Turkish consulate employee killed in shooting incident in Erbil restaurant

A shooting incident broke out inside a restaurant in Erbil killing one employee from the Turkish Consulate General, according to local media reports. A Kurdish citizen from the Iraqi Kurdistan Region has also been reported dead while another has been reportedly injured.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry reported the death of only one official in a statement. Initially, there were media reports of the death of three Turkish diplomats, including Deputy Consul-General. The Turkish Foreign Ministry has released a statement vowing that the necessary action will be taken against the perpetrators of the act. Turkish President Erdogan has condemned the heinous attack on the staff and said Turkey is working to arrest the perpetrators.

Whereas the Foreign Minister of Turkey,  FM Mevlut Cavusoglu, has responded to the incident by reportedly saying that Turkey is in contact with both Baghdad as well as Erbil adding that if necessary, it will send a delegation to bring back the dead bodies.

The president of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, said his administration “strongly condemns the cowardly crime” against the Turkish diplomat and two locals. He sent his condolences to the families of those killed and wished the injured man a “speedy recovery”.

There are no claims of taking the responsibility of the armed attack yet.

The area where the shooting has occured is an upmarket area located on Airport Road between the Dream City and Empire neighborhoods in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region's capital city. The scene of the incident is on lockdown, while security and emergency services representatives are responding to the incident.

In recent weeks, Turkey has been carrying out cross-border operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq. The PKK is officially listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey. Ankara has been fighting the group, which demands the establishment of Kurdish autonomy in Turkey, since the early 1980s.

Apart from Turkey, the PKK has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, the United Kingdom, and NATO member states. The United Nations, however, has not followed suit.