ERBIL, Iraq
Turkey has not supported the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) against Kurds and the Kurdish regional government in Iraq, said the head of the autonomous region.
"Turkey certainly did not support Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) against Kurds or the Kurdish government," Nechirvan Barzani said during a press conference in the Dohuk governate, located in the north of Iraq.
"We believe that it is a slander. Turkey is our important neighbor and always helped the Kurdish region," he added
On July 18, Turkey's main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), submitted a motion calling for a parliamentary inquiry to investigate the relationship between Turkey and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
CHP's MP Sezgin Tanrikulu had pointed to the abduction of 49 Turkish nationals by ISIL militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. He had claimed that the fact the government had not taken any action against ISIL indicated that the two sides may have had an "indirect relationship" with each other.
Barzani welcomed the rescue of nearly 50 Turkish hostages held by ISIL militants in Iraq since June, noting that the Kurdish region did not have a role in the release of the Turkish Consulate staff."
In total, 49 hostages – 46 Turkish nationals, including diplomats, consular officials and their families, and three Iraqis - were kidnapped from the Mosul consulate on June 11 by ISIL militants as they took control of Iraq's second-largest city. They have been rescued and returned to Turkey on Saturday morning.
He also said the Kurdish government in Iraq was concerned about the situation in northern Syria but had not sent peshmerga forces in the city of Kobani where Kurds are suffering from attacks by the Islamic State and the Levant militants.
"We did not send peshmerga to Kobani. If necessary, we will send. We will consider this seriously; however, there are geographical obstacles ahead of us," he added.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, which already controls parts of Syria, has extended its reach into Iraq since June 10, when it seized Iraq's second-largest city Mosul. Violence conducted by ISIL claimed more than 1,400 lives in Iraq, and caused 1.2 million Iraqis, including Turkmen, Arabs, Christians and Ezidis, to flee their homes.
www.aa.com.tr/en
