Türkiye reiterates its commitment to fighting terrorism in Iraq, decries threat of PUK ties to terrorist PKK

By Faruk Zorlu and Seda Sevencan

ANKARA (AA) – Türkiye’s foreign minister reiterated the country's commitment to fighting terrorism in Iraq and addressing the national security threat posed by a political party’s ties to the PKK terror group.

"Türkiye is determined to use all its diplomatic tools in a coordinated manner to establish stability in the region" with the fight against terrorism in Iraq, Hakan Fidan told a news channel in an interview Monday.

Highlighting the enduring friendship between Türkiye and the people of the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, Fidan said the leadership of northern Iraq's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party in Sulaymaniyah "poses a national security threat to Türkiye due to its cooperation with the terror group PKK."

He added: "Our desire is for our friends in Sulaymaniyah to correct their mistakes, cement their friendship with Türkiye as they have done throughout history, and move forward together towards a shared future."

Stressing collaborative efforts to shape the future in the Iraqi cities of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Baghdad, Kirkuk, and Mosul, he said there is no place for terrorist groups in these areas.

"We must now remove them from our system. These are organizations whose lifespan has expired. The cities and cultures I mentioned are ancient, and they have overcome such threats before, and hopefully, they will continue to do so in the future," he said.

Such groups must be excluded from the system as they have reached their expiration date, he said.

Fidan last week, along with Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Interior Minister Munir Karaloglu, visited Iraq, as news came that Iraq’s National Security Council had officially designated the terrorist PKK group an outlawed group.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.