ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said the central government in Baghdad supported
Turkey’s latest offensive against outlawed Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.
اضافة اعلان
The Turkish leader’s comments came a day after Iraq
summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Baghdad to lodge a formal protest against
Erdogan’s latest military campaign.
Turkey’s armed forces have reported the death of two
soldiers and dozens of Kurdish militants since the launch Sunday of their third
offensive in northern Iraq since 2020.
Erdogan told a parliamentary meeting of his ruling
party that both Baghdad and the leaders of the autonomous Kurdish region based
in Erbil supported Turkey’s ground and air assault.
“I thank the central government in Iraq and the
regional administration for their support to our fight against terror,” Erdogan
said.
“I wish success for our heroic soldiers involved in
this operation, which we are carrying out in close cooperation with the central
Iraqi government and the regional administration in northern Iraq.”
Some analysts believe that Iraqi leader — while
lodging formal protests — are privately happy that Turkey is trying to punish
fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The group is recognized as a terrorist organization
by both Ankara and its Western allies.
The PKK has been
waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 that has claimed tens
of thousands of lives.
But officials in Baghdad are publicly voicing
displeasure over the Turkish military push into the mountains of northern Iraq.
Iraq handed the
Turkish ambassador a “firmly-worded note of protest” urging its northern
neighbor to “put an end to acts of provocation and unacceptable violations”,
the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
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