Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday blamed the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for failing to listen to their demands about Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) activities in Sulaimani.
Speaking to the Turkish A Haber TV, Fidan asserted that Ankara is ready to take “further actions” should the PUK stick to its current policy on the PKK by not preventing the group from accessing infrastructure in Sulaimani province.
Fidan added that while Ankara understands that the PUK cannot fight the PKK, they expect the Sulaimani-based party to take several steps that would alleviate their concerns.
He claimed that Sulaimani authorities have assisted the PKK in the Kurdistan Region by providing them with national identification cards and access to hospitals and the wider infrastructure.
Before becoming the country’s foreign minister, Fidan was the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MIT). He said the PUK-PKK alleged ties had always been part of his agenda.
Turkey has repeatedly warned PUK leaders about the PKK’s activities, with Defense Minister Yasar Guler saying late last month that his country is “continuously warning” PUK leader Bafel Talabani about what he called “an increase in terrorist activities” in Sulaimani.
A flight ban on Sulaimani International Airport by Turkey has been in place since April 3.
While the PUK has denied support for the PKK, Talabani has previously said that groups Turkey considers “terrorists” are legal entities in the Kurdistan Region who have obtained a license to carry out political activities from Kurdish authorities or the Iraqi government.
Speaking at a regional forum in Erbil in October, Talabani said that his party’s problems with Turkey are “hard to resolve.”
Turkey in September killed three members of the PUK’s elite Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG) in a drone strike on Sulaimani’s Arbat airport, alleging that members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a force that Ankara alleges to be the Syrian front for the PKK, were present at the airport during the time of the attack.
Talabani referred to those killed in the attacks as “friends” who fought in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS), also claiming that he was under Turkey’s constant surveillance.
“We do not want to have problems with any country, but we will not conduct dialogue with pressure, threats, and drones. This is not how to engage in dialogue,” he said at the time.
Fidan visited Iraq and the Kurdistan Region late last year. He met with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, from the PUK, discussing a wide range of topics including the Turkish flight ban on Sulaimani airport.[1]