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Iraqi Foreign Ministry urges single UNSC stance on Turkey's actions in northern Iraq

Iraq has held talks with five UN Security Council permanent member-states with an aim of "forming and adopting a single position on the violation by Turkey of Iraq’s sovereignty"

© AP Photo/ Nabil al-Jurani, File

BEIRUT, December 10. /TASS/. Iraq has held talks with five UN Security Council permanent member-states and other countries for adopting a single international position on Turkey’s actions in northern Iraq, the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Jamal said on Thursday.

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Ankara’s intrusion into Iraq is yet another act of defiance of international law

The consultations involving five veto-wielding states (the United Kingdom, China, Russia, the United States and France) are aimed at "forming and adopting a single position on the violation by Turkey of Iraq’s sovereignty," the diplomat told the Alsumaria TV channel.

Baghdad has sent a request to the Arab League to hold an urgent meeting at the level of foreign ministers of 22 member-states to discuss the illegal deployment of Ankara’s troops to northern Iraq.

On December 4, Turkey sent around 130 soldiers, tanks and artillery weapons to northern Iraq where Ankara is training Kurdish peshmerga fighters for attacks on Mosul, seized by the Islamic State group’s gunmen.

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Iraq’s Foreign Ministry later summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Baghdad and demanded that Turkey should immediately withdraw its forces from the northern Iraqi territories. The ministry said Ankara had deployed forces without Baghdad’s permission and warned that it considered the step as a "hostile act."

Earlier this week, the ruling National Iraqi Alliance allowed Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to take response measures against Turkey if Ankara refused to withdraw its forces from the territory. The steps include turning to the UN Security Council and introducing economic sanctions against Turkey.

Despite the tensions in relations between the two countries, Turkey’s Air Force reportedly continues delivering strikes on the positions in northern Iraq of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Ankara regards as a terrorist organization.

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