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Curfew imposed in Iraq’s Kirkuk after clashes between Kurds and Turkmen over Kurdistan vote

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A Kurdish man walks in the street in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk on September 18, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi police have imposed a curfew in the northern city of Kirkuk, which witnessed skirmishes between Kurds and Turkmen days before a controversial Kurdish referendum on independence from the mainland.

The Iraqi Kurds plan to hold the plebiscite on September 25 in three provinces that make up their region, as well as in disputed areas that are controlled by Kurdish forces but claimed by Baghdad, including the oil-rich Kirkuk Province.

Baghdad has slammed the upcoming vote as unconstitutional, calling on the Kurdish leadership to drop the plan.

On Monday, Iraq’s top court temporarily suspended the Kurdish independence referendum, saying it “issued a national order to suspend the referendum procedures … until the resolution of the cases regarding the constitutionality of said decision.” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also formally asked the Kurdish officials to halt the process.

Later in the day, gunmen opened fire on one of the Kirkuk offices of the Iraqi Turkmen Front political movement, which is opposed to the Kurdish vote.

Mohammed Samaan Kanaan, in charge of the Front’s offices, told The Associated Press that guards returned fire, killing one and wounding two of the assailants.

Hours later, a police patrol attacked another office of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, but there were no casualties, he added.

Afterwards, Kirkuk was placed under a nighttime curfew, with provincial police chief, Brigadier General Khattab Omar saying that an investigation committee was probing the incident.

He blamed Monday’s clashes on “reckless enthusiastic youths” and said that arrests have been made.

Locals said Iraqi police had deployed overnight in Kirkuk to prevent any outbreak of ethnic violence ahead the Kurdish vote.

Last week, Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers approved holding the secession vote in the face of fierce opposition from the central government in Baghdad.

The United Nations and the US as well as regional powers like Iran and Turkey have also expressed concerns about the planned referendum by the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), arguing that it could create further instability in the already volatile region.

The president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, said once again late Monday that he would proceed with the referendum despite warnings at home and abroad.

Syria safe zones hit by clashes on first day

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Syrian government forces and rebels clashed in the north-western province of Hama on Friday shortly after a Russian-led deal to establish safe zones took effect, a monitor and a rebel official said, according to The Guardian.

The zones, agreed to by Russia, Turkey and Iran, went into effect at midnight on Friday. The plan’s details will be worked out over the next few weeks but the zones appear intended to halt conflict in specific areas between government forces and rebels, and would potentially be policed by foreign troops.

Fighter jets fired at the rebel-held village of al-Zalakiyat and nearby positions in the Hama countryside, where the combatants exchanged shelling, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based war monitoring group said government forces shelled the nearby towns of Kafr Zita and Latamneh. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian army.

The source reminds, the de-escalation zones are the latest international attempt to reduce violence in the war-ravaged country, and represent the first effort to envisage armed foreign monitors on the ground in Syria.

Turkish military destroyed 6,320 buildings in five kurd southeastern provinces amid clashes

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kurdish woman no homeSome 6,320 buildings in five southeastern provinces have been destroyed amid security operations in the region against the  Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmuş has said, adding that the number corresponds to approximately 11,000 residential units.

Kurtulmuş mentioned five southeastern districts in his speech, namely the Sur district of Diyarbakır province, the Silopi, İdil and Cizre districts of Şırnak province and the Yüksekova district of Hakkari province. 

“The number of buildings destroyed in the Sur, Silopi, Cizre, İdil and Yüksekova districts is 6,320. If we think of them in terms of flats, it’s approximately 11,000 units. The predicted cost to repair the buildings is around 855 million Turkish Liras,” Kurtulmuş told journalists at a press meeting after a cabinet meeting at Çankaya Mansion in the capital Ankara on May 30, citing a report by the Environment and Urbanization Ministry. 

Meanwhile, a curfew that was imposed on March 13 in Yüksekova has been partially lifted, making way for local citizens who left the district to avoid clashes between PKK militants and Turkish security forces to go back.

Most of the residents migrated to the eastern province of Van after the curfew came into force and additional trips were organized by companies for the residents who wanted to go back to Yüksekova.

“I’m happy to go back to my house. I only took my suitcase when I was leaving. I’m going back with the same one,” said Sevi Aslan, who moved to Istanbul three months ago in order to escape the clashes. 

“According to the information I received from the province, the doors of our house were broken, our clothes were burned and major destruction took place. We don’t accept this cruelty. We will continue to live in our province,” Aslan told Anadolu Agency on May 30. 

Germany: Hundreds pro-Erdogan & pro-Kurdish demonstrators clash across Germany

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570b12d5c36188f72e8b45d5(RT) German riot police used pepper spray and batons to subdue violent clashes that broke out as pro-Kurdish activists confronted participants in rallies supporting the Turkish government as they marched through several major cities on Saturday.

