Iraq summoned the ambassadors from Iran and Turkey on Thursday due to their ongoing military actions against Kurdish groups in the country.
Iraq demanded in a statement Turkey stop its military actions against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq. Iraq also sent a statement to Iran protesting its attacks on Kurdish groups within Iraq, saying the recent shelling damaged property, according to the Associated Press.
Turkey is currently conducting large ground and air campaigns in Iraq against the PKK, a Kurdish group in Turkey that fights for greater Kurdish rights and is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara. The PKK has long based itself in the Qandil Mountains in the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq near the border with Turkey. The PKK also has a presence in the predominantly Yazidi city of Sinjar and the refugee camp for Kurds from Turkey in Makhmour, south of the Kurdistan Region capital Erbil. Turkey has hit all these areas this week and some civilians have been killed. Turkey’s operations followed recent bombings in Turkish-controlled Afrin, Syria and in Turkey that Ankara blamed on the PKK.
At the same time, Iran is shelling the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan within Iraqi territory. Kurdish groups from Iran also operate within the Kurdistan Region of Iraq near the Iranian border.
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