Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that countries in the region have agreed to take joint action against the terrorist group "Islamic State" and establish an operational center for this.
„We, as countries in the region, are determined to fight ISIS. Turkey has been fighting this battle on its side for a long time. Since ISIS harms not only one country but also many countries in the region, it is difficult to fight the group alone. That is why it was important to unite and create a strong platform. Now we have taken the first step towards creating this platform. There will be concrete steps. The beginning of this will be the establishment of a joint operations center,“ he said
Fidan spoke after a five-way security meeting held in Jordan with the participation of the foreign ministers of Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. The broadcast was carried out by the Turkish Foreign Ministry's press service on social media.
Speaking about the issue of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Fidan pointed out that although “the PKK does not control a single square meter of land in Turkey, it has occupied a third of Syria and controls its energy resources“. “In Iraq, they occupied 700 villages in Iraqi Kurdistan, they occupied the Sinjar region and some other areas. “So this is not just a problem for Turkey“, the minister noted.
Fidan explicitly emphasized that since the PKK is a problem in the region, it “must be treated with the same methodology and measures as those applied to ISIS.“