Baghdad, June 16 (IANS) The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad and handed him a letter of protest over the latest airstrikes on suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
A statement by the ministry said Senior Deputy Minister Abdul-Karim Hashim received in his office Turkish Ambassador Fatih Yildiz who received the letter of protest, Xinhua news agency reported.
“The letter included a condemnation by the Iraqi government to the violations of Iraq’s sovereignty and its airspace, and considered it contrary to the international conventions, relevant rules of international law, friendship relations, principles of good-neighborliness and mutual respect,” the statement said.
The ministry reiterated its call on Turkey to “stop unilateral military operations, and expressed the Iraqi government’s readiness for cooperation in controlling borders,” it added.
On Monday, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command condemned in a statement a series of airstrikes conducted by 18 Turkish warplanes late on Sunday night on refugee camps in Sinjar, some 100 km west of Nineveh’s provincial capital Mosul, and Makhmour, about 60 km southeast of Mosul.
The Turkish warplanes also flew over the areas of al-Kuwayr, Erbil and al-Shirqat, with 193 km deep inside the Iraqi territories, according to the statement.
Also on Monday, the Turkish Ministry of Defence announced that the Turkish jets bombed positions of PKK militants across northern Iraq as part of the ongoing Claw-Eagle Operation.
Turkish forces frequently carry out ground operations, airstrikes and artillery bombardments against the positions of the PKK militants in northern Iraq, especially the Qandil Mountains, the main base of the PKK.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
–IANS
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