The invading Turkish state continues its attacks on the residential areas of South Kurdistan (North Iraq). Airstrikes carried out by the Turkish state killed at least 112 people, including children and women, and injured hundreds of others. In a Turkish drone attack on Bamernê on May 26, 3 civilians, 2 of whom were children, lost their lives.

According to a report released by the CPT - Iraqi Kurdistan Bureau, 109 civilians lost their lives in the attacks of the Turkish state in the region between 2015 and 2021.

One of the biggest massacres in 2015, when the attacks started, was carried out in the bombing of the Zergelê village in Qandil by fighter jets. On August 1, 2015, a total of 8 civilians, including 2 women, one of whom was pregnant, lost their lives and 27 others were seriously injured in the air attack on the village of Zergelê. The names of 8 people who were killed are as follows: “Necip Rojhilat, Salih Mihemed Emin, Karox Mihemed Emin, Heybet Mihemed Emin, Nedim Piro, Êyşê Xdır, Abdulkadir and Mihemed Emin.”

At least 30 civilians were killed, and dozens of others were injured in the attacks carried out by the invading Turkish state between 2017 and 2018.

Some of the attacks of the Turkish state on civilian settlements in 2019 and afterwards are listed as follows:

January 23, 2019: 4 civilians were killed in an airstrike on the Dêralok town of Amadiya. The local people organized a demonstration on January 25 in Dêralok to protest Turkey's massacres, despite the blocking of the security forces. The residents of Behdinan marched towards the Sîre Military Base in Şêladizê. The protestors entered the military base and set fire to military vehicles. In the attack of Turkish soldiers there, 2 civilians lost their lives, and 6 civilians were injured. A child was among those killed.

June 25, 2019: Turkish fighter jets bombed a civilian vehicle on the move in the Goşin region of Hewler's Soran district. One of the two brothers in the vehicle died and the other was seriously injured.

June 28, 2019: Turkish fighter jets bombed two civilian vehicles in the village of Berd Kuran near Kortek Mountain in South Kurdistan. Abdula family members, father Abdula Ali Mîne (53) and his children Kurdistan Abdula (30) and Heryad Abdula (19) died. Mother Rabi Mihemed and Mihemed Abdula, Taybet Mihemed Abdula, Benaz Abdula and one individual whose name was not learnt were injured.

June 18, 2020: Ebas Mexdît was killed in a Turkish airstrike on the Sidekan region.

June 19, 2020: Turkish fighter jets bombed residential areas in the Şêladizê rural area of ​​Duhok's Amadiya district, leaving 5 civilians dead.

June 24, 2020: 2 civilians lost their lives following a Turkish bombing in a picnic area in the Sarbajêr district of the city of Sulaymaniyah.

July 27, 2020: Civilians named Dilovan Şahin, Omer Keşanî and Ebdullah Ehmed lost their lives following a Turkish bombing in Amadiya countryside.

According to the report released by the CPT Iraqi Kurdistan Office, the attacks carried out by Turkey only in 2021 and the civilians who lost their lives are as follows:

May 25, 2021: 20-year-old Bawer Ahmed was injured while watering his field in the Deşişe village as a result of artillery fire by the invading Turkish army. Other farmers in the area were also injured by shrapnel pieces.

May 26, 2021: Two brothers, 16-year-old Ali Muhsin and 20-year-old Hasan Muhsin, were injured when the Turkish state bombed the village of Biherê while they were grazing their animals.

June 1, 2021: 70-year-old Ramazan Ali was injured by Turkish artillery fire while watering his fields in Hirure.

July 8, 2021: A civilian was injured in the village of Hirure when the Turkish army commenced fire on agricultural lands.

August 13, 2021: Ibrahem Hassan Mohamad (51) was shot by Turkish soldiers while irrigating his fields in the Deşişe village of Kani Masi. Villagers were forced to migrate due to the Turkish army's operation earlier this year. Mohamad had briefly returned to the village with 12 others to irrigate the fields to support their families.

August 20, 2021: Ahmed Şakir (40) and Yousif Amir (26) were killed by Turkish artillery fire in the Batifa district of Zakho. The families of Şakir and Amir, who came to the region as tourists from Mosul, learned about the death of their relatives when the bodies were found 2 days after the incident.

HUNDREDS OF VILLAGES IN JEOPARDY

The report of the CPT - Iraqi Kurdistan Bureau also reveals that hundreds of villages are in jeopardy because of the Turkish attacks: “We have reported that 109 civilians have been killed and more than 120 civilians were injured as a result of these attacks since 2015. 648 villages are about to be completely evacuated. There are only 55-60 families living in these villages. If there is even a single family, we do not call that village 'evacuated.’ We call it a village under the risk of evacuation. 150 villages have already been completely evacuated.”

Although the CPT report said that the number of civilians killed is 112, 168 civilians have lost their lives in the Behdinan region alone since 2015 as a result of the attacks of the invading Turkish state.

WAR CRIMES COVERED UP

The number of people who lost their lives in the attacks of the invading Turkish state across South Kurdistan is much higher than reported.

Those killed in the Turkish attacks are not declared martyrs by the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the cause of deaths is not officially recorded by the Forensic Medicine Institute. This shows that the Kurdistan Regional Government is covering up the war crimes committed by the Turkish state against the Kurdish people in South Kurdistan.