Baghdad stresses need for withdrawal of Turkish troops

Iraqi local media reported on Saturday that PKK terrorists attacked a group of Peshmerga forces in Dohuk province in northern Iraq, killing five Peshmergas.

In reaction, Iraqi President Barham Salih issued a statement, expressing concern over the development in Iraqi Kurdish region and condemning the PKK attacks.

The Iraqi presidency said in the statement that the PKK presence on Iraqi soil is illegal, stressing that Iraqi soil must not be used to attack Iraq neighbors.

The statement also stressed the “importance of preventing violations of Iraqi sovereignty and the withdrawal of Turkish troops stationed in the Iraqi Kurdistan and Mosul region”, while noting that Turkey’s presence on Iraqi soil was a “violation of the principle of good neighborliness” and “in contradiction with international protocols and treaties.”

The statement comes few days after the Iraqi and KRG ministers of agriculture issued a joint statement to condemn the action of Turkish companies with the help of Turkish troops in cutting down trees in the forests of the northern province of Duhok.