U.S. Informed Turkey

U.S. forces raided PUK and Iraq Turkoman Front bureaus in Tuzhurmatu and Kirkuk at about 18.00 o’clock on Sunday, upon the incidents, which resulted in the killing of 10 Turkomans. U.S. informed the General Staff about the raid beforehand, through Turkish liaison officers under Special Forces in the region.

U.S.’ informing Turkey ahead of the raids was evaluated positively in Ankara. After the Suleymaniye incident on July 4, the two countries decided to improve coordination and communication regarding the developments in Northern Iraq, in order to prevent a second such incident. The fact that U.S. informed Turkey about the raids beforehand, was interpreted as the achievement of this consensus.

The U.S. Army changed its statement regarding the killing of two Turkomans during the demonstrations. The U.S. Army had stated that they killed two of those Turkomans. In the modified statement, the U.S. Army said that the Iraqi police opened a warning fire and shot two people accidentally.