Turkish Prime Minister warns Kurd President Barzani 'price... will be very high' if threats carried out

Above: F-16s of the Turkish Air Force, one of the oldest air forces in the world. Turkey operates one of the largest combat aircraft fleets in NATO, while Iraq's air force is virtually nonexistant.

ANKARA, Turkey: The Turkish prime minister on Monday warned Iraqi Kurds against interfering in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast, saying "the price for them will be very high."

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reacting to comments by Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq, who said Iraqi Kurds would retaliate to any Turkish interference in northern Iraq by stirring up trouble in Turkey's southeast.

"He's out of place," Erdogan said of Barzani Monday. "He'll be crushed under his words."

The verbal sparring was set off by Barzani on Saturday when he said in an interview with al-Arabiyah television that Iraqi Kurds could "interfere" in Kurdish-majority Turkish cities if Ankara interfered in northern Iraq.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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