MOFA denies Turkey claims of Military Ops coordination with Iraq

politics/Security

20-04-2022, 22:10

INA - BAGHDAD

Ministry of Foreign Affairs - MOFA confirmed on Wednesday, that Iraq has the right to use all sources of force to respond to Turkey at the bilateral and multilateral levels, while noting that there is no truth to Ankara's claims that it coordinated with Baghdad in its military operations.

"The Iraqi Foreign Ministry considered the military operations in Iraqi territory a blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty and a threat to its territorial integrity, due to the horror and harm that the operations left for the security of Iraqi citizens," said the ministry's spokesman, Ahmed Al-Sahaf, in a statement to Al-Iraqiya News TV, followed by the Iraqi News Agency - INA.

He added, "MOFA summoned Turkey's ambassador and handed him a strongly worded protest note, describing the military operations as unilateral, hostile, provocative, and would not interfere with efforts to combat terrorism," noting that "the ministry renewed the Iraqi government's demand for the complete withdrawal of Turkish forces from Iraqi territory in a binding manner to secure Iraqi sovereignty and not to renew any kind of violations,".

Al-Sahhaf pointed out that "the Turkish side holds pretexts that the actions and violations of Iraq's sovereignty come in the context of defending its national security,".

He indicated that there was an agreement between the Turkish side and the Labor Party that pushed most of the latter's fighters to Iraqi lands. This matter was considered a pretext for the continuation of Turkish violations of Iraqi lands.

"The Turkish side invokes Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, which provides for self-defense, and this article in itself cannot be relied upon because it does not allow the sovereignty of independent countries to be violated," he included.

He pointed out that "the Iraqi government sees the importance of subservience and strengthening the principles of good-neighbourliness, due to the important historical and economic relations that have multiple arms," noting that "the security coordination between the two sides would ensure facing common challenges, especially along the border strip between the two countries,".

He indicated that "the ministry did not receive a response to the protest note with its text and content, and we are still waiting for that through official and diplomatic channels," explaining that "Iraq has the right to seek the assistance of all sources of power at the bilateral, multi levels and international organizations based on the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international laws,".

"The delegations between the two countries continue jointly, but we still classify these actions as hostile unilateral, and accordingly we take the established diplomatic measures, especially the protest note, summoning the ambassador, and resorting to other options," Al-Sahhaf noted.