SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi Presidency said on Sunday a Turkish drone strike on a refugee camp in the country’s Makhmour district was a “dangerous escalation” that would endanger the lives of citizens.
A Turkish drone launched an airstrike on an area near Rostam Judi camp in Makhmour district on Saturday, killing three people.
“The recent attack on the Makhmour camp areas is a dangerous escalation that endangers the lives of citizens, including refugees, and is incompatible with international and humanitarian law,” a spokesman for the Iraqi presidency said in a statement.
The presidency also rejected unilateral actions in addressing outstanding issues, calling on Turkey to respect the country’s sovereignty.
It also called for the withdrawal of Turkish troops deployed to areas in the Kurdistan Region and Mosul, saying it is a “violation of the principle of good neighborliness and a violation of international norms and covenants”.
The presidency’s spokesman further said the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) inside Iraqi territory, including the Kurdistan Region, “is illegal”, calling for an action to put an end to the violations that undermine Iraq’s stability and security.
The strike on the camp which houses thousands of Kurdish refugees from Turkey took place three days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Iraq that Turkey would “clean up” the refugee camp which it says provides a haven for the PKK.
Erdogan said on Thursday that Makhmour, a camp 180 km south of the Turkish border which has hosted thousands of Turkish refugees for more than two decades, was an “incubator” for militants and must be tackled.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield expressed concerned about the attack, calling on all sides to respect the rights of refugees.
“Yesterday, I made clear to Turkish officials that any attack targeting civilians at Makhmour refugee camp would be a violation of international and humanitarian law,” she said in a tweet on Saturday.
The camp was established in the 1990s when thousands of Kurds from Turkey crossed into Iraq.
Makhmour was targeted by Turkish air strikes a year ago, although there were no reports of casualties at the time, but a senior Turkish official said it was now a priority for Ankara.
