Dozens of activists held a demonstration under the banner of the ‘National Front against Invasion’ in Sulaimani on Sunday to protest Turkey’s continued aerial and ground operations in the northern mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region.
The protesters chanted slogans against the Turkish state and military, branding Ankara “occupiers”.
Turkish forces have pushed tens of kilometers into the Kurdistan Region in an operation that aims to reach the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) headquarters in the Qandil mountains. Its military frequently carries out airstrikes and fires cross-border artillery at alleged PKK positions.
Several civilians have been killed.
On June 30, a 19-year old woman, Dunya Rashid, was killed by a Turkish mortar shell on Kurdistan Region’s border with Turkey, Soran police confirmed.
The PKK is a named terror organization in Turkey.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has repeatedly accused the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Change Movement (Gorran) of PKK sympathies. The two parties dominate the political landscape in Sulaimani.
Photos: Sartip Othman / Rudaw
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