No: 246, 4 October 2016

We condemn the resolution adopted by the Iraqi Parliament on 4 October 2016. Most particularly, we fiercely protest the section of the said resolution that levels egregious claims against H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey and we find it unacceptable.

In our opinion, this resolution does not reflect the views of the majority of the Iraqi people that Turkey has supported in every respect and tried to stand side by side for years using every means available.

Since the very beginning, Turkey has displayed a determined fight against DEASH which it considers a threat for its national security. Within this period, Turkey has strongly supported the efforts of the International Anti-DEASH Coalition as it has been a member of the Coalition since its foundation.

Although Turkey has lost thousands of its citizens for years by the reason of the terrorist threat emanating from Iraq, and has been directly affected by the turbulences experienced due to the sectarian attitudes in Iraq, it has most strongly supported the territorial integrity, sovereignty, stability and security of Iraq at the expense of heavy political and economic loss when necessary. Until this day, Iraq has never been subjected to any threats from Turkey.

The bill of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, which is mentioned in the said resolution of Iraqi Parliament, is not a new act. It was first accepted in 2007 against the terrorist organization PKK that came into being in the north of Iraq. With the emergence of DEASH, its scope was expanded to include this terrorist organization and Syria.

We consider it disingenuous that the Iraqi Parliament that has not objected to the accepted resolution for years proposes it an item for the agenda as if it was a new act in a period in which terrorism claims the lives of so many people in Iraq and Turkey.

Turkey, like its fight against the terrorist organizations threatening Turkey’s national security by exercising its right of self-defense, will maintain its determination in its principled attitude exhibited in respect of protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq with which Turkey shares a common future.

Our concerns regarding the said resolution of Iraqi Parliament and reaction to the statements of some Iraqi officials accusing Turkey in the recent period will be forwarded to the Ambassador of Iraq in Ankara who was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.

We call on the Iraqi officials to set their interests aside in the post-DEASH period and embrace the friendship and helping hand extended by Turkey for the common good of Iraq and our region in such a critical juncture in the fight against DEASH.