Turkey must leave Iraq, respect borders: Iranian ambassador

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Tehran strongly opposes Turkish intervention in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, Iran’s Ambassador to Iraq Iraj Masjedi said in a wide ranging, exclusive interview with Rudaw in which he called on Ankara to withdraw its troops from Iraq and respect international borders.

Masjedi also addressed recent attacks on the US diplomatic mission in Baghdad and last week’s rocket attacks on Erbil. He said that while Tehran opposes the presence of any foreign occupying forces in the country, it also condemns any attacks on diplomatic missions, be it of the United States or any other country.

“We reject military intervention in Iraq and Turkish forces should not pose a threat or violate Iraqi soil,” Masjedi told Rudaw’s Mushtaq Ramazan on Tuesday in an exclusive interview to be aired on Saturday night. “The security of the Iraqi area should be maintained by Iraqi forces and [Kurdistan] Region forces in their area.”

Turkey has established a number of military outposts inside Iraqi territory in the Kurdistan Region since the mid-1990s to reportedly fight guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), increasing its cross-border footprint in recent years. Since June 2020, Turkey has launched three major air and ground operations, establishing new outposts deep inside the Kurdistan Region.

“We do not accept at all, be it Turkey or any other country to intervene in Iraq militarily or advance or have a military presence in Iraq,” Masjedi said. “Therefore we believe the Turks must return to their international position and be stationed there, and the security of Iraq be maintained by Iraqis.”

Baghdad has lodged formal protests on a number of occasions about violations of its territory by Turkish forces and aircraft, but to no avail and in recent years, Ankara has stepped up its airstrikes in the Kurdistan Region, killing top operatives of the PKK. The militant group has been active since 1984 and states it is fighting for the rights of the Kurdish people inside Turkey.

Turkey launched an operation on February 10 to free a group of its nationals held by the PKK in the Gara mountains of Duhok province. All the captives were killed in unclear circumstances. Turkey accused the PKK of killing them, an accusation rejected by the PKK, which maintained that Turkey accidently killed the captives when bombing the cave where they being held.

Turkey has threatened that its next operation would be in the Shingal (Sinjar) area to clear it of a Yazidi militant group established with the help of the PKK in the aftermath of the genocidal attack of the Islamic State (ISIS) in August 2014.

“What has Sinjar got to do with Turkey?” Ambassador Masjedi said. “This is an internal matter and the Iraqis themselves must resolve this issue ... It has no bearing on Turkey to threaten or make a decision on this. Therefore, we reject any threat, be it from Turkey or any other side.”

When asked about last year’s agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government in Baghdad over Shingal, Masjedi said that if it provides security and services to the long-suffering people of the area, then Tehran would support it. “People from this area and other areas have suffered a lot, in particular from Daesh [ISIS] ... Any decision and agreement that contributes towards this issue [providing services and security] then the Islamic Republic … supports it.”

Since April 2017 when Masjedi, a senior officer in Iran’s Quds Force, the external arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), assumed office, he has witnessed one of the most tumultuous times between the US and Iran. Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and the two foes came close to waging a war after the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 in an American airstrike at Baghdad airport.

Masjedi has also seen a number of Iranian diplomatic missions torched in the Shiite south at the hands of anti-corruption protesters who see Iran interfering in Iraqi affairs.

And Tehran has come under tremendous pressure in connection with recent attacks on diplomatic missions in Baghdad and rocket attacks in Erbil on February 15. Washington launched several strikes against Iran-backed militias in al-Bukamal, in the border area between Syria and Iraq, on Thursday night, US time. US President Joe Biden on Friday addressed the decision makers in Tehran, reminding them: “You can't act with impunity, be careful."

Washington and its regional allies maintain that Iran is the main actor behind attacks on US personnel and diplomatic missions in the country, but uses anonymous and shadowy militia groups to hide its involvement. Last October, the US added Masjedi to its sanction list, accusing him of “destabilizing” activities. 

“Let me be frank on this issue, the Islamic Republic is against any attack or threat against the diplomatic missions of any country in Iraq, we reject it and condemn it. All the diplomatic missions must be bestowed with adequate security and respect, it makes no different whether it is the embassy of the United States or any other places,” Ambassador Masjedi said. “Therefore we are not able to condone acts like this … We ourselves have been subjected to severe and worse attacks than this. Look at our consulates in Basra, holy Najaf, and Karbala. It was attacked much worse than the US embassy. It was set alight and a lot of damage was caused.”

“We have a clear position on this, that diplomatic missions of any country should not be subjected to violation,” Masjedi said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran wants complete security in Iraq and in our view anyone who undermines this security and violates it, under no circumstances will they be supported or accepted by us or approved by us.”

Masjedi, who has been active in Iraq since the 1980s when he carried out reconnaissance missions deep inside Iraqi territory in the north with the help of the Peshmerga, believes that Iraqi and Kurdish forces are capable of maintaining order and security in the country and there is no need for foreign military presence.

Iran has very warm and cordial relations with the Kurdistan Region, Masjedi said, adding that Tehran does not pose a threat to the Kurdistan Region. He condemned last week’s rocket attacks on Erbil. “Iran utterly opposes any attack on Erbil,” Masjedi said. “We believe these kinds of acts are a cause for insecurity. We condemn the attack on Erbil and reject it. We believe that the security of the area should always be maintained.”

Masjedi said that Iran has respect for the Kurdish leadership, the Peshmerga forces, and in particular for Masoud Barzani, the former president of the Kurdistan Region who was recently subjected to a stinging attack by an IRGC-affiliated outlet that published a short animated film about the assistance that slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani provided to the Kurds in the summer of 2014 as ISIS came within fifty kilometers of Erbil.

“The Islamic Republic believes that the Kurdish Peshmerga and their commanders played a critical and significant role in eliminating Daesh. The Islamic Republic did help but … the Kurdish region gave thousands of martyrs,” said Masjedi. 

“We believe this film was a very negative film … We witnessed how much they [Peshmerga] fought. They were the ones who did the work and we were a limited number next to them,” said Masjedi, who as a senior IRGC Quds officer worked closely for years with Soleimani. The filmmakers “did not understand Mr. Barzani and Mr. Soleimani. Mr. Soleimani always believed in humility, to provide assistance without conferring any obligation on the other side. On the other hand, Mr. Barzani and the heroic Peshmerga, they have struggled throughout history.”