Recep Tayyip Erdogan told in an interview with the TV 24 channel on Wednesday that a PKK-linked Kurdish presence could give Turkey cause to intervene militarily in Syria, as it has done repeatedly in northern Iraq since that region slipped from Baghdad's grip following the 1991 Gulf War.
"The terrorist PKK organization's cooperation with [the PKK-linked Democratic Union Party] PYD is something we cannot look upon favorably," Erdoğan said in the interview. "If a formation that's going to be a problem, if there is a terror operation, (if) an irritant, emerges, then intervening there would be our most natural right," he added.
The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq and partly northern Syria is the theatre of a 28-year-old conflict between Turkish forces and PKK terrorists, which in various incarnations has waged a campaign for autonomy in the largely Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
On Tuesday night, Turkish security forces killed at least 15 PKK terrorists in a raid near the country's border with Iraq after tracking them with drones and attacking them with helicopters and on the ground.
Turkey has cemented ties with the Kurdish leadership of Iraq's semi-autonomous north, where the PKK has a military presence, through trade and investment, but remains wary that the example of Kurdish self-rule in Iraq and deepening chaos in neighboring Syria could inflame its own Kurdish conflict.
Erdogan's remarks came amid a heated debate in Turkey over the possible formation of a Kurdish state in northern Syria that could destabilize Turkey's southeast provinces predominantly populated by 12 million ethnic Kurds.
Syrian Kurdish opposition figures claimed earlier this week that Assad's forces have quit areas of Hassaka and Aleppo provinces, which border Turkey, leaving them under the control of the PYD.
The head of the Syrian National Council - which aspires to political leadership of the revolt against Assad and much of whose leadership is in Turkey - said Assad's troops had lost control of some parts of those regions, but that the Syrian opposition did not endorse any Kurdish separatist project.
Erdogan confirmed reports that northern Syria is deserted by Assad's troops and the PKK-linked groups are controlling the area. He said Assad left five provinces to the groups linked to the PKK and that they are trying to strengthen their presence there.
He also added that Syrian opposition fighters are taking their final steps in finalizing the toppling of Assad's regime, while the Syrian president is cornered to the center.
He also added that Syrian opposition fighters are taking their final steps in finalizing the toppling of Assad's regime, while the Syrian president is cornered to the center.
He quoted Turkish consul general in Aleppo, who was recalled to Ankara earlier this week, as saying that from Aleppo up to the Turkish border, all areas are now under the control of the opposition forces.
On Wednesday, Turkey deployed heavy armored vehicles to the Syrian border in Şanlıurfa's Suruç district. This area is close to Syria's Qamishli district, which is claimed to be controlled by the groups symphatetic to the PKK. Erdogan said military retaliation against a threat from Syria is Turkey's natural part and is part of the country's new military engagement rules with Syria.
Erdogan stressed that any PKK-linked Kurdish presence around Syria's Qamishli district will seriously disturb Turkey and Turkey just can't ignore this development.
On Tuesday night, Erdoğan had five-hour marathon talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and chief of Turkish intelligence Hakan Fidan in Ankara. It was not immediately clear what the officials discussed but it is believed that the intensifying clashes in Syria dominated the agenda of the security meeting.