Kurdish people demonstrate in northern Iraq over Turkish operation in Afrin

Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-29 20:38:45|Editor: Lifang

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SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- A demonstration was held Monday in the city of Sulaimaniyah in Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan to protest Turkey's offense into

Dozens of protestors took to the streets in the city, located some 375 km northeast of Baghdad, demanding the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the international community to stop the Turkish attacks on Afrin.

"We are the Front of Patronizing Afrin are holding a demonstration against the aggression of the Turkish forces on Afrin,"Arfan Yasin, an organizer of the protest told Xinhua in the city.

The demonstrators raised banners in English and Kurdish demanding the Unites Nations to rescue Afrin from the Turkish offensive, "UN, it's your duty to rescue Afrin from Turkish aggression," and "We call on UN to intervene immediately to stop Turkish invasion in Afrin."

For its part, an organization of Kurdish activists named "Front of Patronizing Afrin" demanded Turkey to halt aggression on Afrin and called on world countries to take serious action against Turkey.

"We express our objection to the attacks by the Turkish army on the city of Afrin and the killing of civilians. We call on the United Nations to carry out its legal duty to protect the civilians," the Kurdish front said in a statement distributed in Sulaimaniyah.

The statement also demanded the government of Kurdistan to "declare its position clearly against the Turkish offenses on Afrin."

The Turkish military launched the cross-border Operation Olive Branch with Free Syrian Army to fight the Syrian Kurdish militia on Jan. 20, targeting the People's Protection Units (YPG) elements in the Kurdish enclave through airstrikes and land forces.

YPG is the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), a group in northern Syria that Ankara has deemed a "terror group" for its links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party(PKK).

KEY WORDS: Turkey