Turkish Army Entering Northern Iraq

"Landep News"

Turkish Army Entering Northern Iraq

Turkish Armed Forces launched on Thursday a ground attack in the northern Iraq against the bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) following the attack organized on Wednesday by Kurds in Hakkari province in southeastern Turkey as a result of which 24 Turkish soldiers died and 18 wounded. Turkish military deployed 22 battalions in a large scale operation which targeted five areas in Iraq and Turkey. According to the Turkish defense ministry, about 9,000-10,000 soldiers participate in this mission.
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan explained the operation as “the first step” toward “achieving the end results.” He explained that this was the reason why the operation was being carried on by land and by air simultaneously.
Turkey is also putting pressure on the Kurds in the Iraqi Kurdistan so that they expel the PKK rebels from their territory. On Wednesday, Kurdistan president Massoud Barzani, former rebel against the regime of Saddam Hussein, said that the bombings executed by Turkey on Wednesday against Iraqi Kurdistan were a “criminal act.”
On Thursday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the Iraqi Kurdistan president would visit Turkey “immediately” to discuss the situation.
In a discussion with his Iraqi counterpart, Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that it was time for action not condemnation, alluding to the attitude of Iraq toward the recent Turkish attacks.
Iraqi authorities in Baghdad fear that Turkey may use its Kurdish problem to take control over the Iraqi oil fields in the northern part of the country.
Massoud Barzani is in a tight spot as his Iraqi Kurdistan is having an emerging economic relation with prosperous Turkey he cannot ignore. On the other hand he has a long-term relation with the Marxist PKK, and allowing the Turks to chase the PKK fighters in the mountains of northern Iraq would create problems, especially if during the confrontation civilians living in those mountains were to be killed.

Turkish Air Forces Attacking Northern Iraq

Turkish prime minister also convened a meeting with the journalists and media in his country, warning them against spreading “terrorist propaganda, willingly or unwillingly.” Erdogan said he did not mean to intervene in the press editorial content, for that would be undemocratic but advised the journalists to impose themselves a self control and a “national-standing.”
He also called on Thursday on Kurdish mothers, nonprofits, and authors to condemn the PKK and its actions and on the main Kurdish party BDP to denounce them as a terrorist organization.
While announcing that he wanted to solve the problem of the Kurds in Turkey, the prime minister had been aware of the preparations made by the Turkish forces for an invasion in northern Iraq to the purpose of finishing the PKK camps once and for all.
There are speculations in Turkey that PKK is working with Syria and Iran again against Turkey, but the organization has dismissed these allegations.
The response Turkey is giving PKK is the most serious in years, as the bloody attack has been the most serious since violence resumed in Turkey this summer, after a judge refused to allow a Kurd to participate in the elections.
Tens of thousands of people were killed since the late 1980s, when PKK begin its attacks in Turkey. PKK is listed as a terrorist organization at the United Nations, European Union and Turkey.

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