TurkisSULAIMANI (ESTA) — Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif reiterated cooperation in fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Kurdish fighters in Syria.
Both ministers met in Istanbul on Friday and reiterated both country’s commitment to Syria’s territorial integrity, according to Cavusoglu.
The ministers “reiterated our agreement … on strong cooperation in fight against all sorts of terrorism, especially PKK/YPG,” Cavusoglu said in a tweet on Friday, referring to the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.
Since 2016, Turkey has seized swathes of northern Syria in four cross-border offensives to drive back ISIS and the YPG, and prevent a fresh influx of migrants from Syria.
Turkey considers the YPG as an offshoot of the PKK.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, launched its armed insurgency in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
In the last two years Turkey’s fight against the PKK has increasingly focused on northern Iraq, where the group has its stronghold in the Qandil mountains on the Iranian border.
In his tweet, Zarif did not mention fight against the PKK or the YPG. “Productive trip to wonderful Istanbul for talks with my brother, FM @MevlutCavusoglu,” he tweeted.
“As before, constructive engagement on bilateral and regional issues. Ultimate aim: Apply #Iran and #Turkey’s experience of 400 yrs of peace to our region. Together, anything is possible.”
