Iraq takes ‘Turkish aggression’ to UN Security Council, urges emergency meeting

Following Turkey's attack on a tourist resort in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, Baghdad has filed an official complaint at the UN Security Council against Ankara, recalling its ambassador to protest what it calls Turkey's aggression.

According to Press TV, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmad al-Sahaf made the announcement in a statement on Saturday, saying Iraq has requested the UNSC to hold an emergency meeting to discuss Turkey’s attacks, stressing that no security or military agreement exists between Iraq and Turkey.

Sahaf also said that the Iraqi Foreign Ministry “decided to bring the Iraqi charge d'affaires in Ankara to Baghdad.”

He stressed that there is “no security and military agreement” with Turkey at the moment, echoing earlier remarks by a member of the security and defense commission of the Iraqi Parliament, who announced that the security agreement between Baghdad and Ankara has come to an end.

“The security agreement with Turkey regarding the borders has expired and was temporary for one year in the 80s [20th century] and its implementation has been continued until now in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations,” Javad al-Bulani told the Kurdish-language Rudaw television news network on Friday.

On Wednesday, Turkey carried out a strike against the Iraqi hill village of Parakh in the Zakho district in Dohuk Province, killing at least nine tourists, including children and women, and wounding more than 20 others.

Authorities in Iraq insist that the attack was carried out by Turkish forces and that they are responsible for the deaths and injuries of Iraqi civilians, while Ankara says the country’s forces did not attack civilians.

In an interview with Iraq's Arabic news channel Alsumaria on Wednesday night, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said, "If there is a problem between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), this problem should not be dragged into the Iraqi territory.”

“Some Iraqi military experts have proved that this attack was carried out by Turkey," he added.

However, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that "according to the information we’ve received from the Turkish Air Force, we have not had any attacks on civilians [in Dohuk, Iraq]."

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also rejected claims by the Iraqi authorities in a statement on Thursday and attributed the attack to members of the PKK terrorist group.

Militants of the PKK — designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union — regularly clash with Turkish forces in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey attached to northern Iraq.

ME