Qatar backs Turkey’s ‘right to defend borders’
Foreign ministry says Arab League chief’s condemnation of military strikes in Iraq was issued without consultation.
The Qatari foreign ministry has expressed its reservations about the statement issued by the secretary-general of the Arab League regarding the condemnation of Turkish bombardment of areas in northern Iraq.
In a statement published by the Qatar state news agency on Tuesday, the foreign ministry clarified that the Arab League’s statement on Turkey’s strikes in Iraq was issued without consultation with the regional bloc’s members.
Qatar stands by Turkey’s right to defend its borders and interests against any threats, the statement said.
Turkish warplanes have for over a week carried out hundreds of sorties over northern Iraq, with official media claiming that that they have caused significant damage to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) infrastructure and killed about 260 fighters.
Turkey is waging what it calls a two-pronged cross-border “anti-terror” bombing campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters in Syria and PKK fighters in northern Iraq.
On Sunday, two Turkish soldiers were killed and 31 wounded in a suicide bombing by a PKK fighter in the east of the country, the first time the Kurdish group has used the tactic in the current escalation.