Turkey announced on Friday that it will continue its military operations in northern Iraq, demanding that Baghdad “cooperate and agree to combating terrorism.”
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and commanders of the armed forces paid a visit to the command center on the Iraqi border in order to monitor military operations, which have sparked more Arab condemnation.
The Defense Ministry announced that forces in Operation Claw-Tiger have “neutralized” three members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in fighting in northern Iraq.
Turkish media, however, reported that three civilians were killed when their vehicle was struck in Shiladze in the Kurdistan Region.
Sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 20 to 50 Turkish soldiers were killed in the ongoing fighting in northern Iraq.
Despite official protests from Baghdad, Turkey on Wednesday launched Operation Claw-Tiger by land and air into the mountainous terrain of northern Iraq where the rebel PKK has rear bases.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy announced that his country is awaiting “cooperation and agreement from Iraq to combat the terrorist PKK.”
In a statement, responding to a strongly-worded statement by the Iraq Foreign Ministry Thursday, Aksoy said Ankara’s operations in northern Iraq target the PKK, which is a threat to Turkey’s national security and Iraq’s territorial integrity.
Iraq's foreign ministry summoned Turkish ambassador Fatih Yildiz twice this week, demanding Ankara withdraw its special forces and halt the bombing campaign. It even summoned Iran's envoy in response to cross-border shelling of Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. Iran, which has its own Kurdish minority, has also been fighting Kurdish rebels who use Iraq as a base.
Meanwhile, Arab condemnations of Ankara and Tehran’s violations continued to pour in.
Egypt condemned “in the strongest terms” the latest Turkish and Iranian military intervention in northern Iraq.
The Foreign Ministry said these “hostile acts are a continuation of the series of repeated violations against Iraq.” It slammed them as violations of all international treaties and norms on respecting the sovereignty of nations and on good neighborliness.
It stressed that it vehemently rejects any form of meddling in the sovereignty of any brotherly Arab nation, warning that such acts will increase instability in the region.
It called on all sides to distance Iraq from any regional and international tensions that would hamper Baghdad’s efforts to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people of achieving stability and development.
An official source at the Kuwait Foreign Ministry expressed the country’s rejection of any interference in the sovereignty of any sisterly Arab country.
It condemned the latest Turkish and Iranian military intervention in northern Iraq, saying they are a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and all international norms and undermine the country’s security and regional stability.
