Türkiye has nearly exterminated the PKK terrorist group’s ability to operate with pinpoint cross-border operations in Iraq, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said Saturday.
At a videoconference with land commanders stationed at home and across the border in northern Iraq and Syria, Güler praised Türkiye’s recent shift to “eradicating terrorism at its roots” in military offensives.
“Cross-border operations have dealt a heavy blow to the terrorist organization and reduced its mobility to nearly zero,” Güler said, thanking Turkish troops for their efforts.
Türkiye has, over the past 25 years, operated several dozen military bases in northern Iraq in its war against the PKK and has been conducting airstrikes as part of “Claw” operations since 2022 to demolish terrorist lairs and prevent the formation of a terrorist corridor along its borders.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.
Since Turkish operations have driven its domestic presence to near extinction, the PKK has moved a large chunk of its operations to northern Iraq, including a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Turkish border in Irbil.
As part of Operation Claw-Lock, launched in April 2022, a total of 931 terrorists have been eliminated and 1,021 hideouts destroyed so far.
In the same region, Turkish security forces eliminated three more PKK terrorists, the defense ministry said Tuesday.
Türkiye's cross-border attacks into northern Iraq have been a source of tension with its southeastern neighbor for years. Ankara has asked Iraq for more cooperation in combating the PKK and Baghdad labeled the group a banned organization in March.
In April, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held talks with officials in Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), about the continued presence of the PKK in northern Iraq and other issues. Erdoğan later said he believed Iraq saw the need to eliminate the PKK as well.
Also in April, Baghdad set up two military bases in the northern Zakho region to counter PKK terrorism, marking the first military deployment of troops to the region in the past three decades and increasing cooperation with Ankara against the terror group.
Ankara plans a new swoop in on the PKK militants this summer and says Iraqi cooperation is paramount to eradicating the group "at its roots."
“The fight against terrorism will gather momentum and effectiveness thanks to the cooperation deal with Iraq,” Güler said.
As for Turkish operations in northern Syria against the PKK’s local offshoot, the YPG, the minister reiterated Ankara would “not allow any fait accomplis.”
Türkiye has recently been angered by the PKK/YPG’s plans for so-called “local elections” in civil war-torn Syria’s northern territories which the terrorist group has occupied since 2015.
The PKK/YPG has since postponed the elections to August 2024 after warnings from Türkiye and its ally the U.S. but Ankara wants them canceled altogether.
For Türkiye, the “unacceptable” move is the first step to establishing a “PKK-run state” in Syria’s north, immediately across the border, as well as a threat to the territorial integrity of Syria.
