Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm
Regardless of Ankara’s claims that it has an settlement with Baghdad to justify the presence of Turkish troops in Iraqi territory, the federal government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has to this point failed to supply a replica of any such settlement that might refute accusations leveled by Iraqi officers.
“There isn’t a safety settlement in anyway between Iraq and Turkey that permits for an incursion into Iraq by Turkish forces to chase the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party, listed as terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community],” stated Iraqi International Minister Fuad Mohammad Hussein in a speech to the UN Safety Council on July 26, 2022.
“However, Turkey is adamant that such an settlement exists,” he added at an emergency assembly convened in New York on the request of Iraq in opposition to the backdrop of mortar shelling within the village of Barakh, situated within the Dohuk governorate’s Zakho district, which resulted within the lack of 9 civilian lives and the wounding of 33 others on July 20, 2022.
Iraq accused Turkey of the shelling, whereas Turkey denied the allegation and as a substitute blamed it on the PKK. The PKK denied duty, saying it has no presence within the space and pointed the finger at Turkey.
Names of the individuals killed and wounded in a mortar shelling on July 20, 2022 at a Barakh resort:
Causality_list_shelling_resort_Iraq
In keeping with UN findings, 5 artillery rounds struck the Parkha resort, a well known vacationer vacation spot, when it was full of guests. The primary spherical hit an unpopulated hillside overlooking the resort, whereas the remaining hit the middle of the advanced. Among the many lifeless have been three youngsters, considered one of whom was a 1-year-old toddler named Zahrah Durgham Muhammad.
Iraq referred the matter to the UN Safety Council in an pressing submitting on July 22, 2022 and requested the council to “use all means out there to make sure that Turkey is obliged to withdraw, immediately, Turkish troops from Iraqi territory to the acknowledged worldwide border between the 2 nations, and to not repeat these violations.”
Comparable tensions between the 2 nations erupted in December 2015 with Turkey’s deployment of a battalion and dozens of tanks to Bashiqa, formally referred to as Gedu, a base close to the Iraqi metropolis of Mosul.
Baghdad demanded the fast withdrawal of the Turkish troops, with the federal authorities threatening to go to the UN Safety Council with a proper criticism if Turkey didn’t pull its troops out. Turkish officers performed down the character of the troop deployment following the uproar on the Iraqi facet, calling the transfer a routine troop rotation.
Turkish military presence in Iraq as of 2016:
Turkish_army_presence_Iraq_2016
Then-Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stated the Turkish forces had arrange camp close to Mosul virtually a 12 months earlier in coordination with the Iraqi authorities. However no particulars or copy of such an settlement was ever launched to the general public, reinforcing Baghdad’s assertion that there has actually by no means been such settlement. Turkish President Erdoğan stated on the time that it was out of the query for the troops to be completely withdrawn from Iraq.
However, to allay Iraq’s issues and relieve world stress on Turkey, Ankara finally determined to “reorganize” its navy personnel on the Bashiqa camp after then-Turkish International Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu and Nationwide Intelligence Group (MİT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan visited Baghdad for talks.
Turkish officers by no means defined what the troop reorganization would contain, however apparently a deal was struck in Baghdad to withdraw tanks from the bottom. After a bitter week-long dispute with Baghdad, Turkey reportedly partially withdrew a few of its troops from the camp close to Mosul and repositioned them close to the Turkey-Iraq border.
Nonetheless, Nordic Monitor revealed in 2020 that the troop reorganization and withdrawal of tanks by no means occurred. As a substitute, Turkey staged a false withdrawal of tanks to ease tensions. The revelation was made at a Turkish courtroom listening to in July 2017 by Lt. Murat Aletirik of the Special Forces Command, who was deployed to Iraq’s Kurdistan area.
“A faux withdrawal was executed after reactions from the Iraqi authorities and different nations following the opening of the Bashiqa base [near Mosul],” he stated, including, “On this context, a pipe resembling a tank gun was hooked up to a truck to make it seem like an actual tank and coated with a tarp. It was then towed by navy vehicles.”
In keeping with a categorised Turkish navy doc that reveals the Turkish military presence in northern Iraq as of July 12, 2016, there have been 1,151 troops from varied drive models together with 4 battalions from the elite Special Forces Command — 36 tanks and a few two dozen armored personnel carriers and armored fight autos in complete. In Bashiqa alone Turkey maintained 739 troops together with 42 officers and 18 noncommissioned officers. The bottom was outfitted with 18 tanks, 4 155-mm artillery cannons, a radar unit and different navy {hardware}. A further 25 tanks and 116 troops have been on standby and able to be transported to Iraq’s north.
Turkey has expanded its troop presence since 2016 and added extra outposts in northern Iraq, whereas Turkish intelligence company MIT intensified its clandestine operations, particularly the assassination of senior leaders of the PKK in drone assaults. In keeping with a report submitted to the Iraqi Parliament by the Ministry of Protection, Turkey presently has greater than 4,000 troops in Iraq and a longtime presence 105 kilometers into Iraqi territory.
The identical report famous that Turkey has over 100 outposts within the Kurdistan area in addition to alongside the Turkish-Iraqi border. The Iraqi Protection Ministry additionally concluded that the shelling of the resort originated from a Turkish military base situated in Turkey close to the Iraqi border.
Iraq international minister’s letter to the UN Safety Council that complained a few Turkish assault in Iraqi territory:
In keeping with studies submitted to the UN by the Iraqi authorities, Turkey has dedicated a complete 22,742 violations in opposition to the sovereignty, safety and territorial integrity of Iraq since 2018. Iraqi authorities additionally acknowledged that they collected proof from the scene of the latest assault on the resort that included shrapnel from 155-millimeter caliber artillery shells, that are the identical as these utilized by the Turkish military within the space surrounding the resort.
Baghdad accuses Turkey of exporting its personal home Kurdish drawback to Iraq and utilizing the PKK to justify what it describes because the unlawful presence of Turkish troops in Iraqi territory. It additionally condemned the decision adopted by the Turkish Parliament in October 2021 to increase the presence of Turkish forces in Iraq for an additional two years.
On the UN Safety Council assembly, the Iraqi international minister additional famous that Turkey falsely claims that there’s an settlement with Iraq that might permit for a Turkish navy presence within the nation when actually there is no such thing as a such settlement.
In its protection Turkey claims the Iraqi authorities can’t train efficient sovereignty over sure components of its territory within the north, permitting PKK militants to manage an space of at the very least 10,000 sq. kilometers in Iraq. It says practically 800 villages have been forcibly evacuated by the PKK and that each one of them have change into secure havens for the terrorists.
