Speaking at a press conference in Hewler on Sunday, Federal Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani refused to condemn the Turkish state which has been killing civilians in southern Kurdistan in an intensified wave of aerial attacks recently.

Barzani said; “The official KRG policy is that we do not accept our lands being used to threaten the security of our neighbors under no circumstance.”

He claimed that the cause of Sheladize incident was the trouble created for their neighbors.

Barzani continued, blaming and threatening the people; “It is a right to protest without disturbing peace but we do not accept protests being derailed and violence being used. Necessary measures will be taken to investigate the incident and make sure that such incidents are not repeated.”

Asked about civilian casualties by Turkish attacks, Barzani said “Unfortunately some of our citizens were martyred as a result of Turkish aerial bombardments”, not mentioning the number of people killed by such attacks.

Barzani justified the Turkish attacks, arguing that civilian casualties were a result of PKK’s presence in the region. He said Turkish bombardments targeted the PKK areas but not civilian settlements. He, however, did not make clear why and how civilians are being killed “in PKK zones”.

The PM of the KRG emphasised the need to “eliminate the reasons for Turkish bombardments” but did not mention what these “reasons” were.