ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey has “expansionist” goals behind its repeated attacks on Iraqi territory, an Iraqi official said on Sunday of the complaint filed by Iraq to the UN Security Council following a deadly bombardment in the Kurdistan Region that Baghdad and Erbil blamed on Ankara.
The council is set to meet Tuesday in an emergency session to discuss Wednesday’s bombardment in Duhok province’s Zakho that killed nine Iraqi tourists, sparking national outrage in the country. Iraqi and Kurdish officials attributed the attack to Turkey which denied involvement.
Turkish violations since 2018 have numbered a staggering 22,740, Ahmed al-Sahaf, spokesperson for the Iraqi foreign ministry said, adding that "the number of memoranda and complaints submitted by the Iraqi government to the Turkish side amounted to 296 complaints."
Sahaf further reiterated Iraq's stance in denying a "security or military" agreement with Turkey, and blamed Ankara for having "expansionist goals behind the attacks it is carrying out."
Iraq has demanded an apology from Turkey with Sahaf describing the measures taken by Iraq as “the first of their kind and the highest level taken against the Turkish aggression."
The UN has called for a "prompt and thorough investigation" into the Zakho attack.
Shortly after the attack, Iraq’s National Security Council urged the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraqi lands as the country erupted into a fury following the emergence of details about the tragedy.
Dozens of angry protestors took to the streets to demonstrate outside the Turkish embassy and visa offices across Iraq early Thursday. They also called to boycott Turkish products and launched an anti-Turkey hashtag on social media.
Turkey blamed the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) for perpetuating the attack and asked Iraqi government officials not to make preliminary statements.
However, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Saturday said that military experts investigated the “155 mm shells” used in the attack and concluded that the attack was most definitely carried out by Turkey.
Sahaf told Rudaw on Wednesday that Iraq will take the "harshest" response to the bombardment blamed on Turkey, emphasizing that the diplomatic relations will not remain as usual.
The Zakho attack has been condemned globally, but most countries have avoided explicitly blaming Turkey or the PKK.
The PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey and designated a terrorist by Ankara, and the latter has launched successive operations in the Kurdistan Region to eradicate the group.
Its latest operation in the Region, dubbed Claw-Lock, is an air and ground assault in the mountainous areas of Metina, Zap, Avashin, and Basyan in Duhok province. It was launched on April 18 and is the fourth stage of Turkey's Claw operations against the PKK.
