Turkey vowed at this week's Islamic summit in Tehran to continue carrying out operations against "terrorist organizations" in northern Iraq, which it said helped protect Iraq's territorial integrity, Turkish TV reported.
Turkish Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahat Andican told reporters on his return from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting that Turkey had voiced reservations about resolutions adopted at the summit regarding Iraq's territorial integrity.
The television quoted Andican as saying that "because of the administrative vacuum in northern Iraq, the terrorist organizations continue to carry out activities, and that is why the Turkish Government is obliged to conduct short and transient chase operations in the region." "We stressed that we will continue to carry out these limited and transient operations until such time as the Iraqi Government has decisive control over the region, that is, until the Iraqi Government eliminates the power vacuum in the region.
We noted that in this respect, Turkey really protects Iraq's territorial integrity," Andican said in remarks broadcast by the television.
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