Maliki instructs Turkey to avoid treating Kurdistan Region as independent State

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki, called upon Turkey to avoid interfering in the affairs of other countries in the region.

A statement by the PM office to Iraqi News (IraqiNews.com) stated that “The PM Nouri al-Maliki said in an interview with one of the Turkish channels that the Turkish role in the region is important but it must be away from the policy of interventions in the affairs of other countries and that the policy of the Justice and Development party [led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan] when it received the power in Turkey has called to resolve problems and outstanding issues, but what happened now is to exacerbate these problems because of the nature of the Turkish role and attitudes towards some neighboring countries.”

He added that “We have realized that Turkey is dealing with the Kurdistan Region as an independent state which is unacceptable for us,” noting that “If Turkey has the desire to establish good relations with Kurdistan region, its relations with the region should be through the Iraqi gate, especially that Iraq has a desire to solve all the Iraqi-Turkish disputes to serve the interests of the two neighboring countries.”

The PM renewed Iraq’s stance towards the current events in Syria, saying that “The Syrian file is a dangerous file and all countries will not be safe due to the developments in Syria, so they must resort to dialogue and to stop arming all sides and put a mechanism for dialogue to establish a partnership government representing the whole spectrum of the Syrian people.” /End