The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) Executive Council issued a statement saying that it is time to stop the Turkish state's massacres and occupation in Kurdistan.

The statement reads as follows: "The occupier Turkish state is relentlessly bombing Kurdistan daily and is using chemical weapons against Kurdish guerrillas. 138 civilians, of which 28 are children, have been killed in bombings in the last six years alone. Turkey is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by using weapons of mass destruction. 150 villages have been emptied and another 648 are under threat. The geography of Kurdistan is being destroyed and forests are being plundered. By building tens of military outposts the Turkish state is occupying Southern Kurdistan. 

The Turkish state and its representative, Erdogan, are undertaking a policy of destruction against the Kurds, Kurdistan and all its other peoples while successfully manipulating and blackmailing the international community to remain silent.

Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) were able to confirm and announced that the artillery shells were fired from the Xatire military outpost belonging to the Turkish military but based in Southern Kurdistan.

The bombardment targeted a tourist site. As a result of the attack 9 Arab tourists lost their lives and 26 other civilians were injured. A one-year-old and a 71-year-old are among the dead who were largely tourists from the cities of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul. 

The victims were taken to nearby hospitals by the locals. Five of those injured are in critical condition. Locals that flocked to the scene to help the victims were also targeted by two subsequent bombings by the Turkish state. 

The identities of eight of the victims are as follows:

One year-old baby Zahraa Khairy

24-year-old Sajad Mohammed Jassim from Baghdad

43-year-old Ali Sabah Ismael from Baghdad 

30-year-old Abbas Alaa from Baghdad 

25-year-old Taha Abdulrahman from Baghdad 

55-year-old Hassan Abdulamer from Karbala 

16-year-old Zahra Qais

12-year-old Sara Qais.

The Turkish state which is being routed by Kurdish guerrillas in Zap, Avashin and Metina has regularly reverted to weapons of mass destruction. However, the inability of the AKP-MHP warmongers to defeat the guerrillas has led them to attack Yazidi genocide survivors in Sinjar, the people of the UN protected refugee camp in Makhmour, civilian vehicles in Mosul, civilian neighbourhoods in the city of Sulaymaniyah and tens of Kurds in Rojava-Kurdistan on almost daily basis. 

Western Powers still unable to utter the name of the aggressor

Erdogan is being emboldened in these attacks by the silence and tacit approval of the UN, the USA, NATO, the EU and regional states. On every occasion, we have called upon these institutions to condemn Turkish state actions. However, forget condemning these actions. We saw most recently in the NATO Summit in Madrid that Erdogan’s anti-democratic and expansionist policies were met with more approval. Even though this last attack leaves no doubt as to who the culprit is, we see that those that condemned the attack (Germany, the UK, the US, the UNAMI) were unable to utter the name of the aggressor. Why are these states still protecting Erdogan when the Iraqi state has openly stated that the Turkish army was the responsible party? It is this weak response that is emboldening Erdogan to attack more. We call upon these states to condemn the Turkish state and end its occupation of Southern Kurdistan. 

UN must demand Turkey to withdraw its soldiers from Iraq and cease its ground and air operations

Despite the silence of the international community, the people of Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk and Nineveh took to the streets to protest the massacre in Zakho and closed down the Turkish consulates and its embassy.

If the Iraqi government wants to protect its sovereignty rights it must protest in the UN and demand that Turkey leave Iraqi territory.

The UN must not wait any further and condemn the Turkish state, demand it withdraw its soldiers from Iraq ceasing its ground and air operations immediately.

There must not be any silence in the face of Turkish massacres against civilians, it must not be allowed to destabilise the region and must be punished for using chemical weapons against Kurdish guerrillas. "