The Iraqi government denounced on Wednesday the new incursions of the Turkish army into the territory of the autonomous Kurdistan region in the northern part of the country, as Turkish military operations against members of the Turkish Kurdish separatist movement, the PKK, intensified once again in recent weeks (in Anadolu photo above, Turkish forces operate in northern Iraq).
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an organisation that has been waging an armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1984, is considered a “terrorist” organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.
Ankara is “fully determined” to create a 30-40 km “security zone”
The Turkish Armed Forces occasionally confirm that they carry out bombardments in Iraqi territory and frequently conduct ground and air operations against positions and bases of the PKK.
The PKK fighters have bases in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, but Turkish military bases have also been established there for 25 years.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani chaired a national security council on Wednesday to discuss the latest developments on the issue, according to a statement signed by General Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the Iraqi government on military affairs.
The participants referred to “the interventions and violations of Turkish (armed) forces in the border area,” according to the statement, which strongly criticises “Turkish military incursions and any attack on Iraqi territory,” calling on Ankara to choose “diplomacy” and “coordination” with Baghdad on any security issue.
A delegation of senior security officials will be sent to Kurdistan to ‘assess the situation’ and to ‘form a unified position’ with local authorities on the issue, according to the press release.
In March, following a visit by Turkish officials to Iraq, Baghdad – rather discreetly – designated the PKK as a “prohibited organisation,” while Ankara demanded that the Iraqi government become much more actively involved in the fight against this movement.
They denounce destruction
In early July, the parliamentary group of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two major Iraqi Kurdish parties, condemned the “resumption of Turkish military operations” in Kurdistan, denouncing extensive “damage” to agricultural crops and private property.
Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a US-based non-governmental organisation that mainly operates in Iraqi Kurdistan, recently accused the Turkish military of advancing “15 kilometres into Iraqi Kurdistan territory,” referring to “bombardments” that caused fires in agricultural crops.
In a recent interview with Politico, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler stated that his country is “fully determined” to create a 30-40 km “security zone” on its “borders with Iraq and Syria to completely clear the area of terrorists.”
(information from amna.gr)
