A deadly strike against Iraq. And a misleading denial from Turkey

0

On July 25, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied that his country was responsible for an artillery attack at a hill station in northern Iraq.

The July 20 bombing of the village of Parakh, in semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, killed nine holidaymakers, including children, and injured 20 others.

The incident sparked an outcry among Iraqi politicians, who condemned the attack, and ordinary Iraqis, who demonstrated outside the Turkish embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry released a statement on July 20 saying it was carrying out counter-terrorism operations “in accordance with international law”. The ministry accused the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey and some Western countries, including the United States, have classified as a terrorist organization.

Erdogan denied that Turkey was responsible.

“This [attack] is similar to the normal terror moves of the [PKK]. We are no strangers to this. It is not possible for Turkey to do something like this,” Erdogan said.

It is misleading.

On July 24, Iraqi Defense Minister Juma Inad told Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya that evidence from the site showed 155mm artillery had been used.

“We know the capabilities of the PKK; it is not an army but a dispersed gang using light and medium weapons,” Inad said. “Turkey used 155mm artillery in its bombardment.”

Inad said Baghdad had asked Ankara to coordinate its military strikes with the Iraqi government, but Turkey had failed to do so and was now responsible for civilian deaths.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry said in a report on the attack that the fire came from a location controlled by the Turkish military on the Turkish side of the border.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has summoned Turkey’s Ambassador to Iraq, Ali Riza Guney, to deliver “a strong note of protest expressing the Iraqi government’s condemnation of this heinous crime committed by Turkish troops”.

The dispute between Iraq and Turkey escalated during a session of the United Nations Security Council on July 27 at the request of Iraq. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein called on the UN to establish an international mission to investigate the “flagrant aggression” of the Turkish army.

Since 1999, Turkey has regularly carried out air and artillery strikes in northern Iraq and sent troops to support its long military campaign against the PKK.

In April, Ankara launched Operation Claw Lock, another cross-border air and ground operation targeting Kurdish fighters in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Turkey says it can legally conduct such operations without Iraq’s consent under Article 51 of the UN Charter, which states that member states have “the inherent right of self-defence, individual or collective”.

Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), an international violence reduction and rights group, said the July 20 attack was not the first Turkish strike in the village of Parakh.

On June 15, two Turkish farmers were killed in a Turkish bombardment there, the CPT said, adding that since 2015, 138 civilians have been killed in Turkish strikes in the Kurdistan region. These attacks forced the evacuation of hundreds of villages and uprooted local farmers.

Kurdish sources in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah told Al-Monitor that the Parakh region is no longer used as a route for PKK fighters, as it has been blocked by Turkey since 2015.

“There are 16 Turkish military bases, outposts or checkpoints near Parakh, one of which is only 3 km (about two miles) away. Turkish intelligence services are active in the area, which is also under constant aerial surveillance,” Al-Monitor reported.

Abdel Emir Rashid Yarallah, chief of staff of the Iraqi armed forces, said last year that Turkey had 40 military posts in Iraq and today there are more than 100.

Yarallah said Turkey maintains five military bases in northern Iraq, where more than 4,000 Turkish troops are based.

Turkey is an ally of the United States and a member of NATO, the American and European defense alliance. Turkey has supplied arms to Ukraine as it defends against a Russian invasion and helped broker a recent deal to resume Ukrainian grain shipments through the Black Sea.

The US State Department condemned the attack on Parakh and called on all states to respect Iraq’s sovereignty and civilian lives under international law.

“We maintain our strong support for Iraq’s sovereignty and its security, stability and prosperity, including that of the Kurdistan region of Iraq,” the statement said.

The UN also condemned the attack, issuing a statement reiterating its “support for the independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, democratic process and prosperity of Iraq”.

In September 2021, the International Advocacy Coordinator of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said that more than 800 villages on Iraq’s borders with Turkey had been evacuated following fighting between Turkey and the PKK.

The conflict has devastated the lives of thousands of civilians, destroying their homes, farms and livestock.

Share.

Comments are closed.