Turkey denies ties to Duhok's attack, Aboul Gheit calls on Ankara to respect Iraq's sovereignty 

Shafaq News/ Turkey did not carry out any attack against civilians in Kurdistan's Duhok, the foreign minister said on Thursday.

"According to the information we received from the Turkish Armed Forces, we did not carry out any attack against civilians," Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday in a live interview with the Turkish broadcaster TRT Haber.

Cavusoglu's remarks came a day after an attack in Duhok's Zakho district killed nine people, according to local officials.

In a statement released after Wednesday's attack, the Turkish Foreign Ministry asked Iraqi government officials not to make statements on the Duhok attack "under the influence of rhetoric and propaganda" of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Cavusoglu said the PKK's propaganda in Iraq comes at a time Turkey is about to launch a new operation in northern Syria, urging the Iraqi authorities not to fall into the trap of the "terror groups".

"We have announced that we can cooperate with the Iraqi authorities after the treacherous attack that we think was carried out by terrorist organizations. We reject both authorized and unauthorized statements regarding Turkey," Cavusoglu said.

Turkey, he said, has always supported the territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria and will continue its fight against terrorism in line with international law, "only targeting the terrorist organizations." 

The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, denounced the Turkish shelling of the Parakhe resort in Duhok yesterday, Wednesday. 

Spokesperson to Aboul Gheit, Jamal Rouchdi, conveyed the secretary-general's rejection of the Turkish aggression on Iraq's sovereignty, calling on Ankara to respect the principles of good neighborliness with the countries at its borders and refrain from waging offensives into their territories.