Turkey is penetrating ever deeper into the territory of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). According to information from the local NGO Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) on Sunday, the Turkish occupation offensive “Operation Claw Lock”, which was expanded to parts of the Amêdî district in mid-June, now reaches fifteen kilometers deep into the country.

At least 602 villages in the Kurdistan region of Iraq are currently threatened with violent evacuation as a result of Turkish expansionism. This figure was also confirmed by CPT, which named 162 villages whose populations have already been displaced since the start of the Turkish “claw operations” in early summer 2020. In order to achieve the long-term goal of destroying the autonomous status of the Kurdistan region and securing Turkey’s control over strategically important areas in northern Iraq, in addition to permanent bombings of guerrilla areas, the Turkish army is also carrying out targeted attacks on civilian settlements - under the guise of border security and an alleged “terrorist threat” to Ankara.