Iraq MFA: Kurdish rebels must leave the north of the country

PanARMENIAN.Net - Worried by the decision of the Turkish parliament, Iraq has called on Kurdish rebels to leave the north of the country as soon as possible, to avoid the area being targeted by the Turkish military.



Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said October 18 the separatist PKK group was operating without permission from regional authorities.



He was speaking a day after Turkey's parliament approved cross-border operations against PKK rebels.



In the first Iraqi reaction to the vote in Turkey's parliament, Mr Zebari called on PKK rebels, who are fighting for an independent Kurdistan, to leave.



"Our formal request is that they leave Iraqi soil and leave Iraq for its people and do not bring us more problems than we're already suffering," Mr Zebari, an ethnic Kurd himself, said.



Kurds in Iraq protested against the Turkish parliament's decision. Thousands marched in the northern cities of Irbil and Dahuk to express opposition to any attack by Turkish forces. In Irbil, they carried banners denouncing possible cross-border raids.



Some of the banners read: "We will resist the Turkish" and "We are in the world of dialogue, not war".



In Dahuk, about 1,500 protesters held a rally.



About 3500 armed rebels are reported to be taking shelter in the mountains of northern Iraq. The recent deaths of 13 Turkish soldiers in an ambush blamed on the PKK has put the Turkish government under renewed pressure to respond with force, BBC reports.