Turkish Foreign Ministry Summons Iranian Ambassador

Iraj Masedi serves as Iran’s ambassador to Turkey. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Turkish government summoned Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Farazmand to the Foreign Ministry on February 28 as a response to a comment by an Iranian official criticizing Turkey’s military operations in Iraq. The day before, Iraj Masjedi, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, called for the removal of Turkish forces from the north of the country.  

The Turkish military has been involved in Iraq as part of a force to counter aggression from the  Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Ankara views the PKK as a threat to national security, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently ordering several military operations against the organization in both Iraq and Syria. 

In 2020, Turkey launched “Operation Claw-Tiger,” which targeted the PKK in response to a “recent upsurge in attacks on our police stations and military bases” near the Iraqi-Turkish border. Since its inception, Claw-Tiger has resulted in hundreds of airstrikes against Kurdish rebels as well as an increase in Turkish ground troops in Iraq.

The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union. Ankara alleged on February 14 that 13 Turkish citizens had been executed in a cave by the PKK. Most of the captives had been kidnapped in the spring or summer of 2015.

The PKK did not deny the accusations and instead blamed the deaths on Turkey’s decision to raid its prison camps, claiming that the victims were killed in the clashes between the two forces.  

Turkey’s behavior in Iraq has been criticized by the Iraqi government as well. In July 2020, Baghdad summoned the Turkish ambassador to formally complain about the establishment of military bases within Iraq’s territory. However, due to Iraq’s lack of authority in the largely autonomous region of Kurdistan and fears of escalation, these complaints have had little effect. 

In the interview with Rudaw News, an Iraqi news organization based in the Kurdistan region, Masjedi declared, “We do not accept at all, be it Turkey or any other country to intervene in Iraq militarily or advance or have a military presence in Iraq.” 

This interview resulted in backlash from the Turkish government, and, subsequently, the summoning of the Iranian ambassador to the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Turkey’s ambassador to Iraq, Fatih Yildiz, responded to his counterpart’s complaints by tweeting,“Ambassador of Iran would [sic] be the last person to lecture Turkey about respecting borders of Iraq.”