Turkey strikes two parts of Kurdistan Region’s Sidakan area: local official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey struck two sites in the Sidakan sub-district of Erbil province in the early hours of Friday, according to Sidakan town’s mayor.

Turkish artillery fired at the Sari Zraran area of Sidakan’s Khalifan village, and a Turkish drone struck the nearby area of Birkma, mayor Ihsan Chalabi told Rudaw on Friday.

“At 01:20 am, Turkish forces shelled the Zararan area in the village of Khalifan in the Sidakan sub-district,” Chalabi said. “At 5:00 am on Friday, a Turkish drone bombed the Birkma area in Sidakan sub-district.”

Neither of the attacks resulted in civilian casualties, but there were material damages, Chalabi said without elaborating.

Turkey has waged attacks on the Kurdistan Region for decades in pursuit of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed Kurdish group fighting for increased rights for Kurds in Turkey.

In June, it launched air and ground campaigns named Operation Claw-Eagle and Operation Claw-Tiger, pushing close to heavily populated areas. Eight civilians in the Kurdistan Region have been killed since the beginning of the operations.

Ankara announced earlier this month that it had “successfully completed” its ground operation.

Airstrikes have continued, however, and look unlikely to end as Turkey and Iran recently agreed to keep conducting joint operations against Kurdish groups they say threaten their security. Sidakan, close to the Turkey-Iraq-Iran border, has frequently seen attacks from both Ankara and Tehran.

A report released by the Kurdistan Regional Parliament earlier this month catalogues extensive damage caused by Turkish army – and, to a lesser extent, Iranian army – incursions into the Kurdistan Region since 1992, with a staggering 504 villages emptied as residents fled fighting. 

Both Erbil and Baghdad have repeatedly called on Ankara to halt its attacks, and have demanded the PKK stop using Kurdistan Region and Iraqi territory to launch attacks on Turkey.