities in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.  

During his first visit to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region as Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan last month called on Iraqi authorities to recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization. 

Turkish state media on Saturday claimed that a PKK fighter, Rezan Gungen, was killed by Turkish forces in Sulaimani province. The PKK had announced his death on August 10, saying he was killed four days earlier on Mount Qandil.