US Criticism of Turkish Operations in Iraq Upsets Ankara

Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hami Aksoy holds a press conference at the ministry in Ankara, Turkey on August 02, 2019 [Fatih Aktaş/Anadolu Agency]

Ankara rejected on Sunday criticism by a US religious freedom commission of Turkey’s recent military operations in northern Iraq.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said it was "shameful" that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) had criticized Turkey's fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“It is disgraceful, to say the least, for this commission which pretends to defend religious freedom, to criticize our fight against terrorism and become an instrument in the black propaganda of PKK, a terrorist organization also designated by the US as such, by ignoring its atrocities in Iraq and its offshoots PYD/YPG in Syria against local populations including Kurds who do not embrace its divisive policies and terror methods,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Last week, USCIRF condemned Turkey’s latest round of air strikes and ground operations (“Operation Claw-Eagle” and “Operation Claw-Tiger”) near civilian areas in northern Iraq, calling on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to order an immediate end to these actions.

“Turkey’s operations in Iraq and northeastern Syria make it clear that regional ambitions—not domestic security—are driving its actions today, and it cannot be allowed to do so with impunity,” USCIRF Vice Chair Toney Perkins stated.

However, Aksoy accused the USCIRF of ignoring the actions of the PKK in Iraq and YPG/PKK in Syria against the region's people, including Kurds who did not embrace its separatist policy.

He said thousands of Yazidis were unable to return to their homes in Sinjar, northwestern Iran because of the PKK that lodged itself in the region under the pretext of fighting ISIS.

“It is unfortunate that so-called human rights defenders have been turning a deaf ear to these facts of the region,” the Turkish spokesperson said.

Turkish ambassador to Washington Serdar Kilic wrote on Twitter that USCIRF’s members “had turned a deaf ear when terrorist organizations killed hundreds of civilians in Syria. What a shameful approach.”

While Turkish forces went ahead with their attacks against PKK positions in the north of Iraq, the People's Defense Forces (HPG), a military wing of PKK, announced the killing of a large number of Turkish soldiers in two operations launched in northern Iraq's Haftanin region, 15km from the Turkish border, and in Sharnak, inside Turkey.

It added that two Cobra helicopters were hit during the operations.