Turkey, Iraq agree to cooperate against Kurdish PKK
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, poses for photographs with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, left, during a welcome ceremony prior to their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, December 17, 2020. Al-Photo: Turkish Presidential Press Service via AP
ANKARA,— Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi arrived in Turkey on Thursday, the most high-profile visit by an official from Baghdad since Ankara launched a military operation in the summer against Kurdish PKK rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Al Kadhimi met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials.
Turkey and Iraq have agreed to continue their cooperation in fighting extremist organizations, including the Islamic State group and Kurdish rebels, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.
Speaking to reporters following meetings with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Erdogan also said he hoped that an Iraqi-Turkish oil pipeline that was damaged by the IS during the conflict against the militant group would soon be repaired and would resume oil transfers to world markets.
Turkey has carried out numerous ground and aerial cross-border offensives into neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan Region to attack militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, who maintain bases in the region. The latest offensive in June 2020, dubbed Operation Claw Tiger, saw Turkish commandos being airlifted into Iraqi territory.
The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy in Turkish Kurdistan for the Kurdish minority who make over 22.5 million of the country’s 82-million population.
More than 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels, have been killed in the conflict.
A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974 and currently serving a life sentence in Turkey.
“We have agreed to continue our struggle against our common enemies IS, PKK and FETO,” Erdogan said — the latter a reference to a network led by U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey blames for a failed coup in 2016. Gulen denies involvement in the attempt.
“There is no place for separatist terrorism in Turkey, Iraq or Syria,” Erdogan said. “Our region will not find peace until terrorism is quashed.”
Speaking through an interpreter, al-Kadhimi told reporters that it was “not possible for Iraq to show tolerance toward any (group) that threatens Turkey.”
The two countries also agreed to continue working on a Turkish-proposed action plan geared toward the “effective use” of the waters of the Tigris River, following Turkey’s construction of Ilisu Dam in southeast Turkey, the Turkish leader told journalists.
“As Turkey, we stress that water shouldn’t be assessed as a factor for disagreement, but a field for cooperation,” Erdogan said.
Copyright © 2020, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | AP
THE PUK GOVT IN KURDISH IRAQ (BORDERING TURKEY WHICH IT SELLS OIL TO) AGREES WITH THIS AND AIDS TURKEY IN ITS WAR ON FELLOW KURDS IN THE PKK
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