29 Mar 2024
Thursday 18 May 2017 - 13:23
Story Code : 261396

PKK terror groups expulsion from Iraq dependent on Daesh defeat - US DoS

Sputnik - The United States is committed to expelling the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from the Iraqi city of Sinjar, but the effort will have to await the liberation of Mosul from Daesh, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Jonathan Cohen stated on Wednesday.





WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The PKK enjoys support ofethnic Yazidis inSinjar, forhaving provided a corridor forYazidis toescape a 2014 pogrom inwhich Daesh massacred or abducted thousands ofYazidis.
"When Mosul is finished, youll see increased attention byboth the [Iraqi] Kurdistan regional government and Baghdad, inpartnership withus, intrying toget the PKK out, whether that is voluntary or otherwise," Cohen told guests atthe Middle East Institute think tank.


Cohen explained that Iraqs Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), Turkey, the United States and the Iraqi government inBaghdad are committed toexpelling the PKK fromSinjar.


But atpresent, the Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional government inNorthern Iraq "happen tobe deeply engaged inthe last stages ofthe Mosul campaign" againstDaesh, Cohen added.

Five KDP Peshmerga fighters were killed ina Turkish attack onPKK camps inthe area last month.

The comment comes a day afterthe visit ofTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tothe US, who has repeatedly called Washington tostop arming Syrian Kurds he believes are linked tothe PKK which is considered tobe a terrorist organization byAnkara.

https://theiranproject.com/vdcgyq9x3ak93w4.5jra.html
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