'Zakho is the second Roboski Massacre': HDP, bar associations condemn Kurdistan strikes

People protesting outside Turkey's embassy in Baghdad

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The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has said that the parliament should urgently convene to discuss yesterday's (July 20) bombardment that claimed nine lives in the Zaxo (Zakho) district of the Duhok province in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

The strikes hit the resort area of Perex (Barakh) and all casualties were Iraqi civilians, including a child.

While both the Baghdad and Erbil governments pointed to Turkey, it denied responsibility for the attack and blamed the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Releasing a written statement today, the party's Central Executive committee noted that at least 112 civilians have lost their lives in Turkey's strikes in the Kurdistan region sinc 2015.

Yesterday's strikes will go down in history as the "second Roboski Massacre," the HDP said, recalling the 2011 airstrikes that killed 34 civilians in the border area in Roboski, Şırnak.

"The government is politically and legally responsible for this massacre, which will go down in history as the second Roboski Massacre. This massacre is also an attack on another country's sovereignty.

"The perpetrators and the decision-makers must be put on trial, and the necessities of law and humanity must be fulfilled.

"As a party that struggles for a region and world where wars and conflict do not exist, we once again reiterate that cross-border military operations and attacks must be halted immediately, and we condemn this massacre in the strongest terms."

Since it was the parliament that green lighted the cross-border operations in Iraq, it must hold an emergency session to discuss the incidents, the party further said.

Turkey in mid-April launched a new military offensive in the Kurdistan Regional Government territory, dubbed as the "Operation Claw-Lock," latest in a series of offensives that have targeted the PKK since 2019.

Statements by bar associations

Bar associations in six predominantly Kurdish-populated provinces — Diyarbakır, Urfa, Şırnak, Van, Mardin, Bingöl — have denounced the bombardment in separate statements.

"Just as in Roboski, humanitarian law becomes worthless when it comes to the Kurds. We express condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and to Kurdistan," the Diyarbakır Bar said, adding that it will file criminal complaints for the identification and punishment of those responsible for the attack.

The Urfa Bar said shelling civilian settlements was a direct violation of the right to life, and called on the international community to protect civilians. An effective investigation should be carried out, it said.

The Human Rights Association (İHD) also released a statement about the issue, noting that the statements from the government of Iraq showed that Turkey was responsible for the attack.

"The statement made by Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is far from reflecting the truth ... Moreover, it is quite noteworthy that the Turkish Armed Forces, which is engaged in military activity in the region in question, and the Ministry of National Defense, which it's affiliated with, have not made any statement yet."

It also noted that the silence of the media, apart from a few outlets, showed that there is no press freedom in Turkey.

"The media known as the mainstream media taking sides with the government shows that the minimum press ethics principles are not working." (AS/AÖ/VK)