ANKARA: Turkish forces have killed 17 militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in various areas of northern Iraq and northern Syria, the defence ministry said on Friday.
In a post on the X, the ministry said its forces had neutralized 10 PKK insurgents found in the Gara and Hakurk regions of northern Iraq and an area where the Turkish military frequently conducts cross-border raids under its “Claw-Lock Operation.”
It said seven more militants had been “neutralized” in two regions of northern Syria where Turkey had previously carried out cross-border raids.
The term “neutralized” by the Ministry normally means killed. The PKK, which has led an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Turkey’s cross-border incursions into northern Iraq have been a source of tension with its southeastern neighbour for years. Ankara has asked Iraq for greater cooperation in the fight against the PKK, and Baghdad designated the group a “banned organization” in March.
Last month, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan held talks with officials in Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, about the PKK’s continued presence in northern Iraq, where it is based, and other issues. Erdogan later said he believed Iraq saw the need to eliminate the PKK as well.
READ ALSO: KSrelief to Restore Homes Affected by Aleppo Earthquake
Turkiye has also staged military incursions into northern Syria against YPG militias, which it considers a wing of the PKK.
Erdogan and his ministers have repeatedly said that while Ankara works to mend relations with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after years of hostility, it will launch a new offensive in northern Syria to push the YPG away from its borders.
