Iraq blamed Turkey on Saturday for an explosion at the airport of the Kurdish-populated northern city of Sulaymaniyah on Friday and demanded an official apology.
“Attacks by Turkey’s military against the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have been repeated, and the recent attack has targeted the civilian airport of Sulaymaniyah,” a statement of the Iraqi presidency said.
“Attacks by Turkey’s military against the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have been repeated, and the recent attack has targeted the civilian airport of Sulaymaniyah,” a statement of the Iraqi presidency said.
The presidency stated that Turkey had no legal justification to “continue its approach of intimidating civilians under the pretext that forces hostile to it are present on Iraqi soil.”
“Hence, we call on Turkey to claim responsibility, make an official apology for these acts, put an end to the aggression as well as find solutions to their internal problems through engaging in dialogue with the relevant parties,” Baghdad said.
“If these acts of aggression repeat against Iraq, a firm stance will be taken by Iraq to never allow such assaults to occur again,” it added.
The explosion, which left no casualties, occurred after Turkey closed its airspace to aircrafts travelling to and from Sulaymaniyah this week due to what it claimed was intensified activity in the area by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
A drone attack reportedly hit the vicinity of the Sulaymaniyah airport on Friday, but there was no damage or disruption to flights, according to Lawk Ghafuri, head of foreign media affairs for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq.
Meanwhile, a Turkish defence ministry official talking to Reuters denied any Turkish military operation taking place in the region on Friday.
The US Central Command said on Friday that a convoy including US military personnel was attacked in Sulaymaniyah.
“I can confirm that there was a strike on a convoy in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan Region. That convoy included U.S. military personnel. There were no casualties,” the Wall Street Journal quoted Colonel Joe Buccino, spokesman for the US Central Command, as saying in an email.
