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Turkish foreign minister, Putin discuss elections on Syria’s Kurdish areas — Erdogan

The Turkish president said that his country "has already shown how deftly it can expose such games."

ANKARA, June 15. /TASS/. At his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his recent visit to Moscow, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan focused on the elections in predominantly Kurdish areas of Syria, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told reporters after his visits to Spain and Italy.

"Let us first and foremost indicate that there are no elections there. A game is underway to legitimize the terrorist organization (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its Syrian affiliates banned in Turkey - TASS). Of course, the Syrian administration will not give them permission to hold elections or freely take such steps. Our Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was in Moscow and discussed these issues in detail with Mr. Putin and also with Russian Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov. Let’s hope that the PKK terrorist organization and others will not be allowed to operate freely in Syria," Erdogan said, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency.

The Turkish president said that his country "has already shown how deftly it can expose such games."

"Should such a situation (voting - TASS) occur, we will mobilize all our forces if necessary. We will not let terrorists settle down right under our noses. We will never hesitate to do what must be done in this issue," Erdogan said. Thus, he made it clear that Turkey is ready to resort to military measures to prevent the PKK from being legitimized in Syria.