While the international community’s attention is focused on Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine, the Erdogan regime has launched  a military operation in the Zap region of Southern Kurdistan/Northern Iraq.

According to Turkish officials, the aggression, which began on 17 April, is targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) hideouts in the Metina, Zap and Avashin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq. The Turkish military is deploying fighter jets, ground troops, helicopters, and armed drones, threatening to readily extend this invasion to the entire region.

Ankara justifies this attack by claiming the “right to self-defence” against PKK guerrillas. However,  previous military operations in Syria and Iraq demonstrate Erdogan's intention to expand Turkey’s zone of influence and establish new military bases, making dialogue and a peaceful solution to the “Kurdish question” more difficult.

In recent years, Turkish hostilities in northeastern Syria have killed or wounded thousands of civilians and forced many into displacement, which has also been justified by the Erdogan regime on the grounds of the right to self-defence. According to Amnesty International and other human rights organisations, there is evidence of war crimes and other violations that would include indiscriminate attacks  on residential areas  and cold-blooded killings.

Parallel to these aggressions, the government is persecuting Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members and political activists inside Turkey, with thousands of political prisoners and indiscriminate physical attacks against them.

Esquerra Republicana:

• Calls for an end to the ongoing Turkish military operation in southern and western Kurdistan that constitutes a clear aggression against other sovereign states and a violation of international law.

• Stands in solidarity with the civilian population affected by the conflict and the thousands of displaced persons.

• Conveys its full support for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and denounces the persecution of its members, including the imprisonment of more than 4,000 political prisoners.

• Demands that the Spanish government stop its arms sales to the Turkish army.

• Urges the European Union and Member States to implement measures to compel the Turkish state to find a peaceful and negotiated solution to the “Kurdish question.”

• Reaffirms its support for the Kurdish people’s right to decide democratically their political future.