Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday April 20 that the Iraqi authorities and the government of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan supported Ankara’s offensive against the Turkish Kurdish rebels of the PKK in northern Iraq.
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“I thank the Iraqi central government and the regional administration for their support in our fight against terrorism“said the Turkish head of state. His Iraqi counterpart, Barham Saleh, had qualified the day before this ongoing operation against the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party of “violation of Iraqi sovereignty“. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation was “carried out in close cooperation with the Iraqi central government and the regional administration of northern Iraq“.
The Iraqi government summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Baghdad on Tuesday, calling on Ankara to “put an end to acts of provocation and unacceptable violationscommitted on his floor. The Turkish offensive launched overnight from Sunday to Monday with large reinforcements of commando units and attack helicopters focuses on three regions close to the Turkish border against positions of the PKK, a group described as “terroristby Ankara and its Western allies.
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Turkish raids against the PKK are recurrent in northern Iraq, particularly in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, where the PKK has bases and training camps. These military operations are worth to the Turkish ambassador stationed in Baghdad to be regularly summoned to the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, because they complicate relations between the Iraqi central government and Ankara, one of the first trading partners of Iraq. Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, also has a complicated relationship with the PKK as its presence in the region hampers its vital trade relations with neighboring Turkey.
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