Speaking to Rudaw on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid said that Iraq considers Turkey an important neighboring country with many mutual interests, however Ankara’s violations of Iraqi sovereignty has become a matter of discontent.
“To be honest, the stance Turkey has in terms of entering Iraq, whether through army or aircrafts, has embarrassed the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan Regional government, and both Iraqi and Kurdish people, they all disapprove of this in every way,” Rashid said.
Turkey launched an aerial operation, code-named Claw-Sword, in November, targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region’s mountainous areas, mostly Sulaimani province, and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.
Iraq has on multiple occasions expressed its government’s discontent to Ankara, however Turkey’s operations are far from done.
“Last time I met their representatives, I told them the same thing, we cannot have normal relationship while our borders are being violated,” the Iraqi President said, adding that the Iraqi foreign ministry has given Ankara notice multiple times as well.
Iraq last year took the issue to the United Nations. In July, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein addressed the UN Security Council, warning that Turkey has “expansionist” goals behind its repeated attacks on Iraqi territory.
Iraq’s complaint to the Security Council came in response to a Turkish bombardment earlier in July that killed nine Iraqi tourists in Duhok province, sparking national outrage in the country.
Less than two months later, Ankara’s intelligence chief Hakan Fidan flew to the Iraqi capital and met with different top level officials.
Rudaw was told by one of the officials the MIT chief met with that during the meetings, Fidan had stressed Turkey’s support for Iraqi sovereignty, however has told them that Turkey’s war with the PKK will continue in Iraq as long as the group remains on Iraqi land.
Turkish violations on Iraqi land has numbered over 22,000 cases of violations, according to data obtained from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in July, adding that until then, Iraq had filed 296 complaints to the Turkish side.
Iraq’s ministry of defense in July said that the Turkish military had entered 105 kilometers deep into Iraqi lands, setting up around 4,000 of their troops.
Turkey’s Claw-Sword operation is a continuation of Turkey’s Claw operations against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region, with the first stage starting in 2019.
The PKK is an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.
Despite Ankara's denial, the assaults have previously led to civilian casualties who are often caught in the crossfire.
