Baghdad: Following the devastating shelling of a resort in Iraq's northern province of Duhok, Iraq has asked for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC).
As per the statement from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry's spokesman Ahmed al-Sahaf, the ministry "filed a complaint to the Security Council and asked an urgent meeting to review the Turkish strike, which resulted in the killing and injuring of numerous civilians, in Duhok Province."
In Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous part of Iraq, a suspected Turkish shelling struck a Duhok resort last week, leaving nine civilians dead and several others injured. The Turkish government is accused of carrying out the attack by the Iraqi government, a claim Ankara has refuted, as per reports.
Also on Saturday, the Iraqi parliament convened an urgent meeting in which the bombardment of Iraqi territory was discussed. The meeting was attended by the foreign minister Fuad Hussein, the defence minister Juma Inad, and other senior military officers.
According to a source in the parliament, Hussein stated during the session that military escalation with Turkey should be avoided and that the problem should be resolved through diplomacy. Hussein urged that the issue of the presence of Turkish military personnel and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside Iraqi land be handled, source said.
In response to the deadly resort bombardment in Duhok, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry delivered a severely worded complaint message to the Turkish Ambassador to Iraq, Ali Reza Guney, on Thursday. The note demanded that Turkish forces leave Iraqi land.
In Kurdistan, an autonomous region of Iraq, Turkish forces routinely conduct ground operations, airstrikes, and artillery bombardments, particularly in the Qandil Mountains, the PKK's major base of operations.
The PKK has been insurrecting against the Turkish government for more than three decades and is recognised as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, and the Europeon Union.
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