Iraq asks for a unified position against Turkish air strike

Shafaq News / Foreign Minister, Fouad Hussein made several contacts with his Arab counterparts, to discuss the killing of two Iraqi commanders and a in Sidekan, Erbil, by a Turkish drone.

A foreign ministry statement said that the contacts came to “inform the Arab brothers of the details of this attack,” calling for “a unified position that obliges the Turks not to repeat these violations and to withdraw their forces from the Iraqi territory. ".

According to the foreign ministry's statement, the minister called his counterparts Sameh Shukry, Ayman Safadi, Faisal bin Farhan, Ahmed Nasser Muhammad Al-Sabah, as well as the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul-Gheit.

The Arab ministers affirmed their countries' full support for the security and sovereignty of Iraq, and condemned the Turkish attacks, calling for the necessity of an immediate stop of any Turkish military operations on Iraq.

Turkey has regularly attacked Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, both in its mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the group is based. In June, Ankara launched a new ground offensive, dubbed Operation Claw Tiger that saw Turkish troops advance deeper into Iraq.

On Tuesday, a Turkish air strike in northern Iraq killed two members of Iraq’s border guard and their driver, Iraq’s military said, calling the attack “flagrant aggression”.

Iraq’s foreign ministry then said Baghdad canceled a visit by Turkey’s defense minister to the country, and summoned the Turkish ambassador to inform him of “Iraq’s confirmed rejection of his country’s attacks and violations”.