Weapons sent by Western countries to forces fighting Islamic militants in Iraq may end up in the hands of Kurdish rebels in Turkey, Ankara warned on Monday. Branded a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has joined forces with other Kurdish units in the US-backed operation to halt the advance of Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq.
"The weapons sent (to Iraq) should not end up in the hands of terrorist organisations. They should not end up in the hands of the PKK," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the state-run Anatolia news agency. "We have expressed our concerns" during last week's Nato summit in Wales, Cavusoglu said. "It may not be possible to control where these weapons will go," he warned. Ankara began clandestine peace talks two years ago with the PKK, whose 30-year insurgency in the south-east has claimed at least 40,000 lives, but the talks have stalled over Kurdish demands for reform.
The arming of forces on the ground, including Iraqi Kurdish fighters in the face of the jihadist onslaught, is likely to be on the agenda during US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel's visit to Ankara on Monday, a diplomatic source told AFP. Hagel held a tete-a-tete with the new Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - who ruled Turkey as premier for over a decade - and Turkish armed forces chief of staff Necdet Ozel. The details of the meetings have not been disclosed. Hagel is also due to meet Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Anatolia said. US President Barack Obama will on Wednesday lay out his "game plan" to deal with the jihadists, set to include "carrying out air strikes in support of work on the ground by Iraqi and Kurdish troops". Turkish Kurds from the PKK have fought against the jihadists in parts of northern Iraq, with assistance from Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga forces.
Ankara has been criticised by some commentators for indirectly encouraging the formation of Islamic State through its wholehearted support of Islamist elements within the Syrian rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad. IS militants are now holding 49 Turks hostage, including diplomats and children, abducted from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq when the city was overrun by the militants on June 11. Turkey is the only Muslim country in a coalition of 10 countries who agreed to fight IS at the Nato summit in Newport. Until now, Ankara has remained silent in order not to endanger the lives of the hostages who are believed to be kept as human shields.