ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned the Turkish ambassador following recent remarks by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, asserting they constitute an interference in Iraq’s internal affairs.

The ministry expressed Baghdad’s dissatisfaction to Turkish Ambassador to Iraq Anil Bora Inan regarding Fidan’s remarks, stressing that they “constitute an affront to the friendly relations between Iraq and Turkey.”

In a Monday interview with CNN Turk, Fidan said that the Yazidi town of Sinjar, as well as Makhmour and Qandil, will “witness changes in the near future,” noting that after a military operation in Syria targeting Rojava (northeast Syria), “the Iraqi phase” will follow. 

Qandil is a mountainous region in Sulaimani province on the border with Iran, where the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - Turkey’s longtime foe - has its headquarters. 

“The remarks amount to interference in Iraq’s internal affairs and a breach of diplomatic norms,” read the ministry’s statement.

“The issue of Sinjar and other Iraqi territories is a purely national matter, handled in accordance with national priorities and mechanisms,” said ministry undersecretary Mohammed Hussein Bahr al-Uloom.

He emphasized Baghdad’s rejection of “any external interference aimed at imposing solutions or exploiting the issue for political or military influence.”

Explaining Ankara’s stance, Inan stated that Fidan’s words were “inaccurately understood due to an incorrect translation,” claiming that the minister had referred to the PKK members present in Iraq and were not related to Iraq’s internal affairs or residents.

On Wednesday, a Yazidi lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament slammed Fidan’s remarks, asserting that the ethnoreligious community’s heartland of Sinjar does not concern Turkey. 

“We categorically reject the recent statements made by the Turkish Foreign Minister regarding Sinjar, as Sinjar poses no threat to Turkey,” said Murad Ismael.

The PKK-affiliated Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) remain active in the Sinjar and have assumed an important role in fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Yazidi-populated areas during the organization’s reign of terror.

Turkish authorities have repeatedly warned against the existence of the unit in Iraq, claiming it poses a threat to Ankara’s national security.