Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who spoke in the press statement after the meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Jafari, said, “We expect from Erbil to give up the referendum demand. The interests and future of our Kurdish brothers are in the unity of Iraq. We will forward these opinions and requests to them today.”
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu spoke during a joint press statement following his meeting with his counterpart Ibrahim Jafari during his visit to Iraq.
Çavuşoğlu said that they found an intimate conversation environment on the topics of their common agenda that are relevant to common interests.
Reminding the operation initiated against Daesh in Tal Afar, Çavuşoğlu expressed satisfaction with the operation and said, “We support the clearing of Daesh in other regions in Iraq. We shared our thoughts about the preservation of Turkmen identity in Tel Afar. We will continue to support our efforts for reconfiguration and reconciliation after Daesh. We will continue to be in favor of brother Iraqi people with all our means. We came here today to emphasize the support that we have given to the political unity and sovereignty of Iraq. We emphasize that we are here to protect the unity and unity of Iraq. The PKK is a threat like Daesh and we will act together to clean the PKK from Iraq. We want to develop our relations in Iraq in every field. We want to strengthen our economic cooperation and increase our bilateral trade volume. The fate of Turkiye and Iraq is common. We will share same geographical area. With this understanding, we hope to strengthen our relations.”
Emphasizing that all the problems between Erbil and Baghdad desire to be resolved by mutual understanding within Iraq's border and territorial integrity, Çavuşoğlu said:
“It is important that Erbil's rights to be given those are in Iraq's constitution. But it will take advantage of these rights by taking part in the border and territorial integrity of Iraq. We have supported the Iraqi Regional Government. We have trained and equipped peshmerga against Daesh. We have been telling them that the referendum decision is wrong.”
Referring to the Iraqi Kurdistan's referendum, Çavuşoğlu said, “We expect Erbil to give up the referendum requirement. The Kurdish brothers' interest and future are in Iraq's unity. We will forward these opinions and requests to them today.”
ILKHA