Iraqi Defense Ministry has responded harshly to Erdoğan’s threats over Shengal. The Ministry issued a statement and said, “Iraq will not be sitting with its hands tied against any and all threats against our territory.”
Turkish President and AKP Leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke in Trabzon on Sunday and said: “We had said before that Afrin would not be the end of this. I had said we would enter Sinjar (Shengal) as well. Operations there have launched too.”
The Iraqi Defense Ministry issued a written statement on Erdoğan’s comments.
The Defense Ministry statement called Erdoğan’s comments an intervention against the territorial integrity of Iraq and said Turkey’s attacks against Shengal will be considered attacks against the country’s territorial integrity, in which case Iraq will “not be sitting with its hands tied.”
The statement said, “Iraq will not be sitting with its hands tied against attacks against its territory.”
Iraqi Defense Minister Ibrahim Al Jafari had previously said: “Iraq will not allow the presence in the country of any forces carrying out military operations from neighboring countries.”
