ANKARA (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Foreign Minister of Turkey has rejected claims that Turkey carried out assaults in the Iraqi province of Duhok, where a strike on Wednesday left 23 people injured and eight dead.
Mevlut Cavusoglu warned on Thursday that the Iraqi government should not fall for a “trap.”
Turkey has denied charges made by Iraqi authorities and state media on Wednesday that it had attacked a mountain resort in the country’s northern Duhok province.
According to district mayor Mushir Mohammed, at least four missiles struck the resort town of Barakh in the Zakho district of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Iraqi residents made up the entire death toll.
In response to the attack, Iraq summoned Ankara’s ambassador to Baghdad, and according to its state news agency, the government will call back its charge d’affaires in Ankara back.
Additionally, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the prime minister of Iraq, announced Thursday a day of national mourning. He launched a probe into the incident and sent a delegation there, led by Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
Two children, three men and three women, were among those who were killed, Zakho health administrator Amir Ali told reporters.
Cavusoglu told the broadcaster TRT Harber that the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), an outlawed organisation, has always been the target of Turkish military operations in Iraq. He also claimed that the Duhok attack was carried out by what he called “terrorists.”
As part of a long-running campaign in Iraq and Syria against Kurdish PKK and Kurdish Syrian YPG militants, Turkey frequently launches airstrikes in northern Iraq and has dispatched commandos to support its offensives. Both are viewed as terrorist organisations in Ankara.
Reports accusing Turkey for the assault, according to Cavusoglu, are PKK attempts to obstruct Ankara’s counterterrorism efforts.
The Turkish military has informed the ministry that no such strike had been carried out by Turkey, Cavusoglu said, adding that the entire world knew they would never attack the civilians.
They were ready to speak with Iraqi officials following this attack, which they believed the [PKK] terrorist organisation had carried out. They could work together to remove the fog curtain. It was wrong to hold Turkey responsible until that was changed, he said.
Operation Claw-Lock, part of a series of cross-border operations initiated by Turkey in 2019 to target the PKK, based in northern Iraq’s mountain regions, was launched in regions of northern Iraq in April.
In 1984, the PKK started using force against the Turkish government. The conflict, which was primarily concentrated in southeast Turkey in the past where the PKK attempted to establish an ethnic homeland, has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
To protest against the incident, dozens of Iraqis gathered outside the Turkish embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday. The top UN representative in Iraq also denounced it and demanded an investigation.
Despite protests outside the embassy and other Turkish offices, Cavusoglu said there have been no complaints of property damage or casualties.
