Ankara's allegations of any coordination with Baghdad on its military operation deployed against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq are untrue, Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Sahhaf said on Wednesday, according to the Mavasin news portal.
"The ministry views it as a blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty and a threat to its territorial integrity because this operation sows fear and harms the security of Iraqi citizens," he said. - "The Turkish ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and handed a strongly worded note describing Ankara's actions as unilateral, hostile and provocative. "We reiterated the Iraqi government's demand for the full and unconditional withdrawal of Turkish troops to preserve our sovereignty and prevent further violations".
"Meanwhile, the Turkish side uses pretexts, claiming that such actions are taking place in the context of protecting its national security, while citing Article 51 of the UN Charter on the country's inalienable right to self-defense. But how can we rely on it when this article does not allow violation of the sovereignty of independent states," said the foreign ministry spokesman. - "In this regard, we emphasize that Ankara's repeated assertions that there is coordination or some kind of agreement with the Iraqi government in this regard are not true." Al-Sahhaf informed that the Iraqi foreign ministry has not yet received a response to the note sent back on Tuesday to the Turkish ambassador and is still waiting for it through official and diplomatic channels. "Iraq reserves the full right to appeal to any source of force at the bilateral and multilateral levels and in international organizations on the basis of the UN Charter and the principles of international law," he noted in this regard.
On Monday night, the Turkish Armed Forces launched a new military operation against the PKK members in the north of Iraq, involving the country's air force and special forces. Ankara's Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar stated that the goals set during the first stage of the operation have been achieved. The only goal of the Turkish military is the elimination of terrorists.
Ankara considers the PKK a terrorist organization and one of the main threats to the national security. Turkish Armed Forces periodically target sites in Iraq, where the organization has camps, hideouts, command posts and arms depots. The military is sanctioned for such cross-border operations by the parliament, which has been renewing the relevant mandate for a period of one year over the past years. Baghdad has consistently condemned the actions of the Turkish military, calling them a violation of Iraq's sovereignty.
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Based on materials from TASS