Ankara supports united Iraq, Turkish prime minister says

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has reiterated his country’s unwavering support for united Iraq amid spiraling tensions between the Baghdad government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the wake of last month’s Kurdish referendum.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with English-language TRT World television news network on Wednesday, Yildirim stated that all Iraqi ethnic groups should live side-by-side under the principle of territorial integrity.

“The Iraqi government’s steps towards establishing its constitutional sovereignty inside the country’s borders are valid and we support it,” he said.

Separately, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the KRG failed to follow Turkey’s advice before holding the independence referendum.

“The KRG made a wrong calculation and did not listen to our advice,” Cavusoglu told a televised news conference in Ankara. “We told them that there might be problems [like those] they are facing right now.

“It thought that it would unite Kurds, but on the contrary, it has divided the Kurds in Iraq,” the Turkish foreign minister noted.

Cavusoglu underlined that the Kurdish secession vote has led to “a big chaos” across the Middle East region.

The Turkish officials' remarks came as Kurdish Peshmerga forces had withdrawn to the positions they held in northern Iraq before the rise of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in June 2014.

SS