By NNN-QNA
Arbil, Iraq : Iraqi Kurdish people and government voiced grave concern over imminent Turkish invasion of the northern Iraqi semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
The National Assembly of Kurdistan NAK (a local parliament) mulled Wednesday the Turkish threats to launch a cross-border offensive to crush the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) rebels, based in north Iraq.
“We are following up the new threats and developments of the situation with grave concern,” NAK Speaker Adnan Al-Mufti said in his opening address to the ordinary session of the parliament.
“We have never wished the situation to deteriorate to such degree like this. There is always an opportunity to find solution to problems through dialogue.
“The most likely Turkish invasion will definitely leave the region open to greater risks,” Al-Mufti warned.
Meanwhile, he backed the position of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki who delegated a security mission to Turkey and suggested a tripartite Iraqi-Turkish Kurdish commission to settle the dispute.
Meanwhile, Kurdistan government termed any possible Turkish invasion of Kurdistan as running counter to international laws and the United Nations Charter.
It urged Ankara to exercise self-restraint and adopt dialogue as a means of solving the dispute.
It is illegal under the international laws and the United Nations Charter for the Turkish parliament to sanction any military intervention in northern Iraq, spokesman of Kurdistan government Jamal Abdullah told reporters.
“We recommend dialogue and diplomatic means as well as the efforts of the Iraqi government to deal with the roots of the problem and ease the tension on the Iraqi-Turkish borders,” he added.
An estimated 3,000 PKK rebels use northern Iraq as a launching pad for attacks against security and civilian targets inside Turkish territories.
Turkey blames the PKK rebels for the loss of over 30,000 lives since the eruption of the armed conflict in 1984.