PM refutes Erdoğan’s “going on an expedition in Qandil” comment

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım refuted President Erdoğan’s “We are going to conduct an expedition into Qandil with Iran” comments.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had said, “We are going to conduct an expedition into Qandil with Iran” after Iranian Chief of Staff Major General Muhammed Bakirî’s visit to Turkey, but Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım refuted the claim.

YILDIRIM: “WE HAVE NO SUCH DECISION”

Yıldırım answered journalists’ questions on the plane back from his Vietnam visit and said the following on the transfrontier operation into Qandil in cooperation with Iran: “Iran made an announcement on this issue, they say they will certainly not allow the PKK in their lands. There is no decision made on a joint operation.”

When asked about Erdoğan’s comments regarding the “Euphrates Shield” invasion operation’s plans to target Efrîn, Yıldırım said: “You don’t go on an operation with bells and whistles. There is a tactical preparation and planning phase. The conditions must present themselves. There will be international counsels. There has to be international, consultative, legal grounds for entering another country’s territory, and there has to be a legitimate reason.”

ERDOĞAN CLAIMED THEY ARE TO “GO ON EXPEDITION WITH IRAN”

President Erdoğan spoke before his visit to Jordan on the joint operation on Qandil by Iran and Turkey and said: “In this visit, as countries with a shared border and as members of the same faith, we have conducting such a joint operation against these terrorist organizations on the agenda at all times. We have talked about this before. The efforts will continue. Because, as you know, the Iranian leg of the terrorist organization PKK is PJAK. They are constantly causing harm for Iran, and for us as well. We believe these threats will be resolved much differently and much sooner if the two countries cooperate, and thus we carry out these efforts. We will continue to do so.”

KODAR HAD WARNED IRAN

Eastern Kurdistan Free and Democratic Society Congress (KODAR) Co-chair Fûad Berîtan had spoken to the ANF about the allegations and warned Iran: “If a war were to break out, it wouldn’t be at the level of 2011. It would be a multi-faceted war. There are many powers who eagerly wait for such a war. They have set their traps, and they are in waiting.”

IRAN SAID THEY HAD NO SUCH PLANS

Iranian Pasdaran Ground Forces Headquarters made an announcement later on and said: “We have no plans for a transfrontier expedition now. But as stated before, our response will be harsh against any and all attacks on our territory.”