According to a statement released today by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, the government summoned the Ambassador from Turkey to formally demand that the Turkish military halt all its bombardment against Iraqi territory.
The Turkish military reported yesterday that a week of attacks against Iraqi Kurdistan had killed at least 100 people. Among the slain were at least seven civilians killed in a strike that hit a Kurdish village.
The latest round of attacks started after Kurdish rebels loyal to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) ambushed and killed eight Turkish soldiers and fled into neighboring Iraq. It is, however, just the latest in years of strikes since the US occupation began in 2003.
The big change, then, comes on Iraq’s side, where the Foreign Ministry is complaining that the strikes are violating their sovereignty and accused Turkey of deliberately targeting civilians. This is a major difference from years of ambivalence about the strikes.
Something odd here. Turkey would have needed the approval of the occupier, The U.S., to bomb targets in Iraq. The complaint by the Iraqi government is just window dressing, because it has no power other than what the U.S. allows it.
The question is, was there a trade-off between Turkey and the U.S.? In other words, to allow Turkey bomb Iraq and kill civilians (which would have undoubtedly happened), did the U.S insist on Turkish non-participation in the Gaza flotilla this year? After all, so much of it has to do with Israel, from the U.S point of view at least.