Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler said on Wednesday that Turkey has not yet decided to cut power supply to Iraq, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
Asked if Turkey would cut electricity to north of Iraq as a retaliatory measure for Iraq, which has hitherto failed to effectively stop cross-border attacks launched by the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) based in north Iraq, Guler said Turkey supplies electricity to Iraq, not north of Iraq.
"Electricity is supplied to Iraq in accordance with Turkish foreign policy and it is not cheaper than the electricity sold in Turkey," Guler was quoted by Anatolia as saying.
"Our power supply to Iraq is considered as a favor to north of Iraq. I would like to correct this mistake. We do not supply electricity to terrorist organization PKK," the minister underlined
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday during his visit in London that Turkey may impose "some sanctions with respect to some goods we export to Iraq.
He did not specify what might be embargoed but mentioned Turkey had been helping Iraq with water, power, fuel and food.
With 60,000 Turkish troops massing close to the country's south-eastern frontier, Erdogan's government faces growing public pressure to take action following a weekend PKK ambush which left at least 12 Turkish soldiers dead and eight more missing.
Turkey's parliament approved on Oct. 17 a government motion backing a cross-border operation into northern Iraq for pursuing PKK militants.
Source:Xinhua
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