Demonstrations were held in Cologne, Nurnberg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and several minor German cities in response to the recent terror attacks in Ankara and Istanbul. They were organized under the motto “March of Peace for Turkey and the EU” by “AYTK” (European New Turks Committee). The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) and Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK), a militant splinter group, have claimed responsibility for some of the major terrorist bombings in Turkey that have recently killed dozens.

The activists were waving Turkish national banners as some shouted “Allah Akbar.” 

Hundreds of Kurds and German left party members staged counter-demonstrations, accusing the anti-PKK protesters of having ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s nationalist ruling party, AKP, which has been clamping down on Kurdish populations in the southeast of Turkey through military force.

Cologne police detained 24 members of the two opposing groups as they threw firecrackers and bottles at each other and law enforcement, injuring at least five officers, DPA reports. The number of pro-Kurdish activists was estimated at 250, while several hundred demonstrators participated in the pro-Erdogan rally, far short of the announced target of 5,000.

https://youtu.be/hgQ5qFmjzAs

The protests in Stuttgart also took a violent turn, as rocks and firecrackers were hurled at police. Twelve officers and five activists were reported injured in the showdown.

In Hamburg, about 1,250 Kurdish and German activists demonstrated alongside some 200 Turks, Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper reports. The pro-Kurdish counter-demonstrators marched to the Turkish consulate under the slogan “For Tolerance and International Anti-fascism” to protest the “fascism” towards Kurds shown by Erdogan’s government.

READ MORE: German embassy, consulate close in Turkey over terror threat

Some 2,500 people heeded a call from AYTK to gather at Jakobplatz square in Nurnberg, while the number of counter-demonstrators amounted to 300. As local police succeeded in separating the rival crowds, no major incidents were reported, according to BR24 news site.

Heavy police presence ensured the peaceful nature of the rallies held in Munich, Hannover, Bremen, and Bielefeld.

PKK, which is banned in Turkey, has about 14,000 supporters in Germany, according to Der Tagesspiegel.

Kurdish Forces PKK neutralize five Turkish security forces in Nusaybin clashes

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Turkish-security-forces-in-Turkish-Kurdistan-dec-2015-photo-epaISTANBUL,— Kurdish militants killed five members of the Turkish security forces on Thursday in a series of clashes and bomb attacks in a town under a military lockdown in Turkish Kurdistan, the southeast of the country, the Dogan news agency reported.

The Turkish security forces were carrying out an operation in the town of Nusaybin in Mardin province where the government has been waging a blistering offensive against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

A senior police officer was hit by gunfire and later died, and four other members of the security forces, including a major in the gendarmerie and another senior police officer, died in two separate bomb attacks.

Nusaybin has been under curfew since mid-March for a military operation to push the PKK out of the town, where the authorities say the group has dug trenches and put up barricades.

Hundreds of security forces have been killed in the Kurdish region, while government says thousands of PKK militants have died.

Opposition political parties say between 500 and 1,000 civilians, mostly Kurds, have also perished in the fighting, since the Turkish offensive against the PKK centred in towns and cities in Turkish Kurdistan.

Ankara launched the offensive against the PKK after the collapse in 2015 of a two-year long ceasefire with the group that has been a thorn in its side for three decades.

The renewed conflict has also struck the heart of the country, with two attacks that killed dozens in the capital Ankara claimed by Kurdish rebels, at a time when citizens are already on high alert over bombings by the Islamic State group.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday proposed stripping Turkish citizenship from supporters of Kurdish rebels.

“These people don’t deserve to be our citizens. We are not obliged to carry anyone engaged in the betrayal of their state and their people,” he said.

A day after his comments his Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said: “Of course we will begin work on this”.

he PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 78-million population.

A large Turkey’s Kurdish community openly sympathise with PKK rebels.

The European Union has urged last week Turkey to restart the peace process with the Kurd.

Azerbaijan loses a least five troops in clashes with NKR Defense Army

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f56741830215cf_5674183021606.thumbAccording to earlier reports, on the night of December 18, Azerbaijani troops made three attempts of incursion into the Nagorno-Karabakh territory in the northern section of the Line of Contact.

The advance forces of the NKR Defense Army spotted Azerbaijani commandos and threw them back, causing losses.

According to reliable information by the NKR Defense Army, in the Talish section three Azerbaijani troops were killed and injured, with one of them near death. In the southern section, Azerbaijani armed forces suffered losses – two killed and others injured.

In panic, the Azerbaijani side used tank fire in the Talish section at 3:40pm.

The NKR Defense Army units are in full control of the situation, read to retaliate against any provocations.

