Iraq confirmed again that Ankara is behind the Zakho (Zaxo) attack, which is not the first and comes in a series of continuous attacks, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Al-Sahaf, told Al-Iraqiya News. “Turkey’s denial of responsibility is a black joke that Iraqi diplomacy will not accept.”
The latest attack is the most serious in a series of Turkish attacks in Iraq, and it does not have any coordination with the Iraqi government, Al-Sahaf said adding that “Ankara claims that it is pursuing groups and individuals affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party to neutralise them.”
On Thursday, the leader in the Kurdistan Democratic Party Hoshyar Zebari also said that 155mm cannons carried out the attack, and probably were fired from inside Turkey.
Al-Sahaf said that the Iraqi ministry is taking the strongest possible action under the procedural rules within the diplomatic work saying “We issued a statement yesterday condemning the attack in the strongest terms and today we handed the Turkish ambassador, Ali Reza Günay, a strong official letter of protest.”
He added that Iraq requests the UN Security Council to hold an emergency session to discuss the Turkish aggression and to issue a resolution that guarantees Iraq’s safety and security.
When Turkey says that there is an agreement that allows it to penetrate into Iraq it is incorrect, he added. “It is obliged to request the permission of the Iraqi government and that the incursion does not exceed 5 km.”
The Iraqi cabinet had directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prepare a complete report of the repeated Turkish violations against the Iraqi sovereignty and the security of Iraqis to submit an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council.
