CAIRO (Dispatches) – The Arab League has condemned the Turkish military incursion in northern Iraq, saying it constitutes “unacceptable and deplorable” violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and international law.
The military operations on Iraqi soil increased tension between Turkey and Iraq, said a statement by the pan-Arab body, calling on Ankara to stop such practices and respect the Iraqi sovereignty.
At least 26 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed during Turkey’s new ground and air cross-border offensive into northern Iraq launched on Monday, according to Turkey’s Defense Ministry.
Turkey regularly conducts cross-border offensive on PKK bases in northern Iraq, despite Iraq’s repeated condemnation of Turkey’s violation of its sovereignty.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Turkish ambassador in protest over Turkey’s cross-border offensive.
The ministry handed Ali Reza Guney a “strongly-worded letter calling for the cessation of such provocative acts, and the unacceptable violations,” the ministry said in a statement, renewing Iraq’s demand for the complete withdrawal of Turkish forces from Iraqi territories.
“Iraq has the legal right to take the necessary and appropriate measures in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the rules of international law in the face of such hostile and unilateral acts, as they are taking place without coordination with the Iraqi government,” the statement said.
Earlier in the day, the Iraqi Presidency slammed the Turkish operation in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region as a threat to Iraq’s national security and a violation of its sovereignty.
“The repetition of Turkish military operations inside the Iraqi borders in the Kurdistan Region, without coordinating with the Iraqi federal government, despite previous calls to stop them [the operations] … is unacceptable,” read a statement published by the Iraqi presidency under the name of a spokesperson.
“Unilateral security practices in addressing outstanding security issues are unacceptable, and Iraqi sovereignty must be respected,” the statement added.
The spokesman reiterated that Iraq’s foreign policy is based on refusing to allow its land to become “a field of conflict and an arena for the matters of others.” Iraq, he added, does not also consent to encroachments on its sovereignty and threats to its security and internal stability.
Iraq will never turn into a point where “aggression and threat” are initiated against its neighboring countries, he said.