MIDEAST WEEK IN REVIEW - MAY 22
MIDEAST WEEK IN REVIEW - MAY 15
SPECIAL REPORT: THE SULTAN AND THE MOUNT
For 400 years, the Turkish Ottoman Empire controlled Jerusalem. To the sultan caliphs, the Holy City was a mandate to the "throne of the Caliphate." Today, a century after Jerusalem was taken by the British, and then Israel, a new Turkish leader seeks to reassert his authority in the place he calls "Our City."
TURKEY'S ETHNIC CLEANSING CAMPAIGN IN IRAQI KURDISTAN
Turkish soldiers stand on top of tanks near the Turkish-Syrian border in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, October 15, 2019. (Credit: Murad Sezer, Reuters, via jpost.com)
The Turkish military continued its attacks on villages in the Kurdistan province of Duhok on Wednesday, conducting airstrikes within 100 meters of the Assyrian Christian village of Miska. Residents of the village were “terrified” as they fled from their homes, making Miska the fourth such village near the Turkish border to be evacuated during operations Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt. Two Kurdish shepherds were also wounded by Turkish artillery fire in the vicinity of Zakho on Wednesday.
The area around the village of Edine was evacuated after a nearby bombardment on Tuesday, following attacks on the villages of Deshish, Kesta and Chalke last week. Hundreds of people have been displaced elsewhere in Duhok Province since the campaign began, near areas where FAI field teams operate medical clinics and other important ministries. The majority of those affected depend on agricultural production for their livelihoods, which are being heavily impacted by the Turkish campaign. Many residents fear that their homes may be demolished in the construction of new Turkish military bases and outposts.
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The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims that the offense is an “anti-terror” operation against the Kurdish PKK militia, which moved into Iraqi Kurdistan to fight the ISIS caliphate in 2014, and has remained in the rugged mountains near the Turkish border ever since. The PKK has not used their bases in Iraqi Kurdistan to launch attacks on Turkey since then, but Erdogan and his cabinet remain convinced that the PKK is a threat to Turkey, using their concern as a pre-text to justify a de-facto invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan. The PKK does not have a presence in the villages which are being evacuated, and the Turkish strategy of displacing Kurds and building military outposts on their land would meet the United Nations standard for the war crime of ethnic cleansing: “a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”
Please continue to pray for the people of Iraqi Kurdistan, especially those in the line of fire in Duhok Province, as they are forced from their homes in the ongoing campaign. Please pray that FAI field teams in the Duhok region would be granted opportunities to provide relief and proclaim Good News to all of the people of Kurdistan.
Maranatha.
ISRAEL COOLS DOWN, KURDISTAN HEATS UP
TURKISH OFFENSIVE CONTINUES IN IRAQI KURDISTAN
The Turkish military is intensifying a new offensive across the northern districts of Duhok Governate. Operations Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt, which began April 23, are aimed at establishing new bases inside Iraqi Kurdistan and combating the presence of Kurdish PKK militia embedded throughout the rugged terrain near the Turkish border.
