UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Iraq told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that Turkey and Iraq are ready for a joint investigation into an artillery attack in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region that killed nine Iraqi tourists and injured 33 other people.
Iraq has blamed the July 20 attack on Turkey. Ankara has denied it was behind the attack.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said Iraq’s caretaker prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, emphasized in a conversation Monday “the importance of a transparent and thorough investigation: independent or jointly.” She quoted him as saying it is vital “to put a stop to speculations, denials, misunderstandings and rising tensions.”
The U.N. envoy said she also understands “that Turkey is also ready to address the issue jointly, with Iraq, in order to determine exactly what happened.”
Turkey, which often conducts cross-border military operations in northern Iraq, says it targets militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. The group, declared a terrorist organization by Turkey and the West, has for decades waged an insurgency against the government in Ankara and maintains hideouts in Iraq’s mountainous north.
Though Iraqi civilians, mostly local villagers, have been killed in past Turkish attacks, the July 20 artillery barrage marked the first time that tourists visiting the north from elsewhere in Iraq were killed.
Hennis-Plasschaert told the council that the nine tourists killed included three children. Of the 33 people injured, 11 reportedly underwent surgery and three remain in critical condition, she said.
In the early afternoon of July 20, Hennis-Plasschaert said, five rounds of artillery struck the Parkha resort, a popular tourist destination known to be packed at this time of year, including with children. The first round hit an unpopulated hillside overlooking Parkha, but the next four hit the center of the resort with deadly results, she said.
Immediately after the attack, she said, Iraq’s prime minister appointed a committee that visited the resort the same day to collect evidence and talk with with witnesses and local authorities. Based on its assessment, the government attributed the attacks to Turkish armed forces, she said.
On the day of the attack, the military wing of the PKK issued a statement denying its fighters were in the area and blaming Turkey for the shelling, Hennis-Plasschaert said.
The next day, Turkey’s embassy in Baghdad issued a statement sending condolences to the Iraqis who were killed “at the hands of the terrorist organization PKK,” she said.
Hennis-Plasschaert said the attack on a well-known tourist site “demonstrates a shocking disregard for civilian life and for the universally accepted standards of international humanitarian and human rights law which seek to protect civilians.”
She said the requirement that all parties to conflict take “all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians at all times … was clearly not adhered to.”
