IRAQI MFA SENT NOTE OF PROTEST TO ANKARA

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.06.2007 15:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq has sent
an official note of protest to Turkey in connection with the recent
bombardments of Kurdish provinces in northern Iraq. The statement
says that bombardments resulted in destruction and fires, complicating
relations between the two countries.

The Iraqi MFA summoned a Turkish representative to officially express
its protest, according to which for several hours in the night from
Wednesday to Thursday Turkish army units fired targets on the Iraqi
territories. At the same time the note of Iraqi authorities says that
Iraq will not allow to use its territory for preparing attacks on
neighboring countries, and gunmen of the Workers’ Party of Kurdistan
(PKK) have illegally penetrated into the country.

Turkey has not confirmed information on bombardments, however
authorities of the country deployed a lot of tanks and thousands of
soldiers on the border with Iraq, explaining it with the necessity
to fight against Kurdish separatists, who are based on the Iraqi
territory. Ankara assures that about 4 000 PKK gunmen have based in
the north of Iraq and can raid Turkish territories.

Despite the tense relations between Iraq and Turkey, Baghdad prefers
to settle the dispute between the two countries, and not between
Ankara and insurgents, the BBC Russian service reports.