By NNN-KUNA
Baghdad : The Iraqi cabinet has condemned the Turkish military incursion into north Iraq and called for the immediate withdrawal of the Turkish forces from the region.
While expressing understanding of the motives of Turkey, the cabinet protested against the infringement by the northwestern neighbour on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh said in a press release following the cabinet meeting here Tuesday.
“The cabinet called on the Turkish military to avoid targeting the civilians and the infrastructure in the mainly Kurd region and end their operations as soon as possible.
“Iraq is willing to work with Turkey in the war against terrorists with due respect for international conventions,” the spokesman pointed out.
“Any unilateral military action against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels based in North Iraq is unacceptable as it would endanger the neighbourly ties between the two countries,” he underscored.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly (parliament) of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region held an emergency meeting Tuesday to review the developments of the situation of the military operations between the Turkish army and the PKK reblels.
The meeting issued a statement calling on Turkey to dismantle the military bases it set up in north Iraq following the collapse of the former Iraqi regime.
Some 1,000 Turkish troopers, equipped with 60 armoured vehicles and tanks, have been based in the Kurd region in line with the agreement of 1997 between Turkey and the 10 Kurd leaders.
The Kurd parliamentarians also called during their Tuesday meeting for an early end of the Turkish military operations in the region.