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Iraq condemns Turkey’s military incursions into north

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Iraqi authorities on Wednesday denounced renewed Turkish military operations and incursions into northern Iraq, urging Ankara to solve security issues diplomatically, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Turkish army has been mainly conducting strikes against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

On Wednesday Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani chaired a meeting of the National Security Council during which officials discussed “the issue of interventions and violations by Turkish forces in the shared border areas,” General Yehia Rasool, military spokesman for the the prime minister, said in a statement.

The council said it rejects “Turkish military incursions” in Iraqi territories and urged Ankara to “diplomatically engage with the Iraqi government for any security-related matters.”

A delegation led by the national security advisor will travel to the Kurdistan region to “assess the general situation and develop a unified stance on this matter,” the statement added.

The PKK, which has fought a decades-long war against the Turkish state, has a presence in northern Iraq, as does Turkey, which has operated from several dozen military bases there against the Kurdish group.

Turkey’s military operations, which sometimes take place deep inside Iraqi territory, have frequently strained bilateral ties.

In recent weeks local Iraqi media have reported an increase in Turkish strikes, sparking several fires in border areas. Some reports mentioned Turkish forces establishing new positions.

Turkish forces “have advanced 15 kilometers into Iraqi Kurdistan territory,” said the Community Peacemakers Teams (CPT), an NGO registered in the United States, that monitors Turkish operations in northern Iraq.

In an interview earlier this week, Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said his country is “determined” to clear the border area with Iraq and neighboring Syria of “terrorists.”

In March, following a visit by senior Turkish officials to Iraq, Baghdad quietly listed the PKK as a “banned organization” — though Ankara demands that the Iraqi government do more in the fight against the militant group.

During a visit to Iraq in April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke of “expectations” of Iraq regarding the fight against the PKK, and Sudani mentioned “bilateral security coordination” that would meet the needs of both countries.

However, Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet al-Abbasi in March ruled out “joint military operations” between Baghdad and Ankara.

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