HDP co-chair cuts northern Iraq visit short as army hits PKK targets

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş (2nd L) visits northern Iraq on Dec. 9, 2015. DHA Photo

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş cut his visit to northern Iraq short on Dec. 9, as Turkish fighter jets hit various outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in the Kandil Mountains.

Demirtaş and HDP İzmir deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü first crossed into northern Iraq from southeastern Diyarbakır province on late Dec. 7, going across the Habur Gate on the Turkey-Iraq border before later headed to the northern Iraqi city of Suleymaniye after making contacts in Arbil on Dec. 8.

However, HDP Arbil bureau representative Şilan Eminoğlu said Demirtaş and Kürkçü returned to Turkey immediately over the recent incidents in the region.

Turkish fighter jets hit PKK targets in northern Iraq on late Dec. 8, targeting the storages and shelters of PKK militants in the Kandil, Hakurk, Zap and Avasin Baysan camps while Demirtaş and Kürkçü were in Suleymaniye.