The Iraqi authorities canceled the visit of the Turkish Defense Minister, and summoned the ambassador from Ankara, in connection with the killing of two Iraqi officers on Tuesday in a Turkish drone attack in northern Iraq, where Turkey bombed the PKK sites.
Since Turkey launched last June the "Tiger Claws" military operation in Iraqi Kurdistan, the diplomatic confrontation between the two neighboring countries has continued, against the backdrop of air strikes and Turkish ground incursions.
The killing of two Iraqi officers on Tuesday prompted Baghdad to take more stringent measures, as the Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced that Baghdad was no longer willing to receive the Turkish defense minister on Thursday.
The ministry also announced that the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad would be summoned again for the third time since June, "and handing him a strongly worded protest note, and informing him of Iraq's confirmed rejection of his country's assaults."
The Presidency of the Republic of Iraq issued a statement condemning "the blatant aggression carried out by Turkey through a plane that targeted the Sidakan area in the Kurdistan region."
The official spokesperson for the Presidency of the Republic affirmed that "the repeated Turkish military breaches of Iraqi lands are a serious violation of Iraq's sovereignty," calling for "an immediate cessation of these attacks, and for sitting at the table of dialogue and understanding to solve the border problems between the two neighboring countries by peaceful means and means, in a manner that preserves the security and stability of the region." .
For his part, the spokesman for the Iraqi armed forces, Major General Yahya Rasul, called on the Turkish forces to clarify the circumstances of what he described as the convicted crime, and to hold those involved accountable in order to preserve good neighborliness and relations between the two countries.
Despite the Iraqi protests, Ankara asserts that it has the right to continue to confront the PKK, which Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider a "terrorist organization".