Baghdad slammed on Monday Turkey for using its airspace during an operation against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq.
The joint operations command said that such acts are a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty, good neighborliness and international agreements.
It called on Turkey against launching such attacks again and committing any other violations, saying it must respect the common interests of both countries.
Iraq said it was prepared to cooperate with Turkey over securing their joint borders.
Leading member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Rashad Galali described as “shameful” Turkey’s repeated attacks on Iraqi territory that have been met with no deterrent response from the federal.
Turkey is undermining Iraqi sovereignty and is no longer concerned about it, he added.
Baghdad and Erbil’s lack of deterrent stance only encourages Ankara, he remarked, slamming their “weak” responses against the “crimes Turkey is committing in isolated areas that have nothing to do with the PKK.”
He explained that Turkey is targeting camps hosting Turkish refugees who are in no way affiliated with the PKK. It also attacked Yazidi villages in Sinjar and agricultural areas in Duhok and Erbil.
The victims are regular Kurdish citizens because Turkey is hostile to Kurds wherever they may be, Galali said.
Turkish fighter jets struck on Sunday night PKK positions in northern Iraq, destroying “terrorist” hideouts, announced its Defense Ministry.
“The Claw-Eagle Operation has started. Our planes are bringing the caves down on the terrorists’ heads,” it said on Twitter.
Turkey regularly targets PKK positions, both in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the group is based.
The ministry said the air operation targeted the PKK in the region of its stronghold at Qandil, near the Iranian border, as well as the areas of Sinjar, Zap, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk.
The PKK, designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, focused in southeast Turkey.
This article has been adapted from its original source.