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Demonstrators gather outside Turkish embassy in Iraq to protest Ankara’s military incursion

Thursday, 18 February 2021 4:48 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 18 February 2021 6:16 PM ]

Iraqi protesters carry a banner in protest against Turkey's military incursion in Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region as they participate in a demonstration outside the Turkish embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on February 18, 2021. (Photo via Twitter)

Dozens of activists and demonstrators have gathered outside the Turkish embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to protest Ankara's cross-border military operations in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region against purported positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group.

Russia’s Arabic-language RT Arabic television news network reported that the protesters converged in front of the premises of the diplomatic mission in the al-Waziriyah neighborhood of Baghdad on Thursday morning.

The activists raised banners in protest against Turkey's military intervention in northern Iraq.

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They also called on the Iraqi government to prevent such attacks, urging Turkey to remove its military forces from Iraq and stop what they described as repeated acts of aggression.

On February 14, Turkey’s military chief said PKK militants had killed 13 Turkish civilians in northern Iraq.

“In a search of a cave taken under control, the bodies of 13 of our abducted citizens were found. In a first inspection it was determined that 12 of our innocent and unarmed citizens were shot in the head and martyred and one shot in the chest and martyred,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said at the time.

“According to initial information given by two terrorists captured alive, our citizens were martyred at the start of the operation by the terrorist responsible for the cave,” he noted at the operation’s control center near the Iraq border, which he was visiting with military officials.

The PKK said the 13 men had died when Turkish forces bombed the cave, where the captives were being kept.