Middle East
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaking at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 19, 2023. Photo: Turkish Presidency
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said that his country acts with an understanding to strengthen Iraq’s political unity and territorial integrity, a day after a drone blamed on Turkey targeted Arbat airport in Sulaimani.
“Iraq, our other neighbor, is also displaying genuine efforts to overcome the internal and external challenges it faces,” Erdogan said in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to a transcript provided by the Turkish presidency.
“We act with an understanding geared at strengthening Iraq's political unity, territorial integrity, and reconstruction efforts, and which does not discriminate between the constituent elements of that country,” he added.
Minutes after Erdogan’s speech, the Turkish foreign ministry released a statement regarding Monday’s drone attack on Arbat airport in Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani province that killed three members of the Sulaimani-based Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG) and injured three others.
In the statement, Turkey claimed that members of the Syria-based People’s Protection Units (YPG) were receiving training with the CTG at the airport when it was hit. While not claiming responsibility for the attack, the Turkish foreign ministry claimed the alleged shared training at the airport “confirmed once again the accuracy of the measures we have taken regarding Sulaimani the people of which are almost taken hostage by the terrorist organization.”
On Monday, the military spokesperson of the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani said that the drone entered Iraq’s airspace through the Turkish border, and the Iraqi presidency said they intend to summon the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad over the Arbat incident.
UN’s Syria cross-border humanitarian aid halt ‘unfortunate’
During his speech, Erdogan talked about the humanitarian crisis in Syria, citing the ongoing conflicts and the devastating earthquake that hit his country and several Syrian provinces in February leading to the worsening of the already dire humanitarian situation.
“It is an unfortunate development that the United Nations’ cross-border humanitarian aid operation in the region has been interrupted at such a time,” Erdogan said.
In July, the UN Security Council was unable to renew the agreement that enabled the delivery of aid to Syria. This was due to Russia vetoing the proposed draft, sparking concern among the international community for the millions of aid-dependent residents in the region.
A month later, the UN announced reaching an “understanding” with the Syrian government to reopen the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey to deliver humanitarian aid to the rebel-held areas in northwestern Syria.
The Bab al-Hawa cross-border mechanism is the only way UN aid, including food, medicine, water, and other critical resources, can be delivered to northwest Syria without traversing through areas controlled by the Syrian government. The crossing has been in use by the UN since 2014.
Erdogan also described the presence of what he described as “terrorist organizations” as the biggest threat to Syria’s territorial integrity, saying that the Syrian people are overwhelmed” by the presence of the Kurdish-backed forces and other radical groups.
Turkey considers the YPG to be the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan People’s Party (PKK) - an armed group struggling for increased rights of Kurds in Turkey but listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara. Turkey has carried out three military operations against the Kurdish forces in northern Syria since 2016, invading key towns near the border such as Afrin, Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain), and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad).
Recently, Turkish armed forces have intensified their attacks on Kurdish forces in northeast Syria. The Internal Security Forces (Asayish) of northeast Syria (Rojava) announced that two of their members were killed as a result of a suspected Turkish drone strike in Hasaka province on Sunday afternoon.
On Friday, Turkish drones targeted a vehicle near the northern Syrian city of Manbij killing three members of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), the all-women wing of YPG.
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