One dead, one wounded in clashes in Turkey’s east

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clsh.thumbOne assailant was killed and one was wounded on Sept. 15 during clashes between security forces and members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in various neighborhoods in the eastern province of Van, the Hurriyet Daily News reports quoting the local governor’s office has stated.

PKK members blocked roads in the Karşıyaka, Yenimahalle and Şabaniye neighborhoods with barricades. Locals living in the neighborhoods informed security forces of the incidents as armored police vehicles deployed to the areas were targeted with hidden bombs, Molotov cocktails and long-barreled weapons.

Meanwhile, PKK members responded to the intervention of the security forces by firing their weapons and using improvised explosives. One assailant, wearing a mask and identified as V.B., was killed while another identified as M.İ. was wounded, the statement said.

The governor’s office said judicial and administrative investigations into the incidents were continuing.

 

PKK claims 42 fighters, 417 Turkish forces, killed in recent clashes

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154685Image1ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) released its death toll from the recent  clashes with Turkish government forces, claiming they killed 417 Turkish soldiers and police officers and lost 42 fighters in skirmishes and air raids.

The PKK’s People’s Defence Forces, also known as HPG, said in a statement released Friday that, since the outbreak of the July 24 clashes, the Turkish government launched 62 offensives against the group and in return HPG launched 191 offensives inside the country.

Turkish officials released different numbers for casualties. Ankara claimed Turkish security forces had killed 814 PKK fighters, mainly in air attacks in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Turkey also confirmed that 60 soldiers and police officers were killed by the PKK.

The Turkish government reignited a war with the PKK after the rebels claimed responsibility for the deaths of two army officers in late July. The fighting has ended a 2013 ceasefire that was meant to resolve a three-decade conflict in which some 40,000 people have been killed.

report Rudaw

Turkey: Curfew declared in Turkey’s east over clashes with PKK fighters

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MUŞ – Anadolu Agency

DHA photo

DHA photo

A curfew has been declared in the Varto district of eastern Muş province over clashes with outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), while five security personnel were killed in attacks over the weekend.

Muş Governor Vedat Büyükersoy said the governorate had declared a curfew starting from 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 16 until further notice in order to provide security, Anadolu Agency reported.

Büyükersoy added PKK militants were present in Varto and operations against the militants were continuing.
Early on Aug. 16, PKK militants raided a worksite in the district and demolished a bridge at an entrance to the district with bulldozers they had seized.

In the eastern province of Kars, one soldier was killed Aug. 16 in armed clashes between the local gendarmerie and suspected PKK militants.

The clashes erupted during a gendarmerie special team operation in Kars’ Kağızman district. Gendarmerie CSM Nurettin Öztürk succumbed to his injuries in hospital. Another wounded soldier was reported to be in a good condition.

Three suspected PKK militants were killed in the clash and their weapons were seized. An air-supported security operation started in the area.

The clashes came one day after three soldiers and a police officer were killed in attacks by the PKK in eastern Turkey.

The three soldiers were killed when an explosive device laid by PKK militants on a road in the Karlıova district of eastern Bingöl province was detonated on Aug. 15, the Turkish Army said in a statement. “Three of our soldiers were martyred and six wounded,” the army said.

An official ceremony was held in Bingöl for three fallen soldiers identified as Gendarmerie NCO Muhammed Gürlek, Specialized Sgt. Haşim Dirik and Specialized Sgt. Musa Saydam.

The body of Gürlek was set to be laid to rest in the western province of Osmaniye, while Dirik’s body was sent to the Aegean province of Manisa for his funeral. Saydam’s body was sent to the western province of Kırıkkale, where he would be laid to rest.

Later on Aug. 15 a police commissar died after coming under attack by PKK militants as security forces were sealing trenches dug by the rebels in the Şemdinli district of the southeastern Hakkari province, Doğan News Agency reported.

Police Commissar Ahmet Çamur, 46, was brought to the Black Sea province of Trabzon for his funeral and burial after an official military ceremony was held in the southeastern province of Van.

Armenia clashes over Russian soldier

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_80305824_025426199-1The clashes began as protesters tried to march to the Russian consulate in Gyumri.

At least 12 people have been wounded in clashes in Armenia between police and protesters demanding the handover of a Russian soldier accused of killing six members of a local family.

The violence erupted when thousands of protesters in Gyumri tried to march on the Russian consulate in Armenia’s second-largest city.

Valery Permyakov, a soldier at a Russian base in Armenia, is suspected of killing the family on Monday.

He is being held at the Russian base.

Russia has promised to investigate the shootings, but has so far refused to hand the soldier over to Armenian authorities.

Earlier on Thursday, thousands of people attended funerals of the six members of the family – including a two-year-old girl – in Gyumri, about 120km (75 miles) north-west of the capital Yerevan.

The incident has raised tensions between Russia and Armenia, a close ally of Moscow in the Caucasus region.