Iran, Turkey to up border security

Iranian Police Chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam has praised the cooperation between Iran and Turkey in improving the security of the common border, PRESS TV reported.

"Given the expansion of cooperation between the two countries, the (security) situation of the joint border will be improved and will reach a good status in the next year," Brigadier Ahmadi-Moqaddam was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying on Thursday.

The Iranian commander added that Iran is implementing "various security plans" on its western border with Iraq and Turkey to counter with the activities of the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) terrorist group.

He noted that Iran, in cooperation with Turkey, has taken "good measures" on its northwestern border against "terrorist groups supported by the US and Israel."

Members of the PJAK -- an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- regularly engage in armed clashes with Iranian security forces along the country's western borders with Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has deployed 5,000 military forces in the northwest of the country along its common border with Iraq's Kurdistan, and has been fighting the PJAK terrorist group over the past weeks in order to establish security and stabilize the area.


/Trend/