Turkish Military Destroys 12 Targets in Iraq
ISTANBUL (Dispatches) – The Turkish military destroyed 12 targets in northern Iraq belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in overnight air strikes, it said on Tuesday, as the army steps up operations against militant targets in the Qandil region.
The targets, in northern Iraq’s Qandil, Hakurk and Avasin-Basyan regions, included shelters and ammunition depots, it said. Turkey’s army has recently ramped up strikes against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, which has bases in the Qandil mountains.
The army also said that 34 militants had been "neutralized” in operations in northern Iraq between June 1 and June 8. The military uses the term "neutralized” to refer to operations in which opposition forces have been killed, wounded or captured.
President Tayyip Erdogan, who faces presidential elections on June 24, on Monday said Turkey would drain the "terror swamp” in Qandil.
The PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Europe and Turkey.
Turkey has conducted frequent airstrikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq. It previously carried out cross-border operations in the region in the 1990s and 2000s. A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants in 2015 in the wake of a large-scale Turkish campaign against the group.
The Turkish government has been opening military fronts against Kurdish groups in Syria as well. Earlier this year, it launched the ongoing Olive Branch offensive against the purported positions of the US-backed People’s Protection Units (YPG) Kurdish militia in Syria’s western enclave of Afrin.
Ankara considers the YPG a terror group and the Syrian branch of the PKK. The Turkish operation has been launched without permission from the Syrian government.
The targets, in northern Iraq’s Qandil, Hakurk and Avasin-Basyan regions, included shelters and ammunition depots, it said. Turkey’s army has recently ramped up strikes against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, which has bases in the Qandil mountains.
The army also said that 34 militants had been "neutralized” in operations in northern Iraq between June 1 and June 8. The military uses the term "neutralized” to refer to operations in which opposition forces have been killed, wounded or captured.
President Tayyip Erdogan, who faces presidential elections on June 24, on Monday said Turkey would drain the "terror swamp” in Qandil.
The PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Europe and Turkey.
Turkey has conducted frequent airstrikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq. It previously carried out cross-border operations in the region in the 1990s and 2000s. A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants in 2015 in the wake of a large-scale Turkish campaign against the group.
The Turkish government has been opening military fronts against Kurdish groups in Syria as well. Earlier this year, it launched the ongoing Olive Branch offensive against the purported positions of the US-backed People’s Protection Units (YPG) Kurdish militia in Syria’s western enclave of Afrin.
Ankara considers the YPG a terror group and the Syrian branch of the PKK. The Turkish operation has been launched without permission from the Syrian government.