Turkey has announced its readiness to cooperate and take joint steps with Iraq's central government to remove PKK terrorist organizations from northern Iraq.

Speaking on the issue at a meeting with ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) provincial chairpersons in Ankara on Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defined the PKK activities on Iraqi soil as a common problem for Turkey and Iraq, and spoke about the possibility of launching a joint military operation against the terrorist group. "Sinjar is the alternative to Qandil. We could suddenly intervene there," he said.

The Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers southeast of the Turkish border in Iraq's Irbil province, is being used as the headquarters of the PKK and its Iranian affiliate, the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), although the area is under de jure control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The area has frequently been hit by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in the last decade.

In mid-2014, the PKK managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar on the pretext that it was protecting the local Yazidi community from Daesh.

On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a phone call with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım that Iraqi forces have the necessary instructions to prevent terrorists from launching cross-border attacks into Turkey.

He also emphasized the importance of close cooperation between Turkey and I

raq in the fight against the PKK. The Iraqi prime minister also said that they will not allow any flag other than Iraq's to fly in Sinjar. Anadolu Agency (AA), however, reported Friday that despite the PKK's purported retreat from the area, armed members of an Iraqi group linked to the terrorist PKK were lying low in camouflage in some abandoned houses in Sinjar.

Speaking to the agency, the sources, who chose to remain anonymous, said that the members of the PKK-linked Sinjar Defense Unit (SDU) were hiding in the northern Iraqi town.