The annual spring offensive by the Turkish armed forces against PKK positions in northern Iraq has sparked fierce criticism in Baghdad.

The Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar justified the operation, which began on Monday night, by saying that it would thwart an attack by the PKK in Turkey and was therefore based on the right to self-defense.

However, in Baghdad, Muqtada al-Sadr, whose movement makes up the largest parliamentary group, warned Turkey on Tuesday against further operations on Iraqi soil.

Rainer Herman

Editor in Politics.

  • Follow I follow

Iraq would then no longer remain silent, he wrote on the short message service Twitter.

Turkey bombs parts of Iraq for no reason, Sadr said.

Sadr demanded that Ankara should coordinate with the Iraqi government should Iraqi soil pose a threat to Turkey.

The Iraqi security forces are capable of ending such a threat.

The spokesman for the Iraqi foreign ministry also criticized Turkey for violating Iraqi sovereignty.

Iraq is not a territory in which foreign powers can carry out their conflicts, he wrote.

Both contradicted the statement by the Turkish Defense Ministry that the operation was coordinated with "friends and allies".

However, Turkey coordinated the operation with the government of the autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

Prime Minister Masrur Barzani met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul last Friday before the start of the offensive.

The Iraqi Kurds are economically dependent on Turkey because they pump their oil to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceylan.

Apparently, Iraqi-Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are supporting the Turkish armed forces by fighting PKK units.

In Turkey, only the pro-Kurdish HDP condemned the offensive.

The attack was contrary to international law, wrote the HDP on Twitter.

While Turkey presents itself as a peacemaker in the war in Ukraine, it is showing its true colors in northern Iraq.

The scientific service of the Bundestag had doubted that similar operations in Turkey were compatible with international law.

In Operation Claw Lock, the Turkish armed forces deployed air force and ground troops, and helicopters deployed elite units.

The Air Force is bombing PKK hideouts, tunnels and ammunition depots, the Defense Ministry in Ankara said.

Destinations are the regions of Metina, Zap and Avashin-Basyan.

By Tuesday, 26 fighters from the terrorist organization PKK had been "neutralized".