PKK terrorists harming economy, people's livelihoods in northern Iraq: Local official

By Anadolu Staff

DUHOK, Iraq (AA) - President of the Duhok Labor Union in Iraq said on Wednesday that PKK terrorist organization is harming the region's economy and the livelihoods of the people.

Speaking on the damage caused by the fire set by the PKK in the city, Velat Ozmani said: "The PKK has been harming us in this region since 1991. The terror group prevents people from returning to their ancestral lands and villages."

He pointed out that the PKK terror group disrupts the economy of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and leads to the evacuation of villages.

"(PKK) They have burned hundreds of villages. The villages are on the verge of destruction,” Ozmani noted.

“The PKK is encroaching on the livelihood and sustenance of the poor and the working class,” he said.

Touching on the occupation of Mosul's Sinjar district by the terrorist organization, Ozmani stressed that the Sinjar agreement signed between Erbil and Baghdad could not be implemented due to the PKK.

"The situation in Sinjar also affects Duhok because the Ezidis who fled from Sinjar stay in Duhok, and they also need jobs," he explained.

He said that 260 shopkeepers whose shops were burned in the Duhok National Market would file a lawsuit against the members of the terror group who were responsible for the fire.

Ozmani said they would convey their demands to the Iraqi government through the KRG.

The fire in the National Market in Duhok on April 1, 2014, caused nine billion dinars (six million dollars) in material damage.

Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Miqdad Miri said on July 1 that the perpetrators of the recent fires in the Kirkuk, Erbil, and Duhok provinces were members of the PKK terrorist organization.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz.