Turkey has been conducting a series of air and ground raids for months along its mountainous border with Iraq against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and has accused its neighbor of not doing enough to crack down on PKK rebels.
The PKK has been waging a 27-year-old war from inside Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region, where it is well-entrenched in refuges.
“The Iraqi government condemns the PKK terrorist acts ... and confirms again that Iraq will not shelter and harbor any foreign terrorist armed groups,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“The Iraqi government and the Kurdish Regional Government are committed to maintaining border security and security cooperation with the Turkish government to prevent such acts from being repeated.”
On Wednesday, 24 young soldiers were killed by Kurdish militants in one of the deadliest attacks in years.
Iraqi officials in Baghdad say it is difficult for them to control the rugged area where PKK guerrillas have their camps. Turkish, Iraqi and US officials meet often on security.
In a sign of deep mistrust, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told his Iraqi counterpart Hoshiyar Zebari during a phone conversation on Wednesday: “It is not time to condemn, it is time to take concrete steps,” according to Turkish officials.
Ankara has not ruled out launching another cross-border operation.
More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 for greater autonomy and rights for Turkey’s 15 million Kurds.
