Iraq’s Row With Turkey Continues; 1 Killed, 23 Wounded in Attacks

Turkish Ambassador to Iraq, Yunus Demirer, was called to the foreign ministry to discuss the misconduct of two senior diplomats. The nature of the complaint is unknown, but the two general consuls served Mosul and Basra.

This is the latest volley in ratcheting tensions between the two neighbors. Turkey has refused to extradite Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi who is being tried, in absentia, on terrorism charges. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of stoking sectarian tensions and failing to address the Kurdish rebel problem.

Turkey’s relations with the Kurds, however, were strengthened. Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani met with Turkey’s P.M. Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu during a trip to Ankara. They discussed trade and Kurdish rebels.

Those rebels, the Kurdistan Workers Party (P.K.K.), killed at least 200 people, both soldiers and rebels, in the first four months of the year. They also killed four Turkish soldiers and wounded five more during attacks in Turkey today. Four P.K.K. members were also killed.

At least one Iraqis was killed and 23 more were wounded in a mostly quiet day.

In Baghdad, a blast in the Amiriya district left one civilian dead.

Nineteen people were wounded when a bomb exploded at a parking lot that serves the government center in Baquba. The bomb may have been targeting an oil ministry official.

A pair of blasts in Kirkuk wounded four people, including one civilian.

Two I.E.D.s were defused in Suwayra.

No casualties were reported after a blast in Amara.

An attempt to sabotage a pipeline in Anbar province failed.

Author: Margaret Griffis

Margaret Griffis is a journalist from Miami Beach, Florida and has been covering Iraqi casualties for Antiwar.com since 2006.