ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Turkey will do whatever necessary when matters concern its national security, the Turkish President told reporters on Thursday when addressing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) presence in Sulaimani.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed concern over the alleged Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) support for the PKK, claiming that his government has repeatedly brought up the issue and given warnings.

“No one should expect a different stance from us, we will react as necessary,” Erdogan said. “We may be tolerant of many issues, but if the issue is our survival and national security, we will close the doors of tolerance and do whatever is necessary.”

Turkey has for years launched several rounds of an operation dubbed Claw Operation against positions of the PKK in the Kurdistan Region. The latest in the series of operations was launched in April 2022, dubbed Operation Claw Lock, which aims to end the group’s presence in the region.

The Turkish government blames the PUK for having strong relations with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its military backbone, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara labels to be the Syrian wing of the PKK despite the group on several occasions claiming that they only share ideology with the PKK.

PUK president Bafel Talabani has previously traveled to the SDF controlled North and East Syria (Rojava) and met with SDF General Mazloum Abdi.

In December, Turkey extended a ban on flights from and to Sulaimani airport from Turkish airspace by six months. The flight ban was first initiated in April 2023, with Ankara claiming it was due to intensified PKK activity in the province.

The PKK is an armed group that has fought for increased Kurdish rights in Turkey for decades, the group, designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara, uses mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region as shelter and often engages in direct armed conflict with Turkey.

Turkey has on several occasions carried out aerial strikes claiming to be targeting the group’s positions in the Kurdistan Region, and have caused civilian casualties multiple times, despite Ankara’s denial.

The Turkish President’s statement comes three days after he told his cabinet that they will be taking “more effective measures” against the PKK, and just over a week after Turkish Defense Minister Yashar Guler visited Erbil and Baghdad and met with Kurdish and Iraqi officials.