A Peshmerga fighter was killed by a Turkish airstrike in the villlage of Nawirdarok in Sidekan governate in the Erbil (Hewler) region of Iraqi Kurdistan. Nawirdarok is close to the Biradost border.
The Peshmerga’s name was Serwer Qadir. He was 34 years old and had three children.
#Pêşmerge Serwer Qadir di êrişa Tirkiyeyê de şehîd kethttps://t.co/8TJ0HTfEdu pic.twitter.com/tOYdHsGEwn
— RudawKurdi (@RudawKurdi) April 19, 2024
İhsan Çelebi, the governor of Sidekan, told the Rudaw news agency that the attack happened on the 18 April at 6.30pm.
On the same evening two people were seriously injured by a Turkish drone strike in Kobani (Kobanê) in northern Syria.
Rudaw news agency posted an interview with a tribal leader of the Bradostî community, one of Serwer Qadir’s relatives, who called on the Kurdistan Regional Government to intervene to stop the Turkish attacks. He told Rudaw that Qadir’s killing was”enough!”.
Pêşmergeyek di êrişa Tirkiyeyê de şehîd ket
🎤 Ji bo xatirê Xwedê ji vî miletê reben re çareyekê bibînin
🎤 Agir, kuştin, top, tiving û şewitandin heta kengî? Xweda jî qebûl nake
🎤 Em feqîr in, kî bûbe sedema me Xweda wan nahêle pic.twitter.com/MC1wU3oJRE
— RudawKurdi (@RudawKurdi) April 19, 2024
He said he wanted to send a message to president Nechirvan Barzani of the KRG, that “these daily aerial attacks by war jets, bombardments, shellings and killings are in no way sustainable, no way acceptable!”
He continued: “We are a poor community, and we are not in power. Everybody sees how we struggle and try to survive in these conditions. There is not any other place we can migrate to. It is our only valley, where we live under these daily aerial attacks and fire [from the Turkish military].”
The killing of Qadir follows the death of another man, Muhammed Said, who died in Sulaymaniyah region on Monday 14 April. Turkish air strikes have killed ten people this year alone in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Turkey’s attacks have been escalating recently, and the Turkish state is planning a renewed offensive against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the coming months. Turkish aerial attacks reportedly struck Iraqi Kurdistan 358 times between 1 January and 1 April. The Turkish military has already established more than 60 military bases, up to 40km inside Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkey is pressing the US to support its operations against the PKK ahead of the May 9 visit to Washington by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
