Baghdad Condemns Turkish Attacks in Northern Iraq, Kurdistan - Ambassador to UN
Iraq strongly condemns and rejects Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq and Kurdistan, Iraqi Ambassador to the UN Hussein Mohammed Bahr Al Uloom told the Security Council on Wednesday
"There have been Turkish attacks on the positions in the north of Iraq and Kurdistan, and they represent a blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty," Al Uloom said. "These are actions that we roundly condemn and reject regardless of the rationale behind them, they represent a violation of the rules of international law, and they go against the principles of neighborliness."
The ambassador stressed the Iraqi government's pledge to reject the use of its territory to carry out attacks that could harm the spirit of neighborliness between Iraq and Turkey.
The Turkish forces are involved in raids against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara, across the country, and in northern Iraq, seeking to establish a Kurdish autonomy in Turkey, since the early 1980s. In 2013, the PKK and Ankara signed a ceasefire agreement; however, it collapsed just two years later over a number of terror attacks allegedly committed by the PKK militants.
Turkish security forces carry out regular anti-PKK raids across the country and conduct airstrikes against the group in the areas bordering Iraq. According to the Turkish authorities, over 10,000 PKK members have been neutralized since 2015.