Türkiye not to allow terror groups to take shelter in Syria, Iraq: Minister

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye will not allow the PKK/PYD/YPG terrorist organization to take shelter in Syria and Iraq, the country's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday.

"We will not allow the PKK/PYD/YPG to take shelter in Syria and Iraq. We will definitely not allow this. No matter what anyone says about it, we will do whatever is necessary," Cavusoglu told the parliament in the capital Ankara.

Last month, Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Sword in northern areas of Iraq and Syria, a cross-border aerial campaign against the terror group PKK, which has hideouts across Iraqi and Syrian borders from where they plan and sometimes execute attacks on Turkish soil.

After the air operation was launched, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also signaled a ground operation into northern Iraq and northern Syria to eliminate the terror threat.

"In Syria, we have been in talks with the (Assad) regime for a while, through the intelligence services. If the regime acts realistically, we are ready to work together on the fight against terrorism, the political process, and the return of Syrians. It is unthinkable otherwise," Cavusoglu said.

Türkiye follows the same policy in Iraq, Cavusoglu said, adding that Ankara offers both Iraq's central and regional governments cooperation in fighting terrorism.

"If our interlocutors listen to our calls, we will march together and fight terrorism together. If they remain unresponsive, we will pull ourselves by our own bootstraps," he added.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the EU, and the US, and is responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the terrorist PKK's Syrian branch.