Iraqi Kurds Ask Kurdistan Workers Party to ‘Withdraw’

BASSEM MROUE, Iraq’s Kurdish regional government called on the Kurdistan Worker’s Party to “withdraw” from Iraq’s Kurdish territory Saturday to prevent civilian deaths

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters hold a position at a frontline in Yangije, where heavy clashes against Islamic States (IS) fighters took place the previous night, 50 kms east of Tikrit, on Sept. 11, 2014. J.M. Lopez/AFP/Getty Images

BAGHDAD—Iraq’s Kurdish regional government called on the Kurdistan Worker’s Party to “withdraw” from Iraq’s Kurdish territory Saturday to prevent civilian deaths amid a campaign of Turkish airstrikes targeting the group.

A statement from the office of Kurdish President Massoud Barzani said the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the PKK, “should withdraw its fighters from the Kurdish region so to ensure the civilians of Kurdistan don’t become victim of that fighting and conflict.”

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