Turkey's Erdoğan warns about PKK presence in Northern Iraq

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi held a joint press conference after meeting for 30 minutes at the Presidential Palace Complex on Wednesday.

During the press conference Erdoğan warned against the presence of PKK terrorists in northern Iraq’s Sinjar and Qandil areas.

“The central government has cleared out almost the whole nation, except 15 to 20 percent, of terrorist organizations. I believe the remaining Daesh elements will also be cleared,” said Erdoğan.

“The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has taken advantage of this situation and established a structure in Iraq. There is a PKK presence in Qandil and Sinjar, among other areas. We are prepared to cooperate in these areas,” he added.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Turkey’s foreign ministry recently released a statement expressing that Ankara s ready to fully cooperate with the Baghdad government to end the presence of the PKK.

“We are ready to provide the necessary support for the operation of the oil pipeline. These steps will be taken with the central government,” Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan was referring to reopening a crude oil pipeline from the Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey, which Iraq stopped sending oil through in 2014.

Abadi hailed the success of the Iraqi operation against terrorist organizations.

“We succeeded against Daesh. We cannot allow any group to operate within the Iraqi territory. According to the Iraqi Constitution, every group that illegally posseses weapons is punished. Our task is to ensure the territorial integrity of Iraq and to fight against terrorist organizations,” Abadi said.

“Unfortunately, a referendum decision was taken without considering the components of Iraqi society. Some wanted to dismantle our land with this referendum and redefine our boundaries. We are obliged to protect all Iraqi citizens, irrespective of their sect, as the Iraqi Central Federal Administration,” he added.

Last week, Iraqi government forces moved into several parts of the country disputed between Baghdad and Erbil, including the oil-rich Kirkuk province.

“The current Iraqi security forces do not resemble those of the Saddam era. The only goal is to protect Iraqi citizens and ensure security. We have clearly instructed the security forces not to use guns against citizens and to avoid bloodshed,” Abadi said.

“We have a great responsibility to ensure the stability of our region. We discussed a project in which steps will be taken to ensure economic development instead of spark wars. We want bilateral relations to continue to strongly grow and we do not support the intervention in the internal affairs of any country,” he added.