Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said on Friday his country hasn’t given Türkiye the green light to carry out operations in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
In televised remarks, he said the Baghdad government needs to hold more “security discussions with Turkish officials, even though it recognizes that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is also an Iraqi problem.”
He added that the Turkish army has been deployed in some Iraqi territories since 1991.
The deployment will be discussed during meetings with Turkish officials that will be held soon, he revealed.
Previous discussions with Türkiye did not yield an agreement over the security file, continued the FM. Türkiye is tying its deployment to the presence of the PKK.
Given that the group is present in Iraq, then it must also be dealt with in an “Iraqi way,” he went on to say.
The Turkish military’s incursion of 40 kms inside Iraqi territory had sparked widespread political and popular uproar.
Iraq’s national security council convened to address the issue.
Spokesman of the armed forces Yahya Rasool said the council tackled the Turkish violations and interference in the joint Iraqi-Turkish border regions.
He stressed Baghdad’s rejection of the incursion and undermining of Iraq’s territorial integrity.
Türkiye must respect the principles of good neighborliness and work diplomatically with the Iraqi government and coordinate with it over any security issue, he added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had dispatched a delegation led by the national security council head to Kurdistan to discuss general affairs and come up with a unified position over Iraq’s sovereignty.
