Iraq demands Türkiye to apologize for latest shelling of Sulaimaniyya airport

On Friday, April 08, 2023, the Turkish army launched a minor-scale attack on Northern Iraq’s populous Sulaimaniya airport which precipitated the anger of the Iraq government, calling on Turkey to immediately cease its hostilities on Iraqi soil.

According to the most recent Twitter post by Lawk Ghafuri, Head of Foreign Media Affairs for the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), a drone attack hat struck the vicinity of Sulaimaniya on Friday but caused no damage or delays and suspensions of flights.

The Iraqi presidency further declared in an official statement that Turkey indeed „had no legal justification to continue intimidating civilians under the pretext that forces to it, are present on Iraqi soil“.

In this context, Lawk Ghafuri demanded the Turkish government to assume responsibility for the perpetrated attack and present an official apology to the Iraqi government.

The Turkish Defense Ministry however, refuted the allegations and stated that no operation had taken place on Friday in Iraqi Kurdistan while yet unconfirmed statements, issued by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said that Mazloum Abdi had been present at the airport at the time of the shelling.

In fact, the Turkish government had been carrying out multiple drone attacks on Northern Iraqi soil on numerous occasions under the pretext of targeting fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

One of the most recent attacks that had taken place in Dohuk had claimed the lives of more than 8 Arab tourists, including women and children and subsequently provoked waves of anger and anguish amongst the Iraqi population.