AMEDI, Kurdistan Region – Tunnels prepared for mines and explosives have been discovered in northern Duhok province, and some local officials have said the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are making preparations for potential clashes with Turkey. The PKK, however, has accused Turkey of trying to stir up trouble in the area.
“The PKK has met with the people of the region and told them that Turkey in collaboration with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) might attack them,” an administrative officer known as a mukhtar, from a village near Amedi, said.
The head of the KDP’s branch in the town confirmed they are aware of the PKK’s movements in the area.
On Monday, Kurdish security forces (Asayesh) discovered three tunnels prepared for TNT explosives near the village of Guharze, on the main road that connects Amedi with the town of Dereluk to the east, a source in Amedi told Rudaw.
The source added that they have information that “the PKK has done this” in other places in the town of Kani Masi, too. “Hence, the PKK is suspected to be behind this.”
Reporting on similar tunnels discovered about 40 kilometres east of Amedi, in the Nihel area, Duhok Post said PKK official Bakhtyar Dogan denied they were involved. “PKK has not dug the tunnels. It’s the work of Turkish MIT to make trouble in the area,” he said, referring to Turkey’s intelligence body.
The presence of the PKK in Kurdistan Region territory dates back to the 1980s. They boosted their military presence in the region after the 1991 uprising, which led to the creation of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of today. The PKK reinforced its positions especially in Qandil, Amedi, Zakho, and most recently in Shingal.
According to an investigation conducted by Rudaw, the PKK controls 361 villages in the province of Duhok. Most of these villages fall within the territory of the town of Amedi.
Nearly 75 percent of Amedi is currently under the control of the PKK.
The PKK stepped up its activities in the Kurdistan Region, also known as southern Kurdistan, especially in Amedi area, following recent clashes between Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) and the Rojava Peshmerga (Roj) in Khanasur, an official claimed.
“A few days ago, some PKK officials visited us at home during the night. They told us they were aware that Turkey had a plan to attack them in southern Kurdistan, but said they didn’t know whether the KDP would help them in the attack,” a mukhtar told Rudaw on the condition of anonymity.
“The PKK officials asked us to inform the villagers not to go to the main roads, especially by car, because they will be mining them,” he added.
They have reportedly told the municipal officer: “We have information that Turkey has plotted to simultaneously attack Qandil, Shingal, and all other places where the PKK is based. It will be an aerial and ground attack.”
There are an estimated 5,000 PKK guerrillas in the Kurdistan Region, where they have set up their own regions in the province of Duhok: Zap, Oramar and Gara in the Amedi area, and Aftanin in the Zakho area.
One of the PKK’s main headquarters in the Kurdistan Region is based in Qandil.
They have also set up headquarters and checkpoints in the town of Shingal as well as the area of Kursi at the base of Mount Shingal. This is in addition to the forces they have created for the Yazidi Kurds in Shingal.
The PKK have also set up training bases for new recruits in all their regions.
In terms of territory, Amedi is the largest town in the province of Duhok. Nearly 270 villages belonging to this town have been deserted for the past 15 years due to the presence of the PKK and Turkey’s frequent bombardments in the area.
“The PKK forces along with the bombardments carried out by Turkey have done great economic damage to the people of this region. The current annual agricultural income for an individual family reaches nearly 15 million Iraqi Dinars (IQD, roughly $12,700),” Shaaban Mezi, a 65-year-old farmer in the town of Deraluk, said.
“Economic conditions of the people of Amedi are very bad because most of them come from villages controlled by the PKK. Annually, each of these families loses 15 million IQD as they can’t do any farming,” he added.
Duhok was regarded as the poorest province in the Kurdistan Region in 2014 and 2016, according to figures and surveys carried out by the Ministry of Planning of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Prior to the Kurdish uprising in 1991, Amedi was one of the Kurdistan Region’s most productive regions where lots of farming was done and large numbers of tourists visited.
“The PKK guerrilla fighters increased their movements in Amedi region after clashes erupted between the [Rojava] Peshmerga forces and the YBS fighters in Khanasur. They have mined many of the region’s main and strategic roads. A few days ago, they blew up the main road between Ormana and Urmadayan villages in the area of Kani Masi town,” a KDP official based in Amedi, who did not want to be identified by name, told Rudaw.
“The PKK fears a lot nowadays. They fear that the KDP or Turkey will attack them in the Kurdistan Region. They constantly contact people, asking them about movements of the KDP and Turkish forces,” he added.
Soon after the liberation of the towns of Sinune and Shingal, the KDP asked the PKK to leave these areas. The PKK, however, has said it will not leave until security is returned to the Shingal area.
The KDP has unsuccessfully tried to convince the PKK to remove their checkpoint in the Kare area near Mount Shingal. Some KDP military officials had allegedly requested permission to remove the PKK from these regions by force, but their request was reportedly turned down at the party’s highest levels due to fears the war would escalate, embroiling Zakho, Amedi and Qandil in the conflict, too, Rudaw has learned.
The head of the KDP’s branch in Amedi, however, denied reports of the PKK gearing up for conflict with Turkey, saying there has been no change to the PKK’s activity in the area.
“We are aware of everything done by the PKK forces, which are the same forces which were there previously. They are where they were before. We haven’t witnessed any abnormal movements by the PKK,” Omar Uraye said.
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