The Kurdish Globe-Neighbors say they seek "terrorists" hiding on border areas.Several villages evacuated, one woman wounded on Iraqi Kurdistan Region borders due to Iran and Turkey bombardment.
The shelling by Iran and Turkey on Iraq's villages "will not only hurt the civilians who live on the border and Kurdistan Region, but it will also hurt the Islamic Republic of Iran," Kurdistan Region Parliament Speaker Kamul Kirkuki told the Iranian Consul in Kurdistan Region during a meeting to condemn the bombardment. "We would like to have friendly relation with Iran on the basis that both sides respect the sovereignty of each other," said Kirkuki.

In a statement, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Iranian shelling and Turkish warplane attacks have caused huge causalities to civilians living on the region's border with Iran and Turkey. "The presidency of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region condemns these attacks on the border regions, and at the same time considers this a violation and aggression on the sovereignty of the Iraqi state and demands its immediate cessation," the statement said.

For several days, Iran and Turkey simultaneously resumed bombing border areas, accusing the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Free Life for Iranian Kurdistan Party (PJAK) of hiding in the mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region border.

A number of villagers on the border on Monday demonstrated against the bombardment and asked the KRG to demand that Iran and Turkey stop the attacks. Iran started shelling the border areas after the Iranian authority executed five Kurdish activists on May 9. After the execution, the residents of some Kurdish cities in Iran went on strike to protest hangings of dissidents. Meanwhile, the Iranian authority says Iran shells the Kurdistan Region borders because "terrorists" are hiding in the border areas and attack Iran.

"The Iranian government does not wish to destabilize the neighborly relations, but we will take action against terrorists," said Athim Husseini, the Iranian General Consul in Erbil city, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan Region. "The terrorists are based on the Kurdish lands to conduct terrorist operations against Iran, and we must deter those people. The KRG must protect the borders to prevent the terrorists from entering Iranian territory to carry out violent attacks." The consul concluded by saying that "we wish that the KRG government would fortify the borders."

As for Turkey, its war planes resumed attacking the border areas after Turkey's government invited Iraqi Kurdistan Region President to visit Turkey. But the Kurdistan Region presidency said the Turkish and Iranian shelling of the border areas of Kurdistan Region will not affect the visit of Kurdish President Massoud Barzani to Turkey.

Fuad Hussein, head of the Presidential Office, said the date of Barzani's forthcoming visit has not been set yet, "but the visit will be determined if the time is right for both parties." Barzani's visit to Turkey is the first of its kind as president of the Kurdish enclave to Turkey. "It will be a turning point in relations between Turkey and Kurdistan Region," Hussein added.

The visit also comes at a time when relations between Turkey and Kurdistan are witnessing increasingly good bilateral relations, in particular when it comes to the economy.