Jul 08, 2016

UNPO Roundly Condemns Iranian Military Aggression and Shelling of Civilian Villages in Iranian and Iraqi Kurdistan


Brussels, 8 July 2016 - The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) strongly condemns Iran’s increasing military aggressions in Iranian and Iraqi Kurdistan. After 15 June 2016, the situation in this region has been spiralling out of control as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have started shelling civilian villages and inflicting excessive violence on the local population, leaving many of the latter – including children - severely injured and effectively forcing them to flee their homes. 

 

Clashes between the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI)’s Peshmerga Forces and Iran’s IRGC have erupted on 15 June and further escalated into a full-scale war waged by Iran and targeting civilian-populated areas in eastern (Iranian) and southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan.

The Iranian government conducts a harsh policy of human rights suppression towards the Kurdish population, imprisoning, torturing and executing activists linked to the PDKI or other Kurdish organisations. Considering these security concerns, PDKI officials are being escorted by Peshmerga Forces, who are in charge of defending them.

The Iranian regime has recently made threats against PDKI and its bases in southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan, including threatening to target refugee camps in the region. Hossein Salami, Deputy Commander of the IRGC, has threatened to invade southern Kurdistan by launching “tens of thousands of missiles”.

UNPO calls on the Iranian government to immediately put an end to its military aggressions in the Kurdish Iran-Iraq border region. UNPO will press the international community to raise the matter of Iran’s assaults on civilians, and will continue to support democratic opposition groups in their struggle for democracy and national rights.