MORE than 100 politicians and trade unionists from across Europe and Latin America called on the world today to unite “in moral clarity” and prevent Turkish forces committing genocide in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

They gathered in Erbil, the regional capital, to condemn the ongoing illegal invasion by Turkish forces, whose almost two-month bombardment of the Metina, Zap and Avashin regions of Duhok province has produced hardly any reaction from the international community.

“Heavy battles continue in these regions, with the Kurdish guerilla forces fiercely resisting this illegal invasion. These large-scale attacks target not only the Kurdish guerilla forces but also the achievements of the Kurdish people, with the aim of occupying south Kurdistan. 

“To date, the response to these attacks on the international level has unfortunately been muted,” said a statement by the Progressive International group released on Monday.

Security forces were present outside the hotel where the press conference took place and the peace delegation was banned from reading its statement at the United Nations offices in the city.

Germany has been accused of colluding with Turkey after it prevented 17 members of the delegation from leaving Duesseldorf last Saturday, citing potential damage to Berlin’s foreign relations. Another group was detained at Erbil international airport and deported. 

Footage sent to the Morning Star appeared to show peshmerga forces of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) deployed to the Metina region with German-supplied weapons, which Kurdish officials say are being used in operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the world leaders gathered at Monday’s Nato summit in Brussels. He held “extensive talks” with his US counterpart Joe Biden that he described as “fruitful and sincere.”

It is not clear whether Turkey’s involvement in conflicts in Iraq, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh and Syria — all arenas in which it is accused of war crimes — were discussed. 

Ankara’s bombing of the UN-administered Makhmour refugee camp last week, which killed three people, also appears to have been brushed under the carpet, adding weight to accusations that global powers are complicit in Turkish aggression.

The camp, located in an area contested between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraq’s federal administration, is home to about 12,000 people. 

Most fled Turkey in the 1990s as more than 3,000 Kurdish villages were burnt to the ground during forced assimilation operations that killed thousands of people.

One Makhmour resident told the Morning Star that the situation in the camp was desperate, with Nato, Turkey and the KDP working together in a war on the Kurdish people.

“The bombing of the camp which caused three people to be martyred is a war crime. Erdogan wants to kill us all,” the resident said, before asking: “Why are we being ignored?”

The peace delegation called for world powers to be “driven by morality not geostrategy” and for an end to Mr Erdogan’s “neo-Ottoman expansionist project throughout the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean.”