by Steve Sweeney

in Iraqi Kurdistan

TURKEY was accused of waging a “psychological war” as part of its illegal invasion and occupation of Iraqi Kurdistan today, with officials urging media organisations not to fall for its propaganda.

Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) spokesman Zagros Hiwa told the Morning Star that Ankara’s continued insistence that it is targeting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is false, and designed to divert attention from its real aim: the genocide of the Kurdish people.

“Newspapers and their journalists should see the ongoing violence and ethnic cleansing and not see this as a war against the PKK,” he explained. 

“Parliaments and governments must act against this invasion … journalists have the duty to inform the people about such kind of threat.”

Comparisons have been made with Israel’s bombing of Gaza and Tel Aviv’s claims that it was targeting Hamas, when in reality it was the Palestinian people themselves that were the victims of the onslaught.

Turkey’s bombing and ground invasion, codenamed Operation Claw Lightning, has continued for more than 30 days to abject silence from the international community and global media.

The KCK insists that Turkey’s latest intervention, which was launched on April 23, aims to destroy the Kurdish resistance and occupy the whole of the the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), including Mosul and Kirkuk.

Turkish jets have been pummelling the mountainous Duhok province on a daily basis, causing villagers to flee in terror. 

Ankara is accused of shipping jihadist fighters and their families from Syria to take over the emptied settlements as part of plans for demographic change.

Missiles have also destroyed a church and civilian infrastructure, with acres of forest and farmland burnt amid accusations of the use of chemical weapons.

A Kurdish villager from Barwari Bala told the Morning Star today that Turkey was waging “a war on Kurds,” insisting that it was part of a genocidal operation being carried out by Nato’s second-largest army.

“Turkey is doing the same as Daesh, the same as Saddam Hussein,” he said. “We just want to live in peace and in freedom. But they want to kill us all.”

Turkish forces are struggling to defeat the Kurdish guerilla forces despite superior technology and weaponry. 

Kurdish youth pledged to join the resistance at a demonstration in Qandil today and slammed the Kurdistan Regional Government for failing to speak out against the invasion.

“We have decided to fight against the enemy shoulder to shoulder with the guerilla,” a statement from the South Kurdistan Patriotic Youth Movement said. “We will not allow the enemy’s dirty plans to be realised.”