ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkey does not want to see the emergence of another Kurdish region similar to that in Iraqi Kurdistan, implied Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday.
"We do not want to see what is happening in Northern Iraq in Northern Syria," said Erdogan during an interview with the Turkish Kanal 24 channel.
Turkish officials refer to the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region as “Northern Iraq."
Following the foundation of the Turkish republic in 1923 in the wake of World War I, the Kurdish language was banned in Turkey. Kurds were jailed for speaking their language in public or merely uttering the word Kurdistan.
Erdogan has used the word Kurdistan several times in his speeches and has maintained friendly relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq.
Erdogan also accused the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) of “ethnic cleansing” in his interview.
"We cannot allow the PYD's ethnic cleansing… They (Syrian Kurdish fighters) wanted to pass the Euphrates and they immediately got their response. Our military ended the movement immediately. The PYD has declared a canton there. Is this so easy? There are peoples living there. If PYD continues to do such actions, then what is required should be done," added Erdogan.
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