Baghdad is “fully willing” to work to expel the PKK from its territory
July 27 () –
The Government of Iraq has called on the United Nations to approve a resolution to force the withdrawal of Turkey’s military from the north of the country, after the death of nine Iraqi tourists last week in an attack blamed on Ankara, which has disassociated itself from what happened and has pointed to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as responsible.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, has denounced before the UN Security Council that the attack represented “a flagrant aggression by the Turkish Army against innocent civilians” and has stressed that it represents “a military aggression against the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iraq,” according to the Iraqi news agency INA.
Thus, he has requested the aforementioned resolution from the international organization and recalled that the presence of Turkish troops in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan is “illegal”, given that it does not have the approval of the Iraqi Government nor is it part of a security agreement. In this sense, he has warned that the presence of the Turkish military in this area of the country will increase instability.
Hussein has also asked the UN Security Council for a “firm condemnation” of the attack on the tourist resort in Zajo and has underlined the importance of holding those responsible for this “atrocious act” accountable, while at the same time he has opted to create a independent international commission to investigate this “aggression”.
In this line, he has requested that the situation between Iraq and Turkey be included in the agenda of the UN Security Council in the face of “repeated violations by Turkey” in recent years and has recalled that these operations have caused victims between ” defenseless Iraqis”, for which he has also demanded the payment of compensation by Ankara.
The Iraqi foreign minister has also stressed that Baghdad is “totally willing” to work with the UN and other countries to expel the PKK from its territory and has recognized that “its presence causes insecurity and creates instability in Iraq.”
However, he explained that “the Government of Iraq rejects Turkey’s position of exporting its internal affairs to Iraq.” “The solution of these problems must not be at the expense of Iraq”, she said, before stressing that the Iraqi authorities are coordinating with the forces of Iraqi Kurdistan “to adopt the necessary measures to combat the armed and terrorist organizations”.
“We will certainly hear from Turkey many illegal justifications for the presence of its country’s military forces on Iraqi territory, citing baseless arguments related to an internal Turkish problem linked to the PKK and claims about an agreement with Iraq that allows the Turkish military presence”, he criticized, before insisting that this deployment “violates the UN Charter”.
“Because of this situation, we affirm before the entire international community (…) that there is no security agreement between Iraq and Turkey that allows Turkish forces to penetrate Iraqi territory to act against the PKK, despite Turkey’s insistence on its existence,” Hussein stressed, adding that the attack on Zajo “is tangible proof that Turkey continues to ignore Iraq’s requests to stop its ongoing military violations of Iraq’s sovereignty”.
For this reason, he has warned that “the continuation of the aggressive behavior of the Turkish Army could lead to unimaginable consequences, in the midst of massive popular unrest that goes from the south to the north of Iraq.” “We emphasize that this position will only cause losses to everything,” he settled.
Turkey announced in mid-April the start of a new offensive against the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, which was described by Baghdad as a “national security threat”, given that the operations were not being coordinated. . The Turkish Army has also repeatedly carried out military operations against the PKK and its allies in northern Syria since the ceasefire between the Government and the armed group was broken in July 2015.
Add Comment