Zakho attack protested across Turkey

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) officials from across Turkey held demonstrations to condemn an artillery attack that killed nine including two children in Northern Zakho of Iraq, Mezopotamya Agency reported.

Under heavy police presence, HDP officials in Beyoglu district of Istanbul issued a press statement. 

“This attack aims to destroy the struggle for free and equal existence of the peoples of the region” said Ilknur Birol, HDP Istanbul co-chairwoman. 

In southeastern Diyarbakir, many NGOs joined the HDP officials in a demonstration. 

Surrounded by a police barricade, HDP MP Dersim Dag said: “Wherever Kurds have an achievement, Turkey attacks that place. We will never accept these massacres.”

HDP Mardin provincial organization also made a statement: "This is certainly not the first time. Zakho Massacre will go down in history as the second Roboski Massacre,” HDP MP Ebru Gunay said. 

The Roboski massacre took place in 2011, near the Iraq-Turkey border, when the Turkish Air Force bombed and killed a group of 34 Kurdish civilians who had been involved in smuggling gasoline and cigarettes.

HDP provincial bureaus in Antalya, Hatay, Siirt and Mersin also issued press statements condemning the attack on civilians and asking the perpetrators to be brought before justice.