ANKARA: A Turkish soldier was killed by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq during a Turkish military operation, said Ankara’s defence ministry on Wednesday.
It said the soldier was shot by fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been involved in an armed insurgency against Turkiye since 1984.
Turkiye and most of its Western allies including the United States and European Union, have declared PKK as a terror organization. The PKK has bases in northern Iraq from where it conducts attacks into Turkiye.
Turkiye started Operation Claw-Lock in April 2022 to secure its border with its southern neighbor. It involved Ankara assaulting the Kurdish group within Iraq itself, where Turkiye also maintains dozens of military bases.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 13 announced the operation’s end saying Kurdish forces to be “completely trapped” in both Syria and Iraq. Ankara’s incursions into Iraq have strained bilateral relations with Baghdad.
Erdogan’s declaration came after Iraq’s government denounced fresh incursions by the Turkish army into Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
But there have been signs of a thaw in ties in recent months, with Erdogan in April making his first visit to Baghdad since 2011.
