ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- The spike in Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-Turkey clashes continues as a civilian was killed in a suspected Turkish airstrike in Sherwan Mazin, Erbil Governorate while looking for rhubarb. In a separate incident, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was allegedly shot down by the PKK in Amedi district, Dohuk Governorate.
A statement by Major Saadun Hawdyani, spokesperson for Soran district police, revealed that a 60-year-old retired Peshmerga named Kazim Ali Faqo from Pendro village went missing in Sherwan Mazin on Tuesday, May 14; he was later confirmed dead.
Hawdyani's statement warned locals to always avoid areas that have seen clashes between the PKK and the Turkish army.
Adil Sherwani, a local of the area, said that Lazim left home looking for rhubarb in the morning. Suspicions were raised when he failed to return in the afternoon.
He said it was the PKK that notified locals that Faqo had died due to a Turkish airstrike. Locals then went to retrieve the body, found in Kani Milan, near Bote mountain.
Sherwani bore witness to airstrikes that persisted in the area throughout Tuesday morning and afternoon.
He believes Faqo may have wandered into a Kurdish Regional Government-designated prohibited zone. Suspected to contain PKK fighters, civilians are warned to stay away from these areas.
On the same day, a Turkish UAV was felled in the town of Qadshe, in the Sarsang sub-district of Amedi district. Footage shared by Roj News shows wreckage of the aerial vehicle, whose downing was suspected to have been conducted by the PKK, according to Nashwan Hussni, mayor of Sarsang.
The action was followed by airstrikes by Turkish forces in the area, "creating panic among the civilians of Qadshe", added Hussni.
Today's incidents form part of a recent increase in PKK-Turkey clashes. On May 5, a PKK attack killed three Turkish soldiers at an outpost in Sherwan Mazin bordering Turkey's Hakkari province. In response, Turkey began firing into villages from heavy machine guns on helicopter gunships, leaving villagers terrified for their lives.
After decades of conflict, the PKK and Turkish state entered peace talks in 2013. However, it collapsed for various reasons in 2015, resulting in renewed clashes. With the PKK's headquarters located in the Kurdistan Region’s Qandil mountains, fighting spills over the Turkish border and into the Kurdistan Region, with Turkey frequently carrying out ground and air offensives on suspected PKK positions. The fighting has forced most of the residents in the Sherwan Mazin region to abandon their villages and move deeper into the Kurdistan Region to avoid being caught up in the conflict.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil has repeatedly called on the PKK to withdraw from the Kurdistan Region in order to protect the civilian population. The Iraqi government in Baghdad has condemned Turkish military incursions across the border, but has so far been unable to compel Ankara to stop.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi is making his first official visit to Turkey today, meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At his weekly press conference in Baghdad on Tuesday, he said that "not letting its [Iraq's] soil be used to attack neighboring countries" and "what neighboring countries do on Iraqi soil in consultation with Iraq” would be among the topics of discussion with Erdogan, in reference to PKK-Turkey clashes within Iraqi borders.
