THE Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) issued an urgent appeal for the international community to “stop an imminent massacre and genocide” after Turkish troops invaded Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday.

Soldiers dropped via helicopter into the so-called Medya defence zones in the mountainous Duhok province, which borders Turkey, following a series of air strikes.

“The Turkish state has signalled the launch of a campaign of massacre and genocide,” KNK co-chair Ahmed Karamus said yesterday.

“We call upon the United Nations, the European Union, Nato and other international institutions to take action immediately and stop an imminent massacre and genocide,” he said.

Turkey has escalated its campaign of aggression with air strikes targeting civilians in border villages in recent days.

The latest attack took place on the anniversary of the Armenian genocide, an operation in which 1.5 million men, women and children were systematically exterminated by Ottoman Turkish forces.

“We want to pay particular attention to the fact that the launch of such an aggression on April 24, the anniversary of the genocide and annihilation campaign against the Armenian people, has special purposes,” Mr Karamus said.

“With this attack, the Turkish state has openly manifested its intention for a massacre and genocide against the peoples of Kurdistan. This is the message they want to give to the Kurdish people.”