Baghdad's arming of PKK would create tensions

Erbil, Kurdistan Region (K24)—Ali Hussein, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leadership told K24 that arming PKK by Baghdad would be “interfering in another nation’s business and creating unnecessary tension between Kurdish parties.”
Baghdad has reportedly decided to arm the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who has been fighting the Islamic State as well as Turkey. Baghdad is believed to have offered to arm PKK to retaliate Turkish deployment near Mosul without Iraq’s consent.
In an exclusive interview with K24, Hussein said that arming parties should not be done without agreement from the anti-IS coalition because they are combating its enemy IS.
He added that given Peshmerga’s involvement in protecting Iraqi citizens and lands, as well as Iraq’s inefficiency in defending its borders from the IS attack, arming a party outside of Iraq will cause more harm than good.
The KDP leader emphasised that arming forces in order to battle IS would be acceptable, but arming outsiders without informing the anti-IS coalition would not benefit the region.
PKK could not be reached on Thursday for comments on Baghdad’s decision to arm them.
Turkey has not removed its forces from Iraq despite Baghdad’s repeated requests for withdrawal. Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi in a statement asked NATO to pressure Turkey to withdraw, saying Turkey’s deployment is a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.
Ankara says its troops are in Iraq to train Iraqi forces and that Iraq was aware of the decision. Iraq asserts they were not informed of such a decision and was decided without their consent.
In response, Ankara announced they will not deploy more troops to Iraq but will not withdraw their forces from Iraq either, which is a heavily armed contingent near the frontline with the Islamic State close to Mosul. Turkish army’s presence created controversy in a war that has already drawn in many countries.