The PKK's terrorist group's presence in Iraq is neither legal nor legitimate and action will be taken in this regard, Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji said Sunday.

"We are determined to put an end to this issue," al-Araji was quoted as saying by the country’s public broadcaster, as he underscored that the group's presence is not legal.

Recently, the spokesperson of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Jotiar Adil, said the reason for Turkey's counterterrorism efforts in northern Iraq is the presence of the PKK terrorist organization in the region.

Turkey's Defense Ministry announced in a statement that Operation Winter Eagle was carried out against terrorist hideouts in the Derik, Sinjar and Karacak regions of Iraq and Syria last week.

The PKK has bases and training camps in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq and on the mountainous border with Turkey.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who vowed to "clean up" parts of northern Iraq, accuses the PKK of using the alpine border area as a springboard for its insurgency.

Turkish forces routinely conduct military strikes against suspected PKK hideouts in the area.

In December, Turkey carried out retaliatory airstrikes in northern Iraq after three Turkish soldiers died in a PKK attack.

Ankara has mounted successive air and ground offensives targeting the rear bases of the PKK terrorists, whose attacks have claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984.