Repeated calls to expel Turkish forces from Iraq
ERBIL, Iraq (North Press) – On Tuesday, the chairman of the Security and Defense Committee of the Iraqi Parliament, Muhammad Rida Al Haidar, considered the Turkish attacks and the deployment of its bases in the north of the country as a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” calling for “putting an end to that.”
On June 6, spokesman for the Iraqi Presidency, Khalid Shwani, called for the necessity to prevent violating Iraqi sovereignty, and for Turkish forces to withdraw from the areas of the Kurdistan Region and Mosul.
He considered it “a violation of the principle of good neighborliness, and a violation of international norms and covenants.”
Today, a joint Iraqi parliamentary committee visited Duhok to follow up on the recent developments that claimed the lives of a number of Peshmerga members, about which there were different accounts, as well as to follow up on the issue of the Turkish forces cutting trees in the border areas with Turkey.
In a joint press conference with the Governor of Duhok, Ali Tatar, Rida Al Haidar said, “the committee will visit multiple sites of the Peshmerga and the border forces to see the field conditions in the border areas.”
Al Haidar referred to what he described as the “difficult conditions and dangerous developments” that the region witnessed during the past few days.
“The continuous abuses of the Turkish forces, as well as their establishment of fixed military bases inside Iraqi territory, are not permitted,” considering that as ” an occupation,” Al Haidar said.
He added that his country has the right to respond, including resorting to the United Nations, calling at the same time to “resolve the problems between the PKK and Turkey, and spare the Iraqi government these problems.”
He expressed his hope for cooperation through joint coordination committees between the federal forces and Peshmerga.
He stressed the need to strengthen the border guards forces located in Zakho area on the Turkish border.
However, Turkish attacks are not limited to border areas only, as they occasionally launch air attacks on Makhmour Camp and Sinjar area, the last of which was on June 5.
A Turkish drone bombed the vicinity of Makhmour Camp on June 5, media said it resulted in a number of casualties, while the camp administration did not issue an explanation in this regard.
In its statement, the Presidency of the Republic commented on the recent attack in Makhmour Camp, and considered it a “dangerous escalation that threatens the lives of citizens, including refugees, and also contradicts international and humanitarian law.”
The Turkish forces are deployed in military sites and bases along the northern border areas in the Kurdistan Region, and others stationed deep in Iraqi territory, specifically in Ba’shiqa in 2015 under the pretext of fighting ISIS in Mosul.
There are more than 20 Turkish military bases in the Kurdistan region, in addition to dozens of other sites in the northern governorates of Duhok and Erbil, according to media reports.
The greatest tension over the presence of these forces emerged in 2016, a year after Turkish military convoys entered from Ibrahim Khalil crossing to north Mosul and stationed in Ba’shiqa area in early 2015.
Turkey sent its forces at the time under the pretext of fighting ISIS, as it came in conjunction with the Iraqi campaign against the extremist organization, which controlled vast Iraqi areas in the center and north of the country that time.
Following the entry of Turkish forces into Ba’shiqa, the first tension of its kind emerged between Ankara and Baghdad, as the Iraqi parliament voted in early October 2016, a resolution rejecting the Turkish parliament’s decision to extend the stay of Turkish forces inside Iraqi territory.
In its resolution, the parliament called on the Iraqi government to consider the Turkish forces inside Iraqi territory as occupying and hostile forces, and called for the removal of these forces from Iraqi territory.
The parliament asked the judicial authorities to file lawsuits to hold accountable those who are claiming the entry of the Turkish forces or those who justify their presence.
However, the Iraqi decision and other repeated calls fell on deaf ears from the Turkish side.