Turkish, Iraqi premiers discuss fight against terror

ANKARA

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım spoke with his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi over the phone on March 14 about the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Prime Ministry’s press office has stated.        
Yıldırım said Turkey’s contribution to the international coalition in the fight against ISIL would continue, while also voicing Turkey’s position and expectations in the fight against terror, particularly against the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Abadi also said Iraq would not let any threat reach Turkey from Iraqi territory.      

In mid-February, Iraqi forces - backed by a U.S.-led air coalition - began new operations aimed at dislodging ISIL militants from western Mosul.    
   
The offensive came as part of a wider campaign launched in October 2016 to retake the entire city, which ISIL overran in mid-2014.      

Turkey considers the PYD and its armed wing People’s Protection Units (YPG), which make up a major part of the SDF, as terrorists groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and has been demanding that the U.S. cut its support to the group.