Over 1,500 attacks on Kurdistan Region of Iraq by Turkish Armed Forces in 2023

In 2023, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) conducted 1,586 attacks in the Kurdistan Regional Government area and Ninova province.

Kamaran Osman, a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) observing Turkey's operations in the region, stated this to Rudaw, based in Erbil.

1,159 airstrikes

According to Osman's statement, Turkey conducted 1,159 airstrikes, 228 drone strikes, and 114 artillery bombardments in 2023. Additionally, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) were responsible for three armed attacks and two mine explosions.

The observer specified that the province that witnessed most Turkish attacks was Duhok which was struck 517 times, followed by Erbil province with 475 strikes, Sulaimani with 420 strikes, and Nineveh with 36 attacks.

According to CPT data, at least 152 people have been killed and 228 others injured in these attacks since 2015.

Osman stated that approximately 850 civilians have been killed in airstrikes by Turkey and Iran since 1990, and Ankara is behind most of these attacks.

Two villagers killed 

According to the families speaking to Rudaw,Turkish military aircraft targeted the abandoned village of Kafia in the district of Akre on Tuesday. Four villagers working on nearby farms were hit, and two of them lost their lives.

Sarbast Sabri, the mayor of the Dinara subdistrict where Kafia is located, told Rudaw's Hunar Raşid, "The strike was carried out by a Turkish warplane."

“The strike was carried out by a Turkish warplane,” Sarbast Sabri, mayor of Dinara subdistrict where Kafia is located, told Rudaw’s Hunar Rashid. 

Civilians caught in the crossfire

The attack occurred during a period of increased violence between Turkey and the PKK, following Ankara's retaliations against forces it claims are affiliated with the PKK's Syrian branch, after the killing of 12 soldiers in late December in the Kurdistan Region. 

The defense ministry has confirmed seven soldiers killed in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq since the beginning of the year.

Often, civilians are caught in the crossfire of the conflict between Turkey and the PKK. Many families have been forced to flee their homes in the Kurdistan Region's villages because of clashes, especially those in northern Duhok province near the border with Turkey, leaving entire villages empty. A Kurdistan Region parliamentary report prepared in 2020 said that the Turkey-PKK conflict has left over 500 villages empty across the region. (AEK/PE)