Iraqi Presidency denounces attack on Peshmerga, calls for to Turkey to withdraw forces

Iraq 01:10 PM - 2021-06-06

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The Presidency of Iraq denounced the attack on Kurdish Peshmerga forces at the Matin Mountain of Duhok province while it also called on Turkey to withdraw forces from Iraqi lands.

 

"The Presidency of the Republic is following the alarming developments in the Kurdistan Region, and condemns the attack on a Peshmerga force in Duhok Governorate on the morning of Saturday, June 5, 2021, which left several martyrs and wounded were killed," a statement by the Presidency of the Republic of Iraq said.

 

In the statement, the spokesperson for the Presidency of the Republic stressed the need to stop such unfortunate events, noting that the military presence of the PKK inside Iraqi territory, including the Kurdistan region, is illegal and work must be done to put an end to these abuses that undermine the stability of Iraq and the security of its citizens, as the Iraqi constitution does not allow the use of Iraqi territory as a base to threaten the security of neighbors.

 

The presidential spokesman also stressed the need to prevent the violation of Iraqi sovereignty, and the withdrawal of Turkish forces in the regions of the Kurdistan Region and Mosul, which are considered a violation of the principle of good neighborliness, and a violation of international norms and covenants. The recent attack on the Makhmur camp areas was also considered a dangerous escalation that endangers the lives of citizens, including refugees, and is inconsistent with international and humanitarian law.

 

The Presidency of the Republic also emphasized strengthening relations with neighboring Turkey on the basis of common interests, resolving border problems and security files through cooperation and coordination and rejecting unilateral practices in dealing with outstanding issues and the necessity of respecting Iraqi sovereignty, pointing to Iraq's continued refusal to be the arena of others' struggle and infringement of its sovereignty, and it also refusal to be a springboard for aggression against anyone.

 

Five Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed and seven wounded in an attach by the PKK, the ministry of Peshmerga said in a statement on Saturday. read more

 

The Peshmerga convoy was attacked by PKK on Matin mountain, near the border of the Amedi town, with both light and heavy weaponry, while conducting a routine security check in the area, the statement said.

 

The PKK did not immediately comment.

 

"The Ministry of Peshmerga is demanding immediate action from the Iraqi Federal Government to put an end to ongoing Turkish military operations in the Kurdistan Region," the statement added.

 

And demands the PKK to "take their fight somewhere else, away from Kurdish homes and the Kurdistan Region."

 

The Kurdistan Region's Presidency also condemned the attack launched on the Peshmerga forces in Matin mountain, claiming that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was behind it.

 

"We strongly condemn the attack this morning that was carried out by the PKK gunmen in Matina subdistrict of Amedi, Dohuk province, on Peshmarga forces," the Presidency stated.

 

Meanwhile, a Turkish air strike killed at least three people on Saturday at Makhmur camp for displaced people in Erbil.

 

The strike on the camp housing thousands of Kurdish refugees from Turkey took place three days after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan warned Iraq that Turkey would "clean up" a refugee camp which it says provides a haven for Kurdish militants.

 

Turkish forces have stepped up attacks on bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) inside northern Iraq over the last year, focusing their firepower and incursions mainly on a strip of territory up to 30 km (19 miles) inside Iraq.

 

Erdogan said on Thursday that Makhmur, a camp 180 km south of the Turkish border which has hosted thousands of Turkish refugees for more than two decades, was an "incubator" for militants and must be tackled.

 

The camp was established in the 1990s when thousands of Kurds from Turkey crossed the border in a movement Ankara says was deliberately provoked by the PKK.

 

The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union, has fought an insurgency against the state in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey since 1984.

 

 

 

PUKmedia