KRG deputy PM denies Turkey’s claim of YPG presence at Arbat airport during strike

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani on Wednesday denied Turkey’s claim that members of a Syria-based Kurdish group were receiving training at the Arbat airport when it was hit on Monday. Three members of a Sulaimani-based counterterrorism force were killed in the drone attack.

Three members of the Sulaimani-based Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG) were killed and three others were injured when a drone hit Arbat airport on Monday, according to the group. The Turkish foreign ministry claimed the next day that members of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) were receiving training at the airport during the “explosion.”

When receiving a European Union delegation on Wednesday, Talabani said he condemned “the attacker’s excuse” as reference to Turkey's claim, adding that only members of the CTG were present at the airport when the attack took place, reported Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) media. 

KRG and PUK officials have not explicitly pointed the finger at Turkey but Iraqi officials have blamed Ankara for the attack, with President Abdul Latif Rashid announcing his intention to summon the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad over the incident. 

The Turkish foreign ministry claimed that the CTG and the YPG were “conducting a training exercise together” at Arbat, accusing PUK’s security apparatus of cooperating with the YPG and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey but has been listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara. 

The YPG is the backbone of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkey regards the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the PKK. 

The PUK is the second largest political party in the Kurdistan Region and controls Sulaimani and Halabja provinces.

The Turkish ministry did not claim responsibility for the attack but claimed that the alleged shared training at the airport “confirmed once again the accuracy of the measures we have taken regarding Sulaymaniyah, the people of which are almost taken hostage by the terrorist organization.”
 
The CTG and the YPG have not denied security cooperation, openly stating that their cooperation is related to the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).

The SDF has said several times that the CTG actively took part in some of its anti-ISIS operations inside Syria. The Kurdish-led force on Wednesday sent condolences for the deaths of the CTG members without denying or confirming Turkey’s claim about their presence at the airport. 

The Arbat attack has been locally and internationally condemned. 

PUK leader Bafel Talabani labeled the attack as a “terrorist attack” and “a part of the conspiracy aimed at disturbing the peace and stability of the Kurdistan Region.”

Turkey has intensified its attacks against the alleged position of the PKK in the Kurdistan Region, especially in Sulaimani province. Some drone attacks caused civilian deaths. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited Iraq and the Kurdistan Region late last month. He met with Qubad Talabani, discussing a range of topics, including a Turkish flight ban on Sulaimani province due to the alleged “intensification” of PKK activity in Sulaimani.

The flight ban on Sulaimani International Airport has been in place since April 3. It will remain in effect until January. 

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