PKK source of instability in the region, KRG premier says

The PKK terrorist group is destabilizing northern Syria in a bid to establish a presence there, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said late Thursday. Speaking during a conference in the town of Dohuk in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, Barzani said the PKK also needs to retreat from the region surrounding Sinjar in northern Iraq. "It is not acceptable for [the PKK] to stay in Sinjar under the guise of protecting the Yazidi people," Barzani said. "Our Syrian-Kurdish brothers helped us regarding Sinjar and we thanked them but the PKK should not stay there. They are the source of destabilization in the region." Barzani went on to say the people of Sinjar are unable to return to their homes because of the PKK.

The terrorist organization and its Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing the People's Protection Units (YPG) are trying to establish control in Syria near its border with Turkey which Ankara fiercely opposes. In August, Turkish soldiers launched Operation Euphrates Shield to secure Turkey's border from all terrorist groups including Daesh and the YPG, carving a safe zone for Syrians fleeing the ongoing civil war.

The PKK has also attempted to gain a foothold in northern Iraq, having established a presence in the mountainous outskirts of the northeastern Nineveh province since Daesh was driven out by peshmerga and local forces with the help of a U.S.-led coalition last year.

Turkey and the KRG share an analogous perspective on the terrorist PKK as well as the PYD. Ankara has repeatedly raised concerns that the PKK is eyeing Sinjar as its headquarters in the region, a threat that Ankara warns would -- along with recent terrorist activities in Iraq and Syria -- have dire consequences in the region.

KRG President Masoud Barzani also strongly criticized the terrorist PKK's Syrian affiliate the PYD following a terror attack on protesters in the town of Amouda in northeastern Syria and the retainment of the Syrian Kurdish National Council (KNC), saying on Dec. 3: "Those who burn the Kurdistan flag and torture Kurdish youths are destined to be disgraced. They [terrorists] will pay for their crimes."

In addition, Kurdistan Regional Security Council Chancellor Masrour Barzani spoke at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Wilson Center on Dec. 8, saying the PKK should leave the Sinjar region of northern Iraq because the militant group is complicating the situation there.

"This is not a territory where the PKK can establish rule. They have to respect what the KRG needs to do in that area and show the same respect to the people of Sinjar who will eventually control and govern their territory," he said.

The PKK and its Syrian offshoot the PYD are both listed as terrorist groups by Ankara, while the U.S. and the EU considers the PKK a terrorist group but at the same time does not consider the PYD one.

Meanwhile, Turkish warplanes hit 29 PKK terrorists in northern Iraq on Sunday, the military said in a statement late Thursday.

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) reported that 29 terrorists were killed in the country's Zap region in airstrikes which also destroyed 12 targets, shelters and weapon emplacements.