Baghdad not to allow PKK undermine security in Iraq

Former Iraqi prime minister and head of the Iraqi National Alliance Ibrahim Jafari said Baghdad will not allow elements of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who are entering Iraq's soil as part of a deal with Turkey to threaten security of Iraq and the neighboring states. Jafari pointed to the PKK withdrawal from the Turkish territory as part of a settlement process with the Ankara government, and said, "Anybody who arrives in Iraq's soil should respect the country's ruling system and should not violate the country's sovereignty and security. He should also avoid interfering in Iraq's affairs." "We cannot accept that Iraq becomes a victim of an agreement between the Turkish government and the PKK," Jafari stressed. He further said that Iraq will not allow anyone to endanger the security of its neighboring countries. The withdrawal of the PKK has been a top issue on the Turkish agenda for the last few months since the Turkish government began a new round of negotiations in October of last year with imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Recently, Ocalan, who despite his 14 years in prison still wields enormous clout over the PKK as well as millions of nationalist Kurds in Turkey, called on the PKK members to lay down their arms and leave Turkey. Speaking in a press conference in the Qandil Mountains - a PKK stronghold in Northern Iraq - on April 25, PKK armed wing chief Karay?lan and several of his deputies officially declared that their members would withdraw from Turkey.