Arab League Condemns Turkish Airstrikes on Kurds in Iraq
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Turkey must respect Iraq’s sovereignty and suspend its airstrikes on Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq, the Secretary-General of the Arab League said in a statement.
In late July, Turkey launched a military campaign against PKK militants in northern Iraq following two murders of police officers in the southern city of Ceylanpinar. The PKK claimed responsibility for the Ceylanpinar killings, saying the policemen had backed the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group.
“We express our condemnation of the Turkish bombardment on northern Iraq areas,” Sputnik News cited the local IraqiNews portal as quoting Nabil Elaraby on Wednesday.
The head of the 22-member organization of Arab countries urged Turkey to “respect Iraq’s sovereignty over its territory” and cooperate with Iraq “in order to address all matters relating to maintaining security and stability of the two countries.”
The PKK is a political group that is considered to be a terrorist organization by Ankara. It was founded at the end of the 1970s to fight for Kurdish self-determination. Ethnic Kurds make up some 25 percent of the Turkish population.