Iraq seeks to prevent Turkish army’s military operations

Iraq urges the Kurdish autonomy to approve the deployment of troops on the border with Turkey to prevent Turkish troops' entering Iraq, as well as to stop air strikes on the country against the militants of Kurdistan Workers' Party, head of the Iraqi parliamentary security committee Iskander Witwit told Trend on Wednesday.

"We urge the Kurdish autonomy to provide the central government with all the necessary rights to deploy troops on the border with Turkey to prevent Turkish troops entering Iraq," he added.

Bad relations between Baghdad and the Kurdish autonomy are hampering the central government's ability to take more serious steps to prevent Turkish troops conducting military operations in northern Iraq, he said.

Witwit said that the Iraqi parliament is considering the issue of cancelling the agreement about the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq signed earlier between Turkey and Iraq. He added that the agreement is wrong as it threatens Iraq's sovereignty.

Witwit added that many members of the Iraqi Parliament support the cancellation of the agreement between Turkey and Iraq, allowing Turkish troops to carry out air strikes in northern Iraq.

"Turkey has recently started conducting a policy of intervention in the affairs of neighbouring regional countries," he said. "This unjustified interference has strongly influenced relations between Iraq and Turkey and threatened their further development."

Witwit stressed that Iraq had repeatedly warned Erdogan's government to refrain from meddling in Iraq's internal affairs, but in spite of this, Ankara continues to interfere by trying to create chaos in the internal politics of the country.

"Turkey is cooperating with some political forces in Iraq to destabilise the situation in the country," he said. "Ankara's ultimate goal is to split and destroy Iraq."

He added that Turkey and Iraq must reconsider their relations.

He stressed that Iraq stands for improving these relations if Ankara abandons its policy of interfering in the country's affairs.

Earlier, the Turkish parliament approved a mandate on trans-border operations against Syria as an answer to firing on the Turkish city of Shanliurfa by the Syrian army.

A military operation to be conducted by Turkey in northern Iraq against militants of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party is fully consistent with international law, a source in the Turkish government told Trend earlier.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK has lasted for over 25 years. The PKK is recognised as a terrorist organisation by both the UN and the EU.


/Trend/