PUK Ankara Representative Galalî who was deported from Turkey didn’t give any information on why he was deported and only said “it was a political crisis on the border of Sulaymaniyah” about the reason behind the crisis.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Ankara Representative Bahroz Galalî was deported from Turkey and held a press conference yesterday evening after he arrived in Sulaymaniyah. Galalî was deported at around the same time when Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was in separate meeting with Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Leader Masoud Barzani and PUK representatives. Galalî said they had representation offices in Turkey for the last 17 years and this was the first time such a thing happened.
Galalî said he can’t speak about the deportation decree without talking to his party first and added: “The PUK has had a representation office in Turkey for 17 years. There have been many crises between the Kurdistan region and Turkey, but these crises had never reached the point of deporting the PUK representative before.”
Galalî didn’t go into detail about the crisis between the Turkish state and the PUK, only calling the situation “a political crisis on the border of Sulaymaniyah”, and continued: “There has been a crisis on the Sulaymaniyah border recently, but that had nothing to do with the PUK. It could be their own fault. After this incident, the Turkish Foreign Ministry was informed that it happened. I told them that we are also disturbed by the security issues on the border.”
Galalî also spoke on the referendum and, stating that Turkey is against the referendum, said: “Our main topic is the closing of PUK’s Ankara offices and my deportation. Turkey is openly opposed to the referendum. I don’t believe the referendum will take place on September 25. But some circles in Kurdistan refuse to understand this and are trying to create the idea that nobody opposes the referendum.”
The PUK representative was deported at the same time as the Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu and his delegation held meetings in Baghdad and later Hewlêr. While the PUK representative was being deported, Çavuşoğlu had concluded his meeting with Barzani and was in another meeting with PUK Politbureau representative Sadî Ehmed Pîre and Southern Kurdistan Deputy Prime Minister Qubat Talabani.
There is no concrete information on what the issue is between the Turkish state and Southern Kurdistan, but it is known that Turkey has been pressuring PUK for a long time over several issues, including fighting the PKK.
