From the early morning of June 15th, 60 warplanes of the Turkish state bombed 81 locations, including refugee camp, hospitals, civilian areas, in Makhmour, Sinjar, Qandil, Zap and Xakurk. According to initial reports, the air raids target the Medya Defense Zones, vicinity of the Maxmur Refugee Camp and Shengal (Sinjar). Several locations have been bombed in the Medya Defense Zones, including Çiyayê Direbî, Kozînê, Balayan and Çiyayê Nasir. According to local sources, the aerial bombardment in Maxmur region continues and residents of the camp have taken to the streets to protest against the attack. Reports from the ground say that the bombardments have started a fire in the agricultural land in the surroundings of the camp.

The airstrikes targeting the Kurdish militants in the area spanning the Yazidi-dominated Mount Sinjar to the west and the Qandil mountains to the east was the biggest such Turkish operation since 2015. Dozens of US-made fighter jets, locally manufactured drones and mid-air refueling and airborne communication aircraft were deployed in “Operation Claw-Eagle” that was launched late last night. Strikes targeted a UN-assisted refugee camp in Makhmour lying 50 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) that is home to more than 10,000 ethnic Kurds fleeing violence in Turkey since the 1990s. Reports that the airstrike lasted a full hour from 12:10 to 1:10 a.m. local time. Several children had fallen unconscious and had been rushed to the hospital. The airstrikes had caused massive material damage to the camp’s periphery.

In Sinjar, where the Islamic State unleashed its genocidal slaughter of the Yazidis in 2014, Turkey conducted extensive airstrikes targeting more than 30 locations of the Sinjar Resistance Units, a local militia that has cordial ties with the PKK. The airstrikes caused emotional distress among the public, especially among the more than 7,000 internally displaced Yazidi inhabitants of the Sardashte camp on top of the mountain, which is located only one to two kilometers away from the targeted location of Chilmera.” Sinjar is an Iraqi district, sharing no border with Turkey. If Turkey has security concerns over Sinjar, it must discuss them with Iraqi authorities, not terrify a population still recovering from genocide. Sinjar poses no threat to Turkey.

We, The Democratic Kurdish Peoples’ Congress of Toronto, call on the KRG and the Iraqi government to respond to these attacks against its sovereign territory. We call on the international community to join us in condemning Turkey for their continued war crimes against the people of Kurdistan! Turkey is targeting the Kurds, all the peoples living in Kurdistan and its geography. The Kurds, Assyriac-Chaldeans, Christians, Yazidis, Muslims and all ethnic and religious minorities in Kurdistan are under the threat of genocide!#

Article published by ILPS Canada on June 24, 2020.