“Unfortunately the PUK continues to develop its relations” with the PKK, Minister Yasar Guler said on state TV. “The Iraqi government is also disturbed by this. Although our president, foreign minister, and I have discussed this issue many times, the relevant person in the PUK continues his activities on the issue.”
Turkish authorities have routinely accused Sulaimani authorities of supporting the PKK and in April 2023 imposed a flight ban on Sulaimani airport. Turkey’s foreign ministry spokesperson at the time Tanju Bilgic said that the flight ban was in response to an alleged “intensification” of PKK activities in the province. The ban was recently extended to December.
Guler called it “unacceptable” for the PUK to expand its ties with the PKK and called on the Sulaimani-based party “to cut off its ties” with the group.
Speaking at a regional forum in Erbil in October last year, PUK leader Bafel Talabani said that his party’s problems with Turkey are “hard to resolve.”
Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that Ankara has repeatedly informed Sulaimani that it would reevaluate the ban if “some steps” against the PKK were taken.
The PKK is a Kurdish group that has waged an armed insurgency against the Turkish state in the struggle for greater Kurdish rights for decades and is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.
Turkey also frequently carries out air and drone strikes against the PKK in Sulaimani.
On Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Ankara, but details of the meeting were not readily available.
