By Xinhua,
Ankara : Turkey and Iran are sharing intelligence in fight against the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Thursday, quoting a senior Turkish general.
“Turkey and Iran have carried out simultaneous actions against the PKK based in northern Iraq and are sharing intelligence,” Turkey’s Land Forces Commander Gen. Ilker Basbug told the press at the international symposium on the future of the Middle East that kicked off in Turkey’s biggest city of Istanbul on Thursday.
“We carried out actions against the PKK at the same time. They were fighting against the PKK from the their side of the border and we did so from the our side of the border,” Basbug said.
Noting that no such coordinated action had taken place in the past two months, Basbug said that “we would do it again if necessary.”
Meanwhile, Basbug said that Turkish Armed Forces had cast serious blows to the PKK with recent operations and the organization was in mayhem since December.
“Despite heavy security measures, small groups of terrorists could infiltrate into Turkey,” said Basbug, adding that Turkey would firmly carry out fight against the PKK by all means.
Listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, the PKK has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.