Ankara, Turkey –
Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday rejected allegations that the country’s military carried out deadly artillery attacks on tourists in northern Iraq as Iraqi families of those killed buried their dead.
In an interview with the Turkish state broadcaster TRT, Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey was ready to cooperate with the Iraqi authorities to shed light on the “treacherous attack”.
“According to the information we received from the Turkish Armed Forces, we did not carry out any attacks against civilians,” Cavusoglu said. “Our fight in Iraq has always been against the PKK (banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party) terrorist organization.”
“We reject the accusations that have been made against Turkey before the smokescreen is lifted,” Cavusoglu said, adding that Turkey believed the attack was aimed at preventing Turkish military operations in the region.
“The Iraqi authorities must not fall into this trap,” he said.
Coffins containing the bodies of those killed in Wednesday’s artillery strikes were transported from the Kurdish-run semi-autonomous northern region to the capital Baghdad for burial. At least four artillery shells hit the tourist area of Barakh, in the Zakho district, in the Kurdish region.
The Iraqi army said eight people were killed in the attack, but nine coffins were loaded onto the military plane on Thursday. More than 20 people were injured.
The region’s president, Nechirvan Barzani, placed a wreath on a coffin and helped carry it aboard the military plane. Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein was also present.
In Baghdad, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi received the dead at the airport and met with the families of the deceased, according to a statement from his office. He offered his condolences and promised to follow up on his condition and that of the injured, providing them with medical attention.
All the victims were Iraqi citizens. A small child was among the victims.
The incident is testing ties between Iraq and Turkey, two countries that share deep economic ties but are divided over security issues related to Kurdish insurgents operating in Iraq, oil trade with the Kurdish region, and shared water. .
The Turkish Embassy in Iraq announced on its Facebook page that visa appointments had been canceled for the day. A small protest broke out at the former headquarters of the Turkish mission in the Baghdad neighborhood of Waziriah.
The Iraqi government, which condemned the attack as a “blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty,” called an emergency national security meeting, summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Baghdad and ordered a pause in sending a new Iraqi ambassador to Ankara. .
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi accused Turkey of ignoring “Iraq’s continued demands to refrain from committing military violations against Iraqi territory and the lives of its people.”
Cavusoglu said that Turkey had offered to take the injured to Turkey for treatment.
Turkey carries out regular airstrikes in northern Iraq and has sent commandos to support its offensives against elements of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
Wednesday’s attack marked the first time tourists had been killed in Turkey’s frequent attacks in the area, officials said. Turkish attacks in the area are common and have killed civilians, mostly local villagers, before.
In April, Turkey launched its latest offensive, dubbed Operation Claw Lock, in parts of northern Iraq, part of a series of cross-border operations launched in 2019 to combat the outlaw PKK that is based in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq.
The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has led an insurgency in southeastern Turkey since 1984 that has killed tens of thousands of people.
Ankara has pressured Baghdad to expel PKK elements from the northern region. Iraq, in turn, has said that Turkey’s continued attacks violate its sovereignty.