ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations Security Council in an emergency session on Tuesday addressed the recent deadly attack in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province, with Iraq reiterating its demands for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraqi land, while Turkey renewed its denial of being involved in the incident.
Iraq last week filed a complaint to the council, requesting the body to hold a session to discuss the artillery shelling that struck a tourist resort in Duhok’s Zakho district, killing nine and injured dozens others. Baghdad and Erbil have attributed the attack to Turkey, which has repeatedly denied involvement.
The session began with a briefing from United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, who called the attack a “shocking disregard” to civilian life and international humanitarian laws, adding that it was “of the greatest importance that all attacks on Iraqi territory cease.”
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein once again blamed Turkey for being behind the attack, stating that evidence gathered from the scene of the incident include fragments of “155 mm heavy artillery” projectiles, which are used by the Turkish army in the area.
Iraqis strongly condemned the deadly attack through protests, attacks on the Turkish embassy in Baghdad and Turkish visa application centers, calls to boycott Turkish products, and launching anti-Turkey hashtags on social media.
Hussein added that Iraq has issued 296 official notes of protests to Turkey since 2018 in response to the neighboring country’s continued violations on Iraqi land, which he numbered at 22,742 cases, calling on the council to issue an emergency decision obliging Turkey to withdraw its forces from Iraq.
The foreign minister stressed that there were no agreements between the Iraqi and Turkish sides which would allow the latter to roam Iraqi land under the pretext of targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as they have claimed.
Iraq’s demands before the council were listed by Hussein, which included obliging Turkey to withdraw its forces from Iraq, the formation of an international independent team to investigate the attack and hold the perpetrators responsible, asking the council to include the Iraq-Turkey situation in its agenda, and obliging the Turkish government to compensate for the losses and damages caused by the attack.
In return, Oncu Keceli, Turkey's deputy permanent representative, extended his condolences to the families of the victims of the attack and reiterated Turkey’s rejection of the allegations that have been attributed to it.
Keceli claimed that this was not the first time Turkey has been the subject of a “smear campaign,” pointing the finger at the PKK and stating that the Kurdish armed forces are the ones breaching Iraq’s sovereignty and integrity, not Turkey.
He also blamed Iraqi officials for failing to preserve the country's sovereignty.
“Iraq has so far proven to be either unable or unwilling” to fight the PKK, said Keceli. “If you cannot control your own country if you are unwilling to fight against the terrorists … then you are siding either directly or indirectly with the terrorists,” he added referring to the PKK which Ankara has designated a terrorist organization.
However, Hussein expressed Iraq’s willingness to work with the UN to expel the PKK from Iraqi land, as its presence “causes destabilization and creates a state of instability in Iraq.”
The UN Security Council adjourned the session to discuss the matter in closed consultation after all 18 council members condemned the Zakho shelling.
The Turkish representative renewed his country’s willingness to work with Iraq in the investigation process.
Speaking in a presser following the UN session, Hussein denied Turkey having contacted Iraq to assist in the probe.
“I have only seen this [initiative from Turkey to investigate] in the media… They have not sent an official letter, nor have they made an official call to the foreign ministry or the government. Turkey has not approached us since the day of the incident, they only talk in the media,” Hussein said in response to Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda.
The Iraqi diplomat also noted that Iraq has “proof” that the weapon used in Zakho’s shelling was “Turkish.”
The Iraqi government has pursued a number of diplomatic steps to address the recent attack on Zakho, including handing a “strongly worded” protest note to Turkey’s ambassador to Iraq.
Ankara has established an increasing number of bases and outposts in the Kurdistan Region, claiming that its presence is aimed at cutting off the path of the PKK and preventing them from crossing into the Kurdish areas of southeast Turkey.
It launched a military operation against the group in Duhok province in April, claiming to target PKK hideouts in the province’s mountainous areas.
