ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is determined to act on his threat of military action against the PKK in northern Iraq, just as he delivered on his vow to drive Kurdish fighters out of Afrin in northern Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday morning.
“President Erdogan followed words with actions when he said ‘we will attack Afrin suddenly one night.’ the same thing applies to Sinjar [Shingal] and Qandil,” the FM said, speaking to editors of the state-run Anadolu Agency.
He claimed that Iraqi authorities and the Kurdistan Region are “very concerned” by the presence of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters in northern Iraq.
Ankara will coordinate its military operation with the Iraqi government, Cavusoglu said, insisting Turkey will not take “unilateral” steps in this regard.
However, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari told a Turkish delegation in Baghdad on Monday that the Iraqi government strongly opposes any Turkish operation inside Iraqi territory.
Turkish military, intelligence, and diplomatic institutions are all “prepared” to attack PKK fighters in the Yezidi area of Shingal, west of Mosul, and also in the Qandil mountains located on the border between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region, Cavusoglu said.
He hinted that an operation could take place after the Iraqi parliamentary elections scheduled for May 12 – if Iraq to give a green light.
The PKK is an armed group fighting for the rights of Kurds in Turkey but is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.
Four people were killed in Turkish airstrikes in Choman district, about 95 km northeast of Erbil, in the early hours of Thursday.
The Turkish military and its Syrian proxies took control of the Kurdish city of Afrin on Sunday after it drove out the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Ankara conflates the PKK and YPG. The YPG denies any organic links with the Qandil-based PKK.
The YPG constitutes the majority of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is in control of about 20 percent of northern Syria including Manbij.
Turkey will continue to push for an agreement with the US to secure a deal to drive out the SDF from the city, Cavusoglu said, but said there is only an “understanding” at the moment.
The US State Department said earlier this week it does not have any agreement with Turkey on Manbij.
US President Donald Trump and President Erdogan are scheduled to hold a phone call later on Thursday, the Turkish FM said.
The Turkish FM also touched on the relations between his country and the Kurdistan Region.
Turkey opposed the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum on September 25 last year, following which the Iraqi government, with the political cover of Turkey and others, took a number of punitive measures that rolled back many gains made by Erbil since 2003, including control of the disputed oil-rich Kirkuk province in October.
Erbil has since admitted it made a “big mistake” by going ahead with the vote, Cavusoglu said.
“Erbil has reaffirmed that they want to once again normalize their relations with Turkey," he said.
He also welcomed the improved relations between Erbil and Baghdad, a move that will also help Turkey in a “positive” way.
FM Cavusoglu did not hide the fact that Ankara is concerned about what he described as “direct coordination” between the PKK and the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Sulaimani province.
Relations between the PUK and Turkey entered a strained stage when the PKK arrested two Turkish intelligence agents last August in Sulaimani, a PUK stronghold. Ankara then expelled the PUK’s representative from Turkey over the issue.
