Iraqi condemnations wouldn’t stop Turkey’s incursion
ERBIL, KRG, Iraq (North Press) – The Turkish operations, carrying the names of “claws”, have repeated in separate northern areas in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG), some of which were concentrated in the regions of Sinjar and Makhmur deep in Iraqi territory; all of them faced Iraqi media condemnations, but yielded no benefit, according to observers.
On Monday, Turkey announced Operation Claw-Lock, following “Tiger Claw” and “Eagle Claw I and II” operations, which have been launched in northern Iraq since 2020 against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed al-Sahaf confirmed the attack was a violation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and an act that violates international laws and covenants that regulate relations between countries.
This came in a statement by the ministry less than 24 hours after a ferocious assault by the Turkish forces, with dozens of helicopters and drones providing air cover, in the outskirts of Amadiyah district, north of Duhok governorate.
Leader of the Sadrist movement, Sayed Muqtada al-Sadr, sent a message to Turkey stressing on the sovereignty of his country, and that they would respond in case of another Turkish attack.
“if this is to be repeated by Turkey, we will not remain silent, because Iraq is a state of a full sovereignty,” he said.
“The Turkish operation violates Iraq’s sovereignty and threats its national security, indicating that it is unacceptable to repeat such operations,” Iraqi Presidency confirmed on Tuesday.
Unfortunately for Baghdad, which shares a 350-km border with Turkey, there are agreements and contracts with Turkey that may discourage Iraq’s willingness to stop the infringing-Turkish operations.
Undeterred expansionary ambitions
Turkey was able to expand its presence and extend its influence to important and strategic locations in the KRI.
Now, Turkey has more than 20 military bases in the KRI, as well as having dozens of other sites in the northern governorates of Duhok and Erbil, according to reports.
The greatest tension between Ankara and Baghdad over the presence of Turkish forces appeared in 2016, a year after Turkish military convoys entered from the Ibrahim al-Khalil crossing to the north of Mosul, to later be stationed in the Bashiqa region in early 2015.
Turkey has sent its forces at the time under the pretext it would fight the Islamic State Organization (ISIS), as it coincided with the Iraqi campaign against ISIS, which then controlled vast lands of center and north of Iraq.
A series of useless positions
The most prominent Iraqi position emerged when its parliament voted in early October of 2016 on a resolution rejecting a Turkish decision to extend the presence of its forces inside Iraq.
In its resolution, the parliament called on the Iraqi government to consider the Turkish forces inside Iraq as “occupying and hostile,” and asked to expel them, including those present in Bashiqa, from the Iraqi territory.
The resolution stressed the need for judicial authorities to file lawsuits against those who wanted the Turkish forces to enter the country or those who justify their presence.
However, the Iraqi resolution and other repeated calls, such as statements of condemnation by the media after each attack, remained a dead letter unable to end the Turkish operations.
Regardless of the military results announced by Turkey from its operations, civilians were and still are the most affected by them, with several reports proving that many of the air strikes targeted populated places and killed dozens of people during the past few years.
Victims
In the latest official toll issued by the KRG authorities, the KRG’s coordinator for international advocacy in Erbil, Dindar Zebari, announced in 2021 that attacks and clashes carried out in the northern border areas of the country displaced residents of 800 villages during the past three decades.
Since January until August of last year, the northern regions were subjected to 165 air strikes, 274 artillery shells, and 6 ground attacks, according to Zebari.
The attacks target border areas extend from Zakho in the west to Penjwen in the east, in addition to the districts of Sinjar and Makhmur in Nineveh Governorate.
In early February, the Turkish fighter jets conducted more than 15 strikes, targeting several sites in Mount Sinjar. Other strikes hit a refugee camp in Makhmur, leaving dozens of casualties and wounded, most of them civilians.