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MP Veysel Eroğlu, the Turkish President's envoy to Iraq and former Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs said that Turkey maintains a presence in Iraq, Africa, and elsewhere, in order to confront Western capitalist countries. He made these remarks in an interview with Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) that aired on March 8, 2021. Eroğlu said that Turkey has no territorial designs in any country, and any involvement and presence that Turkey maintains in other countries is solely in order to protect the local people and their lands. He said that this is much like the Ottomans and Seljuks, who sacrificed their lives by expanding into other areas in order to protect the local people. Regarding Iraq, Eroğlu said that Turkey is not violating the sovereignty of Iraq, and Turkey is there to fight the PKK. He added that Turkey will eliminate the PKK - which he claimed receives weapons and equipment from Western countries - like it eliminated ISIS. He added that if Arab countries fought terrorism, Turkey would not have to intervene.
Veysel Eroğlu: "We have no territorial designs in any other country. Back in their days, the Seljuks and Ottomans expanded to [other areas] in order to protect the local people. In order to protect the people and their lands, the [Seljuks and Ottomans] sacrificed their own lives. What Turkey does in Libya, for example, it does in order to protect the Libyans. Ther are imperialist countries that have gone there in order to divide the region. But we will not allow these colonial countries to divide Libya. Libya belongs to the Libyans.
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"Whenever we have gone to Africa, to Central Asia, or to the Caucasus, we would always open our hands to help the poor and needy there, whereas the Western countries went there to conquer the region and exploit the people. We went there in order to cooperate with [the locals] and serve them. Our main goal was to profit and make the whole region profit."
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Interviewer: "Some say that Turkey is violating Iraqi sovereignty."
Eroğlu: "No. That's not true. We went there to confront the terrorist PKK organization, and we have no problem with the civilians. The Turkish government is very sensitive to this issue. As you know, the Western countries provide weapons and equipment to the terrorist PKK organization. The Western countries help this organization.
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"As you know, we are exercising our rights [which are acknowledged] by the U.N. Whenever there are terrorist attacks from any neighboring country, you are allowed to defend yourself and fight those organizations. As you know, the terrorist PKK organization harms not only Turkey, but also Iraq and Syria. It constitutes a big problem in the region, and it is putty in the hands of the West and the capitalist countries.
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"We will continue to fight to protect our borders, and to eliminate all the terrorists until we drive them out completely. Perhaps Mr. Biden gets this and will show understanding. In order to fight terrorism we are... We are the ones who eliminated ISIS. We are the ones who fought ISIS, and it will be Turkey that will bring about the end of the PKK.
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"We say to the Arab world: 'If you eliminate the terrorists yourselves, we will not have to intervene.' There are terrorists in the region who are killing people. Think of the hundreds of thousands killed and forced to leave their land in Syria and Iraq. Western countries behind all this, and they use this terrorist organization to do it. We go there in the name of Iraqi territorial integrity and in the name of brotherhood. We want Iraq to develop. Are they going to stand with Turkey on this matter or are they going to stand with the West?"
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Interviewer: "Why does the Turkish presence in Djibouti, Somalia, and elsewhere in Africa upset so many countries — especially Arab countries?"
Eroğlu: "It upsets them for a very simple reason. It is because we oppose Western, imperialist colonialism. It is because a powerful country like Turkey is standing up to them. We go to our brothers [in those place], and want to embrace them, to cooperate with them. We want to stop the killings and the massacres that they are perpetrating. We stand against occupation, colonialism, and the plundering of the resources of the region. This is why it upsets them. They got used to colonialism. I do not want to mention any specific country. I'm not talking politics here."
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