‘PJAK, PKK linked to global arrogance’

An Iranian commander says the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist group and its offshoot, the Party for the Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), are linked to the global arrogance.

“Even though in appearance we are combating PKK and PJAK in the region, the truth is that the global arrogance is behind these terrorist groups,” Deputy Commander of the Ground Forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Abdullah Araqi told IRNA on Saturday.

The PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist group by much of the international community, has been fighting Turkey since 1984 for an independent state in the southeast of the country.

Both terrorist organizations are stationed in the mountainous border areas of the autonomous region of the Iraqi Kurdistan, which borders eastern and northeastern Iran, and launch terrorist attacks on Iranian soil from there.

Earlier in the year, Iran deployed 5,000 military forces along its common border with the Iraqi region.

“The powerful presence of the Ground Forces of the IRGC in the country’s northwestern region is aimed at establishing lasting security in the region,” Brigadier General Araqi pointed out.

According to reports, with the support of the US, President of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani has dedicated 300,000 hectares (three million square kilometers) of the Iraqi Kurdistan’s lands to PJAK. The terrorists use the area to carry out anti-Iran military activities.

Araqi added that the IRGC operations against the terrorist group would continue until the terrorist cell is disbanded for good.