Yildirim reiterates Turkish support for united Iraq

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s unwavering support for Iraq will remain, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Wednesday.

Speaking at the TRT World Forum in Istanbul, Yildirim said all of Iraq’s ethnic groups should live side-by-side within a territorially integral country.

“The Iraqi government’s steps towards establishing its constitutional sovereignty inside the country’s borders are valid and we are supporting it,” he said.

The prime minister added that Turkey expected Baghdad to show sensitivity in the Kirkuk region, where a large Turkmen population has lived alongside Arabs and Kurds.

This week, Iraqi federal forces took Kirkuk back from Peshmerga control, a three-year period of rule that Yildirim said had resulted in changing Kirkuk’s demographic make-up through oppression and violence.

Turning to international conflict, he said terrorism and war had become more widespread around the world while developed countries had seen a spike in extremism and xenophobia.

“Increasing racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and other discrimination in our age are marginalizing people and making societies more divided and fragile,” he said.

Yildirim added that terrorism was the enemy of humanity and should be condemned without hesitation and fought through global cooperation.

“Today no country is showing single success in fighting Daesh like Turkey,” he said, referring to military efforts to clear northern Syria of the terrorist group and arrests of terror suspects inside Turkey.

He condemned Saturday’s terror attack in Somali capital Mogadishu, which killed more than 300, and said Turks were equally dismayed at the treatment meted out to Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, helped and cared for Palestine and Syria.

“As much we are concerned with Syria, we also do not neglect Arakan’s troubles,” he said, using an alternative name for the Myanmar state of Rakhine, where a military crackdown has forced more than 500,000 people to flee their homes.

“As much we are running for Palestine's help we are also running for Somalia's help.”

He added: “Wherever people suffer in a place in the world, suffer a disaster, whoever needs help, Turkish aid… are coming to their rescue.

“In a sense, Turkey continues to be the conscience of the world with its actions.”