Iraq protests visit by Turkish defense minister to Turkish troops in N. Iraq

BAGHDAD, May 3 (KUNA) -- The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the Turkish Charge D'affaires and lodged with him a complaint against the Turkish defense minister's entry into Iraqi territories without coordination with the Iraqi authorities.
The ministry said in a statement that the number-one senior undersecretary at the department, Nezar Al-Khairallah, summoned the Turkish Charge D'affaires and handed him the protest motion, expressing the Iraqi Government strong dismay and condemnation for the Turkish minister's entry into the Iraqi territories without coordination or approval on part of the Iraqi authorities.
The Turkish defense minister had also met Turkish troops on the Iraqi territories in "an illegitimate manner," the foreign ministry added.
The Iraqi Government emphatically rejects ongoing breaches of the sanctity of the Iraqi territories by the Turkish military forces. "Such an approach contradicts the relationship of friendship, good neighborliness, relevant international laws and conventions." Turkish media reported yesterday that the defense minister visited the Turkish forces in Duhuk in northern Iraq without coordination with either the federal government in Baghdad or the government of the Kurdistan Region.
Turkish forces are deployed in several locations in northern Iraq at pretext of fighting the armed separatist Kurds. (end) ahh.rk