Baghdad cancels Turkish defense minister visit, summons ambassador over Erbil airstrike

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq's foreign ministry on Wednesday announced the “cancellation” of the Turkish foreign minister’s visit to Baghdad following a Turkish drone attack which killed two Iraqi border officials in the Kurdistan Region on Tuesday.

“Iraq categorically rejects and strongly condemns the blatant attack carried out by Turkey by bombing Iraqi lands in the Sidakan area of the Erbil governorate in the Kurdistan region of Iraq by a drone that caused the death of two officers and a soldier from the heroic Iraqi armed forces,” read a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The airstrike targeted a meeting between Iraqi border officials and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters and a military vehicle in Sidakan, according to Iraq’s Security Media Cell.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was due to visit Baghdad on Thursday.

“We also announce the cancellation of the Turkish defense minister’s visit to Iraq,” the statement said.

The ministry has also summoned the Turkish Ambassador to Iraq Fatih Yildiz to hand him a “strong letter of protest,” the statement added. This is the third time Baghdad has summoned Ankara’s representative over recent Turkish airstrikes in the Kurdistan Region. 

Turkey launched new operations in the Kurdistan Region and disputed territories in mid-June. Air offensive Operation Claw-Eagle began on June 15, with a ground offensive, dubbed Operation Claw-Tiger, launched on June 17.

Iraqi border guards have recently established a number of new bases for its border force bases on the Kurdistan Region-Turkey border in past months due to increased attacks on border villages and towns.

Kurds make up the majority of members of the Iraqi border forces units stationed in the Kurdistan Region, with some Arab and Turkmen members. The force was established in 2003 and is based in Duhok province, according to Hamada Dizayee, Commander of the Iraqi 1st Border Guard unit. 

Seven civilians have been killed in Turkish airstrikes since mid-June. Ankara’s stated aim was to remove suspected PKK targets from the area.

The PKK is a Kurdish group fighting for increased rights for the Kurdish minority in Turkey, and is designated a terrorist group by Ankara and its allies. Thousands of people have been displaced across border areas in the Kurdistan Region as a result of Ankara’s offensives.

The attacks have hit Christian villages particularly hard, with many settlements in Duhok province emptied of inhabitants following bombings and alleged clashes between Ankara and the PKK.

Six villages in the Kani Masi sub-district were emptied last year, mayor Sarbast Sabri told Rudaw in July.

Villages in Zakho were evacuated and placed under lockdown in June following airstrikes in the area. Local officials told Rudaw that 361 villages in Duhok province have been completely emptied due to airstrikes over the past 20 years.