Türkiye pays its respects to 12 soldiers amid funerals and military ceremonies as the death toll rose to 12 from an initial three between Friday and Saturday in attacks by the PKK terrorist group.
Authorities vowed to retaliate against the killings, and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) announced a series of airstrikes and operations to destroy PKK targets in Iraq and Syria, two immediate neighbors where the group finds haven.
Türkiye launched air operations "against terrorist targets in the north of Syria and Iraq," the Ministry of National Defense said Saturday.
In a press release on its website, the ministry said "29 targets, including caves, bunkers, shelters, oil installations and warehouses, were destroyed" during the operation carried out at 10:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT).
Two separate attacks on Turkish bases in northern Iraq killed a dozen of its soldiers. Ankara has operated several dozen military posts in the area for the past 25 years in its decades-old fight against the PKK.
The airstrikes were carried out to "eliminate terrorist attacks against Türkiye and its security forces from northern Iraq and Syria by neutralizing members of the PKK terrorist group and other terrorist elements and to ensure border security in line with the legitimate self-defense rights arising from Article 51 of the U.N. Charter," the ministry said.
Defense Minister Yaşar Güler oversaw the airstrikes at the Command Center of Air Forces. Güler congratulated the pilots who took part in the operation, along with senior commanders of the Turkish Armed Forces.
More than 2,150 PKK terrorists have been "neutralized" since Jan. 1, Güler said Sunday.
Turkish authorities use "neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered, were killed or captured.
"The total number of terrorists neutralized since the beginning of the year has reached 2,156," Güler told Turkish pilots who conducted airstrikes Saturday in northern Iraq and Syria to eliminate terrorists.
"No treacherous member of any terrorist organization can escape the grasp of our heroic soldiers," said Güler.
"The operations will continue with an unyielding offensive approach until the bloody terrorists disappear from this geography, regardless of whoever supports them, amid escalating violence and pressure," stressed Güler.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday called for retaliation against terrorists in northern Iraq and Syria. "The blood of our soldiers has not been wasted, the separatist villains will be made to account for the blood they have shed," he said.
"We will continue with a vengeance to implement our strategy to eliminate terrorism at its source until the last terrorist is eliminated."
Erdoğan reiterated that Türkiye would never allow "a terrorist structure in Iraq or Syria's north, no matter what the cost."
"We will never step back from our struggle against hordes of hired murderers serving imperialists," Erdoğan said.
"Sooner or later, both those murderers and supporters of the separatist group will understand that there is no place for terrorism in our region's future," he added.
Ankara initially announced the deaths of six soldiers on Saturday, who "fell martyred in a clash with terrorists." It later announced six other soldiers had been killed in northern Iraq in an earlier attack Friday night, which it attributed to the PKK. According to Turkish media reports, Friday and Saturday's attacks occurred near Hakurk and Zap. In October, Erdoğan vowed to continue stepping up its strikes on terrorist targets in Iraq and Syria. The PKK claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Oct. 1 that injured two police officers in Ankara.
Coffins of soldiers draped in Turkish flags were first brought to Şırnak, on the border with Iraq. There, on Sunday, military officers including Chief of General Staff General Metin Gürak, joined Güler for a military farewell ceremony for soldiers.
The ceremony was for six of the soldiers whose bodies were brought to Türkiye so far. After a religious official recited prayers for late soldiers for the ceremony at an infantry base, coffins were taken to the airport and sent to towns where soldiers would be buried.
Güler, accompanied by top military brass, later on Sunday paid a visit to the country's southern border. "Throughout the night, National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, who led operations from the Air Force Operations Center, went to the Iraqi border with the first light of the morning," the ministry said on X. Also on Sunday, Güler visited soldiers injured in the PKK attacks and under treatment at a hospital in Şırnak.
The Interior Ministry, for its part, oversees the Türkiye leg of operations. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Sunday that the "Heroes-35" operation by gendarmerie forces led to the demolition of 58 caves and similar shelters that terrorist groups utilize as hideouts or storing items, from weapons to food, for winter.
Yerlikaya said operations were carried out simultaneously in 10 provinces, from Gümüşhane in the north to Diyarbakır in the southeast. The minister noted that troops confiscated a large cache of anti-tank weapons, rocket launchers and other munitions during the operation.
Elsewhere, Türkiye's political parties joined forces to condemn the terrorist attacks while the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and pro-PKK Green Left Party (YSP), informally known as the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), abstained from signing the joint declaration.
YSP co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan stirred up outrage before the PKK attacks by saying, "People in Tekirdağ or Trabzon will not be in peace as long as the Kurdish question persists." The PKK claims it is fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Türkiye. The CHP sought the support of the YSP before the latest general elections and upcoming municipal elections.
The declaration by representatives of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Good Party (IP) and the Felicity Party (SP) condemned attacks targeting "our unity and integrity, peace and security."
"Terrorism and violence will never achieve its goals," it said.
Azerbaijan also issued a message of condolences. The country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that they felt saddened by the news of martyrs. The statement said Azerbaijan always stood with Türkiye in its counterterrorism efforts and would continue doing so.
In some cities, people carrying Turkish flags took to the streets on Saturday to condemn terrorism and remember the martyred soldiers. The Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), in the meantime, organized recitation of prayers for martyred soldiers in all mosques across Türkiye.
As Parliament opened for a session on Sunday, acting parliamentary speaker Bekir Bozdağ said he condemned the PKK and every "dark power and countries controlling the PKK."
The United States, which recognizes the PKK as a terrorist group, is among the top supporters of the group in Syria. The PKK's Syrian wing, the YPG, which controls parts of northeastern Syria, receives assistance from the United States under the guise of a "fight against the Daesh terrorist group."
The U.S. embassy in Türkiye issued a message of condolence to the families of Turkish soldiers killed by the PKK.
In a social media post on Sunday, the embassy said they "stand with our NATO ally Türkiye in the fight against terrorism.”
The 2024 U.S. defense budget, approved by Congress earlier this month, allocates $398 million for countering the Daesh terrorist group in Iraq and Syria, with $156 million for the PKK/YPG.
The new spending package marks a $9 million decrease for Syria compared to the previous year while funding for operations in Iraq fell to $242 million from $322 million.
The funds allocated for Syria are directed to a coalition, which is led by the PKK/YPG, the Pentagon's main partner in the country for counter-Daesh efforts, according to the bill.
The U.S. Army frequently provides military training and supplies to members of the PKK/YPG terrorist group in bases in Syria located in the Mount Abdulaziz region of Hassakeh, as well as in the eastern al-Omar oil field and Conoco area of Deir el-Zour province, all regions occupied by the terrorists, which Washington calls its “partner forces.”
In August, it deployed more reinforcements to U.S. bases in the region as a convoy of nearly 50 trucks, tankers and armored trucks delivered fuel, weapons and ammunition to the U.S. forces stationed at the natural gas and al-Omer oil fields. Since the start of the year, the U.S. Army has sent reinforcements to bases and stations in Tal Beydar and Ash Shaddadi on Jan. 6, 8, 22 and 25, again on June 19 and 20, and July 11.
In July, days after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on Türkiye’s NATO allies to take a concrete stance against all terrorist groups, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a military spending bill that ensured continued funding for the YPG and authorized the continuation of joint operations from the end of 2023 through the entirety of 2024.
Thanks to U.S. help worth millions of dollars, the YPG has grown stronger in northeastern Syria, despite Washington’s promises to Türkiye that it would “consult and work closely” with Ankara against Daesh and the PKK.
