PKK poses threat to Iraqi Turkmen Front, says president

KIRKUK, Iraq

Hasan Turan, the president of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, said Saturday that it received a warning from an Iraqi intelligence unit that the PKK terror organization could launch attacks on Turkmen officials and Iraqi Turkmen Front buildings.

Turan told Anadolu that similar warnings had been issued before, noting the assassination of the former head of the Security Department of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, Ahmet Tahir, about a year ago, and the killing of Turkmen tribal leader Huseyin Allus on March 31 in a terror attack.

He said the PKK is a banned organization in Iraq and the government should not tolerate it and he urged Baghdad to declare the PKK a terror group.

Turan stressed the presence of Iraqi Turkmen Front offices and organizations in areas where PKK operates such as Sulaymaniyah, Kirku and Kifri, pointing out the worrisome nature of PKK's operations under the guise of civil society organizations.

Turan demanded the government put an end to the existence, offices and activities of the terror organization in those areas, stating that the PKK recruits and deceives young people in areas where it operates, posing a threat to Iraqi youth.

*Writing by Gizem Nisa Cebi in Istanbul