“The relation and cordiality of the PUK leadership and its constituents with the PKK have become more than a problem for us, they now constitute a national security threat,” Fidan said during a televised interview with CNN Turk on Monday night.
According to Fidan, Turkey has previously privately expressed its concerns to the PUK regarding the party’s relations with the PKK, but they recently opted to make their concerns public so that when Ankara takes further measures “it will not surprise the international system and the regional actors.”
“What we want is for the Sulaimani leadership to sever its ties with the PKK,” he added.
Speaking to the Turkish A Haber TV last month, Fidan asserted that Ankara is ready to take “further actions” should the PUK stick to its current policy in relation to the PKK by not preventing the group from accessing infrastructure in Sulaimani province.
Turkey has repeatedly warned PUK leaders about the PKK’s activities, with Defense Minister Yasar Guler stating in late January 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 supporting 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 either from Kurdish authorities or the Iraqi government.
Speaking at a regional forum in Erbil in October, Talabani said that his party’s issues with Turkey are “hard to resolve.”
Fidan’s Monday comments come days after he headed a high-level Turkish delegation consisting of Defense Minister Yasar Guler and the head of the intelligence agency (MIT) Ibrahim Kalin to Baghdad to hold a second round of high-level security talks. The first round of talks was held in Ankara in December.
A day after the meeting, The Iraqi National Security Council banned the PKK from operating in the country, claiming that the group poses a threat to Baghdad and neighboring Turkey.
Iraq’s decision to ban the PKK comes ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s expected visit to the country in April. The joint statement said that they are working on making the rare trip a “historic” and “successful” one, adding that they hoped there will be a “qualitative shift” in Turkey-Iraq bilateral ties.
Fidan reaffirmed the importance of the ban during Monday’s CNN interview, however, he said that Turkey expects Iraq to take “steps and actions” against the PKK, and that the possibility of joint operations is on the table.
Turkey has recently upped its efforts to curb the threat of PKK on its border with the Kurdistan Region. Erdogan said earlier this month that Ankara is close to completing a zone that will “permanently resolve” the security issues along their border with the Kurdistan Region and Iraq by the summer.
He also called on everyone in the region to respect Ankara’s security strategy, “Otherwise, they will be the cause of the tensions that will arise,” he said.
