Hashimi: PKK will leave Iraq or lay down arms

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi said that the terrorist organization PKK would leave Iraq if it does not lay down arms. Â

 

"The terrorist organization PKK will either lay down arms and plead for mercy or it will leave Iraq," he said in a TV program.

 

Al-Hashimi is actually in Turkey on a private visit. However, he had talks with President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

 

The Iraqi vice president defined his meetings with Gul and Erdogan positive, and said Turkey and Iraq had common interests.

 

Al-Hashimi said that PKK was one of the common concerns of the two countries, and he could understand concerns of Turkey and thought there were things two countries could do.

 

The Iraqi vice president said that PKK was causing loss of many lives, and his country was preparing special troops who could also make cross-border cooperation.

 

"We know that we can be successful with coordination," he said.

 

Al-Hashimi said that Kurdish leaders were sincere about putting an end to the attacks of the terrorist organization PKK and they had pledged to warn the PKK.

 

The vice president reiterated the two options of the terrorist organization, i.e. either to lay down arms or to leave Iraq because it was also harming Iraq as it did Turkey.

 

"If clashes continue, there will be economic recession, and Kurdish leaders are aware of this," he said.

 

Al-Hashimi said that there would no way be an independent Kurdish state in the north of Iraq, and Kurds would continue to be a part of the Iraqi state.

 

"Majority of the Kurdish leaders favor a united Iraq, and they want to continue to live as a part of the Iraqi nation, as the Arabs and Turkmens," he said.

 

Al-Hashimi said that the Iraqi people would make the rightest decision about Kirkuk's future.

 

The vice president said that he had no concerns about a security gap in his country after withdrawal of U.S. troops, and Iraq and Turkey were cooperating in training Iraqi armed forces.

 

Iraq had he had no concerns about Iraq's future, and Iraqi people could heal their own wounds if bomb and suicide attacks ended.