Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of (a) Turkey’s military role in northern Iraq; and whether Turkish armed forces have used British military equipment in northern Iraq in 2018.

We have been closely following Turkey's Operation Tigris Shield, announced in March in order to combat PKK fighters in the Turkey-Iraq border regions. The PKK remains a significant threat to Turkey and is an internationally proscribed terrorist organisation.

UK arms exports are subject to export controls. We have no specific information concerning whether UK-licensed items are in use in Turkish military operations in northern Iraq, but all decisions in respect of the original licences have been taken based on the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria and according to the latest information available. We keep our approach to all countries under continual review.