Iraq’s delegate to the UN Security Council called for the full withdrawal of all Turkish soldiers from their country on Wednesday.
Iraq has filed an official complaint to the United Nations Security Council against Turkey, calling for the full withdrawal of all Turkish troops from its territory on Wednesday.
Attacks by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) can no longer be an excuse for Turkish forces to remain on Iraqi territory, the Iraqi delegate to the UNSC Mohammad Hussein Bahr Aluloom said.
Baghdad protests against Turkish military actions in Iraq, he added.
Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock on 17 April, in Iraq’s Metina, Zap and Avaşîn-Basyan regions against the PKK. Northern Iraq’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has also reportedly aided Turkish forces.
While Turkey maintains it is targeting PKK bases in the Qandil Mountains, the area affected by the operations include Makhmour, a refugee settlement run by the United Nations, and Yazidi homeland Sinjar, some 100 km away from the Turkish border, as the United States Department of Defence said in its latest report on the ongoing Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State.
Ankara regularly engages in cross-border operations against the PKK, as well as the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, which it views as an extension of the PKK. There are at least 37 Turkish military bases in Iraqi territory, according to a 2020 map released by the Presidential Communications Directorate in a since-deleted tweet.