The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), a European coalition of Kurdish organisations, has called on international institutions, of which Turkey is a member, to intervene and prevent an imminent ground invasion of Turkish troops into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
Turkey has scheduled a major military assault on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the mountainous border region within Iraqi territory, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan clearly stating his resolve to eradicate the armed political movement “by summer.”
The KNK promotes a peaceful and democratic resolution of the Kurdish issue, urging the cessation of further violence against PKK fighters and protection for millions of civilians across Kurdish areas of Iraq and Syria at risk under escalating conflict initiated by the Turkish government’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)-Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) alliance.
The announced objective of the cross-border operation is to establish a “security corridor” along the Iraqi border, similar to Turkey’s existing efforts along its border with Syria.
The KNK, in an extensive dossier dated 18 March, proposed that Turkey seeks geopolitical cover for the planned operations, as signalled by intensified engagements between high-level Turkish diplomats and the United States, Iraq and the Kurdish regional government in Erbil (Hewlêr).
Economic challenges within Turkey, such as high inflation and unemployment, are contributing factors to the renewed aggressive stance towards the Kurdish movement, the platform noted, adding fuel to century-long denial policies enacted against the ethnic group.
Furthermore, the Development Road project, an Iraq-Turkey transportation corridor dubbed the ‘New Silk Road,’ threatens to diminish the relevance of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region, the KNK said, paving the way for the current anti-Kurd rapprochement with Turkey.
The KNK warned that Turkey has exploited existing tensions to provoke in-fighting between Kurdish parties in order to strategically compromise the autonomy of the region.
Turkey’s on-going assaults in both Iraq and Syria have been widely criticised by international organisations and human rights groups, accompanied by accusations of war crimes in occupied parts of Syria, including the forced evacuation of 161 villages, imminent displacement threats to an additional 602 villages, widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure in semi-autonomous North and East Syria, and civilian casualties.