Un Ponte Per, which was founded in 1991 to focus on helping Iraqis affected by war, condemned Turkey’s new offensive and called on the Italian government and European Union to request Ankara and Tehran “immediately stop” their military campaigns.
On June 15, Turkey launched renewed airstrikes, targeting alleged positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) within the Kurdistan Region. Iran also occasionally fires on alleged positions of armed Kurdish groups who are opposed to Tehran.
The Kurdistan Region’s civilian population bears the brunt of the military campaigns.
At least five civilians have been killed in Turkey’s ongoing offensive and scores of villages in the mountains have been partially or completely vacated. “Where to flee now? Airstrikes occur every day. We have no life,” villager Nawfal Abunuel told Rudaw.
Un Ponte Per said it witnessed a humanitarian crisis Turkey caused by its invasion of northeastern Syria in 2019. “The international community cannot allow the same escalation to occur in Iraqi Kurdistan today,” the NGO stated on Thursday, noting that 13,000 people have already been displaced.
Baghdad has demanded Turkey stop its violations of Iraqi sovereignty, delivering a formal note through Ankara's ambassador. Iraqi President Barham Salih told a number of Arab ambassadors last week that Turkey “has to suspend its military violations on Iraqi soil.”
