Turkey will continue anti-PKK operations in Iraq, Ankara notifies Iraqi envoy

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey will “firmly” continue its airstrikes in Iraq, Ankara said on Sunday in response to Baghdad’s earlier condemnation of two such bombardments that killed five Kurdish civilians in the Kurdistan Region.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday described Turkey’s ongoing incursion into the country as “unilateral acts of war” that violate Iraq’s sovereignty and called on Ankara to end its cross-border campaigns, which result in dozens of civilian casualties annually.

Following this, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Iraq’s charges d’affaires in their embassy in Ankara, Issam Mohammad, and guaranteed him that Turkey’s operations in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region against alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets would “firmly continue,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy said, according to Anadolu Agency.

Aksoy also said the Iraqi side had been informed that their statement on the recent incidents was “unacceptable” and did not fall in line with “the positive momentum” bilateral ties gained in the latest high-level visits.

In two separate attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, Turkish jets bombarded border regions, killing five civilians, injuring six others, and causing material damage.

Before the Iraqi Foreign Ministry’s comments, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) released its own statement in which it asked both Ankara and the PKK to put an end to their conflict in civilian-populated areas of the Kurdistan Region.

The PKK has been engaged in a decades-long insurgency against Turkey over Kurdish rights and self-rule. Turkey, the United States, and the European Union all designate it as a “terrorist” organization.

In the past year, Turkey has carried out military operations against PKK fighters based within the Kurdistan Region with continued regularity. Turkish forces have crossed into the region up to 20 kilometers deep in some areas to target the group.

Such attacks have led to the evacuation of many villagers from the Kurdistan Region as Ankara’s warplanes continue to damage residential and agricultural lands, and, on occasion, kill civilian bystanders about whom there are no claims of PKK affiliation. Aggrieved locals have long urged both sides to take their conflict elsewhere.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany