Washington Kurdish Institute Condemns Turkish Military Assault on South Kurdistan

Over the last two days, the Turkish military, under the pretext of fighting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has launched another large-scale military assault targeting various areas in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
This illegal act of military aggression by Turkey and its authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a continuation of the Turkish state’s campaign of ethnic cleansing of Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan.
For a century, the Turkish state has persecuted the Kurds, denying their very existence, committing countless massacres, and seeking to eliminate the Kurdish identity. Since 2015, the current Turkish regime led by Erdogan has committed countless acts of military aggression against the Kurdish people in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, openly pursing a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
The Turkish military has occupied areas in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for many years and is actively seeking to expand its presence – at present, there are tens of Turkish military bases and posts throughout South Kurdistan. This most recent act of unprovoked aggression is part of a larger plan to broaden Turkey’s zones of occupation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, prevent any type of self-determination for the Kurdish people, and eventually eradicate the Kurdish identity.
We condemn these attacks in the strongest terms and call upon the United States government and the international community to take immediate action to bring Erdogan’s campaigns of military aggression to an end and sanction his regime for systematic violations of international law and global human rights conventions.
We reaffirm once again a solution to the Kurdish question will only be achieved through dialogue between the Turkish state and the PKK, and the United States and international community could play an integral role in encouraging and facilitating this dialogue to achieve just peace for all peoples of the region.

Washington Kurdish Institute
April 25