BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq denounces repeated airstrikes and the presence of Turkish military bases in its Kurdistan region and hopes to reach an agreement with Ankara to resolve the problem, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rachid said in broadcast comments Monday.
On Sunday evening, Turkish authorities claimed to have carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq and destroyed 20 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets. The strikes followed a Sunday bombing described as “terrorist” by Ankara, claimed by the militant group.
Turkey considers the PKK a terrorist group and regularly carries out airstrikes in northern Iraq, which has long been outside the direct control of the Baghdad government.
Turkey has also sent commandos and installed military bases on Iraqi territory to support its offensives.
“These violations are rejected by the Iraqi people, the region (of Kurdistan) and all the inhabitants of Iraq,” declared Abdoul Latif Rachid in an interview with the Saudi public channel Al-Hadath, a short extract of which was broadcast Monday.
It was unclear whether the interview was filmed before or after Sunday’s Turkish airstrikes.
These strikes sometimes kill civilians, notably people visiting the region who “become victims of Turkish bombings”, added Abdoul Latif Rachid. The position of president is essentially honorary in Iraq.
Turkey has denied targeting civilians and says it is coordinating with Iraqi authorities to avoid civilian casualties.
The Iraqi president said Baghdad hoped to reach an agreement with Ankara similar to the one signed with Iran. Last March, Iraq and Tehran agreed to strengthen security on the two countries’ borders in order to confront Iranian Kurdish separatist groups in the Kurdistan region.
(Report by Clauda Tanios and Timour Azhari; French version by Gaëlle Sheehan, edited by Kate Entringer)
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