Erdoğan vows to resolve terror problem on Iraqi border by summer

ANKARA

Türkiye will continue its fight against terrorism decisively and is poised to resolve problems stemming from the PKK’s terrorist presence in northern Iraq this summer, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed, calling on relevant parties to respect Türkiye’s security concerns.

“We are about to complete the [security] circle to secure our Iraqi border. We will permanently resolve the matter concerning our Iraqi border this summer,” Erdoğan said after a weekly cabinet meeting late on March 4.

The PKK has its main headquarters and training facilities in northern Iraq from where it tries to infiltrate Turkish territories to attack security forces and civilians. The Turkish government has been actively trying to eliminate the PKK presence in northern Iraq and in northern Syria through operations.

“We maintain our will to create a 30-40 kilometers deep security corridor along our Syrian border. We are determined to fill with new steps the gaps in this corridor, part of which we have already established with our previous operations,” the president said.

The PKK and its affiliation in northern Syria, the YPG, have been in efforts to create a terror corridor in both Syria and Iraq. The Turkish army has conducted a number of cross-border operations to stop them. The latest operation conducted by the army took place in 2019.

The United States and some other prominent Western countries are supporting the YPG as their local partner in the fight against the ISIL terror organization (ISIL). They object to Türkiye’s military acts against the YPG on the grounds that they will jeopardize the fight against ISIL.

“We call on all in the region to respect this security strategy of ours,” he said, repeating Türkiye will never allow the creation of what he calls a terroristan along its border.

 Türkiye’s support to Palestine to endure

On the ongoing Israeli attacks against the Palestinians in Gaza, Erdoğan underlined that Türkiye’s efforts to bring about an end to the Israeli massacres and deliver humanitarian assistance to the civilians will continue.

“Türkiye is doing its best for Gaza and Palestine and will continue to do so. However, the resolution to the problem requires an efficient and determined unity of understanding at international level,” he said, specifically citing the Islamic world.

“Especially, the Islamic world needs, more than ever, to come together as one like the bricks of a wall,” the Turkish president stressed.