ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi government on Tuesday condemned Turkish airstrikes in the northern Kurdistan region and called on Ankara to halt the attacks on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) camps.
Baghdad issued a statement calling on Turkey to respect Iraq’s sovereignty and described the Turkish government’s ongoing military campaign against the PKK as dangerous.
“The Iraqi government is taking the necessary measures to stop any threat that is posed to Turkey from Iraq,” read the statement.
Turkish air force jets and artillery have kept up a hail of attacks against the PKK, including a third round of airstrikes on Tuesday on PKK camps in the Qandil Mountains of Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Tensions in Turkey escalated after the PKK claimed responsibility for assassinating two policemen in Gaziantep last Wednesday, ending a shaky peace process with Ankara that began in 2013.
On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that the Kurdish peace process had been a genuine intention by the Turkish government.
He claimed that some people had abused the peace process to fulfill their political aims in the March 30 parliamentary elections, in which the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) won enough seats to pose a challenge to the ruling party backed by the president.
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