Iraq may consider ‘other options’ against Turkey, says ambassador

Rudaw
ANKARA, Turkey—Iraq will consider “other options” against Turkey if diplomatic channels continue to bear no results with respect to tensions over the presence of Turkish troops in Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, the Iraqi ambassador to Turkey, Hisham Alawi, told Rudaw.

 

“We believe that we can resolve this problem through diplomatic channels, direct meetings, or constructive dialogues,” Hisham said. “Or else, God forbid, if the Turkish side does not respond, we will have no other option than to continue with a new round to follow up with our previous complaint [to the UN Security Council].”

 

“If we do not reach some results, the Iraqi government will be forced to consider other options, and by doing so, Iraq would be practicing its right to defend its sovereignty and Iraq's interests,” he said in a televised interview with Rudaw.

 

Turkey has come up with “current and future excuses to justify its military presence in Iraq,” he said, explaining that Turkey sometimes cites the presence of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), other times the Islamic State, and at times its future concerns for what may happen in Iraqi, particularly to the Turkmen minority population.

 

Alawi said that the Turkish government claimed its forces are in Bashiqa camp on the request of the Kurdistan Government or the then Mosul governor, which he described it as an “oral agreement.”

 

“Even if there were oral agreements or otherwise, it was for the military advisers only, not for armed Turkish troops with artillery and tanks 120 kilometres inside Iraqi territory.”

 

The Kurdistan Regional Government and individual governorates do not have such rights to invite foreign troops, Alawi added.


“It is not up to the Iraqi governorates, or the regional government to authorize the Turkish troops. In matters of national security or national sovereignty, only the Iraqi central government has the constitutional powers to make these decisions.”


If Baghdad does not want Turkey on its soil, then “legally Turkey has absolutely no leg to stand on,” said Hadayt Nazami, a Kurdish-Canadian lawyer. “But with these things it is usually power that matters. Iraq doesn't have a strong military, economy nor any other form of deterrence so Turkey is doing what it wants to it do. It is being a bully.”