Unarmed civilians killed in Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq: HDP report

ANKARA – Doğan News Agency

CİHAN photo

Unarmed civilians were killed in a military airstrike by Turkey in the Zergele village of Iraqi Kurdistan, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has said in a report, denying Ankara’s claims to the contrary.

“It has been observed that the Zergele village that was subjected to a bombardment is a civilian settlement, unlike the Ankara government’s statements that it was a PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] base camp,” said an Aug. 7 report prepared by HDP deputies Osman Baydemir, Hüda Kaya, Kadri Yıldırım, and senior party members Hatice Altınışık and Nazmi Gür, who paid a visit to Kandil and Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq from Aug. 4 to Aug. 6. 

“Those who lost their lives due to the bombing were civilians and unarmed people. The responsibility of the TSK [Turkish Armed Forces] airstrike that ended with the massacre of the civilians rests with the Turkish government,” it said. 

The Turkish military denied Aug. 2 allegations that it hit civilians in Zergele while the Foreign Ministry launched an investigation into the claims. 

“The targets in northern Iraq and inside Turkey are being identified by qualified personnel, based on confirmed visual data and as a result of a very meticulous and detailed study,” said the military, adding that the target was a shelter for PKK militants.

This report came a day after HDP co-leaders Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ filed a request that the United Nations launch an inquiry into what they call “unlawful and arbitrary executions” after a deadly suicide bomb attack in the border town of Suruç, the HDP Press Office said in a written statement on Aug. 6.