A senior Kurdish prosecutor on Monday called on Iraq’s president and the Kurdistan Region’s leadership to initiate legal proceedings against Turkey over its military presence in northern Iraq, citing violations of national sovereignty and the Iraqi Constitution, Qandil Press reported on Tuesday.
Dr Muhammed Rekani, Chief Prosecutor of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), submitted a formal legal petition addressed to Iraqi President Abdullatif Rashid and Kurdistan Regional President Nechirvan Barzani. The petition followed reports of Turkish troops in the Bradost region stopping civilians and demanding identity documents.
“This petition is submitted as a constitutional and legal duty to protect the sovereignty of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” Rekani wrote. “Any foreign intervention, including military presence, without the consent of the central or regional authorities is a clear breach of Articles 8 and 67 of the Iraqi Constitution.”
Turkey has maintained dozens of military outposts in northern Iraq for decades, targeting militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it designates as a terrorist group. However, Kurdish officials and local residents have increasingly criticised the operations for infringing on Iraqi territorial integrity and putting civilian lives at risk.
Rekani’s petition is the first formal legal challenge launched within the Kurdish judiciary against Turkey’s cross-border operations. The document invokes both the Iraqi Constitution and the 2005 Presidency Law of the Kurdistan Region to argue that sovereignty must be defended “within a legal and constitutional framework”.
Article 8 of Iraq’s Constitution commits the country to the principles of good neighbourliness and non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states, while Article 67 tasks the President of the Republic with preserving Iraq’s independence and territorial unity.
In his appeal, Rekani emphasised that safeguarding citizens’ rights and national dignity is a collective legal and moral obligation. “It is necessary, based on the principles of the rule of law and the rights of the people of Kurdistan, that this proposal be taken seriously,” he stated.
As of Wednesday, neither the Iraqi presidency nor the Kurdistan Regional Government has publicly responded to the petition. The Turkish government has also made no comment regarding the legal request.
The move signals growing institutional pressure on Kurdish and Iraqi authorities to confront Turkey’s long-standing military footprint, as legal figures within the region begin to challenge foreign operations through formal judicial channels.
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