Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has expressed concern over the display of PKK terror group posters and banners in northern Kirkuk city, saying the move could lead to a new conflict in the region.
Speaking at a news conference in the capital Baghdad on Tuesday, al-Abadi said: “We cannot accept such activities since they open the door to a new conflict.”
Portraits of PKK terror group’s leader Abdullah Ocalan, who remains jailed in Turkey, and other banners of the group can be seen in the city center.
The premier also said Iraq does not want to fight the PKK. “We will also not allow such groups to attack our neighbor [Turkey],” he added.
He also spoke about a new operation to liberate Kirkuk’s district of Havice from Daesh. He said the Shia militia group, al-Hashdi al-Shabi, Peshmerga and Iraqi military forces would join the Havice operation.
Daesh still controls a large area in southwestern Kirkuk from which it launches attacks against security forces in Kirkuk and Diyala provinces.
In October 2016, the Iraqi army -- backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and local allies on the ground -- began a wide-ranging operation to retake Mosul, Daesh’s last bastion in northern Iraq, which the terrorist group overran in 2014.
The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU, has been responsible for more than 1,200 deaths since July 2015.