“Our Kurdish brothers are not the only ones who live there, there are many ethnic groups who live together. The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) is the sole one responsible for what will follow, because they acted stubbornly without taking into consideration other groups who live in the region and played with fire in order to gain political prosperity,” Yıldırım said on Saturday in Turkey’s western district İzmit.
“Everyone must know that a status change on the southern borders of Turkey, an attempt to form an artificial state is a matter of Turkey’s national security. Turkey will not hesitate to take action and will use all of its bilateral and international rights, when it comes to the matter of national security,” he added.
The KRG referendum held on Monday in northern Iraq faced sharp opposition from most regional and international actors, many of whom had warned that the poll would further destabilize the Middle East.
“All our future relations with the region will be governed by the Iraqi central government, namely Baghdad. Iran, Iraq and Turkey are working in coordination to defeat the games being played in the region,” Yıldırım said.
The poll has been denounced by Iraq and its neighbors, who view it as illegitimate.
“It is not possible to conduct an operation in this region without Turkey. In the same way that we delivered the necessary answer with the Operation Euphrates Shield, when the appropriate conditions and foundations have formed, we will give the same response. There should be no doubt about this,” Yıldırım said.
The premier also commented on the third legislative session of parliament to be held on Sunday.
“The parliament is convening tomorrow, and we would like for a sense of unity and solidarity to spread across the country. We need unison, not ideologies,” he said.
The Turkish parliament will begin its third legislative session on Sunday with the speech of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The General Assembly is set to reconvene on Tuesday to continue its legislative work after political parties' parliamentary group meetings.The parliament has been in recess since July 27.
