“Three villages in Dinarta subdistrict in Akre district have been evacuated due to the intensification of the Turkish army’s bombardments and operations,” Kamaran Osman from the Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a US-based human rights organization that monitors Turkish and Iranian operations in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw.
Osman identified the villages as Npakhe, Berkakure, and Kafia on the slopes of Mount Gara and said that relentless Turkish drone strikes and the threat of a ground operation are what drove people from their homes.
Akre district mayor Dilawar Bozo told Rudaw that Kafia was previously evacuated, “but its villagers had returned without consulting us and the security forces. But after two people were martyred in the area they decided to abandon it.”
According to CPT data, 183 villages have been abandoned and an additional 602 are in danger of being evacuated because of fighting between Turkey and the PKK.
Turkey began intensifying its decades-long war against the PKK, especially in Duhok province, last year with the goal of cutting the armed Kurdish group off from the border.
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now calls for autonomy. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey. It has bases in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains.
In a press conference with his Iraqi counterpart in Baghdad last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Ankara is looking forward to Iraq designating the PKK as a terrorist organization. The group is currently listed as a “banned” organization by the Iraqi government.
Sirwan Hussein contributed to this report.
