Türkiye condemns attack against its consulate in Iraq’s Mosul

ANKARA

Türkiye has strongly condemned the attack on its Consulate General in Mosul and called on Iraqi officials to fulfill their responsibilities in protecting diplomatic and consular missions amid ongoing tensions between the two countries over an assault that killed civilians in the Duhok province of northern Iraq.

“An attack took place on the Consulate General of Türkiye in Mosul on the morning of 27 July. We condemn this attack, in which no casualties were reported, in the strongest terms and expect those responsible to be brought to justice as soon as possible. We firmly request the Iraqi authorities to fulfill their responsibilities in protecting diplomatic and consular missions,” read a written statement from the Turkish foreign ministry on July 27.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu described the attack on the Turkish diplomatic mission as part of ongoing provocations by the terror organizations that carry out their activities due to the ineffective anti-terror struggle of Baghdad.

“According to international treaties, it’s their job to protect the missions in their country. There are terror organizations in their country and they are a threat for them and us,” he told TV100 in an interview.

The PKK, designated as a terror organization by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, has been making attacks against Türkiye from Iraq where they have their headquarters and all sorts of facilities, including training camps. Türkiye has been running a broad anti-terror struggle in northern Iraq since earlier this year.

“Eliminating this terrorist presence is their responsibility. ‘If you cannot do it alone, let’s do it together. If you don’t want to do it together, we are obliged to do it,’ we told them. We are using our right to self-defense stemming from international law,” Çavuşoğlu stated.

The ministry’s statement recalled that “the attack was carried out during the U.N. Security Council meeting, which was held upon the call of the Iraqi authorities and at a time when our country was unfairly accused and targeted.”

The meeting at the U.N. Security Council late July 26 observed a dispute between Iraq and Türkiye over a recent deadly attack in the Duhok province of northern Iraq, according to the wires.

‘PKK controls 10,000 square kms in Iraq’

Holding Türkiye responsible for the attack, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein demanded the withdrawal of all Turkish troops from Iraq, while Türkiye’s deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Öncü Keçeli said his government will keep pursing fighters it considers terrorists who take refuge in Iraq. He also denied that Türkiye is behind the attack. He recalled that Ankara made it clear that it is ready to take all the steps to unveil the truth behind the attack, stressing to the council that “our officials at many different levels have given the same message.”

The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq are breached by terrorist organizations, not by Türkiye, Keçeli stressed, “As we speak, the flags of the PKK terrorist organization are raised in certain parts of northern Iraq, not the flags of the federal government.”

Türkiye estimates the PKK controls an area of “at least 10,000 square kilometers in Iraq,” he said. “Nearly 800 villages have been forcefully evacuated by the PKK and all these spots have become a safe haven for the terrorists.” In the first six months of this year the PKK carried out 339 attacks against Türkiye, he said.

“Iraq has so far proven to be either unable or unwilling to fight the terrorists,” and therefore it cannot blame Türkiye for exercising its right to self-defense, Keceli said.