Turkey has no choice but to fight the Islamic State (ISIS/Daesh) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) simultaneously, argued that country's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. "You cannot give priority when you are under attack," Çavuşoğlu argued. "For us, each of these terror organizations is as dangerous as the other. Daesh attacks in the daytime, the PKK in the night. We have no other option than fighting both of them simultaneously." Çavuşoğlu made these remarks in an interview given to the French Le Monde newspaper on Monday. The conflict between the Turkish army and the Kurdish group has brought devastation to the Kurdish southeast of the country over the past year after a tenuous ceasefire crumbled last summer. Çavuşoğlu said Turkey should not have to make allowances for the fact that the PKK is involved in the international fight against the Islamic State. "Shall we allow the PKK to kill our soldiers and police and continue their terror acts in Turkey just because they are fighting Daesh?," he asked rhetorically. "No, not possible." On the ongoing offensive the Syrian Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are carrying out against ISIS in Manbij Çavuşoğlu confirmed that a deal was made between Ankara and Washington but declined to go into detail citing a "secret military agreement." Çavuşoğlu also lauded Turkey’s contribution to the fight against ISIS, saying his country was combating the terrorist group in many ways. "We have been very active in the coalition against Daesh in opening our Incirlik airbase, training Peshmerga and local Iraqi forces in the north of Iraq. We stopped the flow of foreign fighters a long time ago. Our list of forbidden entry consists of 50,000 names; we have deported 3,000 people. One thousand are detained in Turkey," he said.
