clari.world.mideast.iraq

BAGHDAD, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The Iraqi Cabinet Tuesday
condemned Turkey's incursion into northern Iraq and called for an
immediate withdrawal of Turkish forces from the area.
Noting they understood the motives behind the incursion,
Cabinet members still protested the cross-border skirmishes as
infringing upon Iraq's territorial integrity, reported KUNA, the
Kuwaiti news agency.
The Cabinet also urged the Turkish military to avoid
targeting civilians and infrastructure in the primarily Kurdish
region.
The Turkish military launched a ground operation against
specific Kurdistan Workers Party, also known by its Kurdish language
initials PKK, targets in northern Iraq. The rebel group had attacked
Turkish targets from its bases in northern Iraq.
"Iraq is willing to work with Turkey in the war against
terrorists with due respect for international conventions,"
government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement. "Any
unilateral military action against the Kurdistan Workers Party
rebels based in (northern) Iraq is unacceptable as it would endanger
the neighborly ties between the two countries."
Meanwhile, lawmakers of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region
met in emergency session Tuesday to review developments surrounding
the Turkish-PKK clashes. They called on Turkey to dismantle its
military bases in northern Iraq established after the collapse of
the former Iraqi regime.