ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two villagers were detained on Friday by the occupying Turkish army operating from inside Iraqi territory in Kurdistan Region's Erbil province, family of one of the detainees and a resident of the village told Rudaw English.
Akram Khalil Zikri, 20, and Zedan Nabi Mustafa,18, from Dayla village in Sidakan sub-district were attending to their horses when they entered an area that the Turkish army considers a "conflict zone" and were immediately arrested by the Turkish soldiers in the morning, a close family member of the two cousins told Rudaw English on Saturday.
Turkish army has established dozens of outposts in the bordering areas in the Kurdistan Region in pursuit of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters that have fought Turkey since the 1980s.
Turkey regularly bombs the area and Turkish drones monitor the Kurdistan Region on a daily bases, launching missiles that have killed and wounded dozens of civilians.
The two young men have been taken to Rubarok (Derecik) district in Turkey’s Kurdish-populated Hakkari province and they have been seen by locals, the source said, adding that the Kurdish authorities in the Bradost area are in contact with the Turkish army to release the men.
Sirwan Hassan, a resident of Dayla village, confirmed to Rudaw English that the two cousins have been arrested by the Turkish army after they ventured into the so-called conflict zone where PKK fighters are known to have clashed with the soldiers.
Ihsan Chalabi, mayor of nearby Sidakan sub-district, confirmed the arrests to Rudaw.
The Iraqi border guards have looked into the case, confirming that the two young men were detained by the Turkish forces, he noted.
PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization and carries out military operations against it at home as well as in Iraq, Kurdistan Region and Syria.
Turkey launched an air and group operation last April in the border area in Duhok province clashing with the PKK fighters. The Turkish army has tens of military bases on borders with the Kurdistan Region, many of which have been established in 2021 after Ankara launched twin military campaigns against the PKK in April.
Updated at 8:45 pm
