Erdoğan: We face a scenario aimed at dividing our country

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said there were forces playing a dirty game aimed at splitting Turkey at the 40th Headmen’s Meeting held at the Presidential Palace Complex in Ankara on Wednesday.

“Turkey is not only facing the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), but also many other terrorist groups. Turkey is faced with a terror siege,” said Erdoğan.

“They tried to implement the same dirty game they are playing in other countries in our region but they were not successful. Now we are facing a newer and bigger scenario. The goal is to divide our country,” he added.

Erdoğan that Turkey's fight was against terrorist groups in the region but not against the Kurdish people.

"We regard the Kurds in Iraq and Syria the same as we regard Turkmen and Arabs," he said.

Stressing that "no ethnicity is superior to the others," the president said: "Our only concern when fighting against PKK and Daesh is whether somebody is a member of those terror groups."

“During the First Gulf War, when our Kurdish brothers in northern Iraq faced a massacre, we immediately opened our borders. In the same way, we opened our borders to the 250,000 people who escaped from the turmoil in Iraq and came to this country. We have no financial expectations,” said Erdoğan.

“Without taking into account the ethnically diverse structure of the region, those who act with a sense of opportunism will be held to account,” he continued, emphasizing that Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leader Masoud Barzani had no place in Kirkuk. “The regional government is responsible of every drop of blood shed in Iraq.”

The president condemned Barzani’s illegitimate referendum, which faced strong opposition from most regional and international actors, including the U.S., Turkey and Iran, who warned that the poll would distract from Iraq’s fight against terrorism and further destabilize the region.

“PKK, Daesh, PYD, YPG… We will not allow anyone to exert power there. If necessary, we will come overnight all of a sudden,” said Erdoğan.

Turkey is ready to fully cooperate with the Baghdad government to end the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist organization in Iraq, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

“All lands to the east and north of Ankara, as well as the west and south, have a place in our heart,” he added.

“The only country that fulfilled its duty of humanity following the heinous terror attack in Somalia is Turkey. We will always support the victims and the oppressed,” Erdoğan said.

More than 300 people were killed by twin bomb explosions in Mogadishu on Monday, as locals packed hospitals in search of friends and relatives caught by Somalia's deadliest attack in a decade.

The death toll has steadily risen since Saturday, when the blasts struck at two busy junctions in the heart of the capital city. One truck bomb detonated near a fuel truck, creating an enormous fireball.