Turkey Kills Over 40 PKK in Recent Bombing Raids in Iraq
Turkey Kills Over 40 PKK in Recent Bombing Raids in Iraq
Nuray Lydia Oglu, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The armed forces of Turkey (Turkiye) have killed over 40 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq. This concerns several attacks in the last few days.
Yesterday, Turkey claimed to have killed 16 PKK members in northern Iraq in the regions of Gara, Hakurk, and Metina.
Associated Press said, “The airstrikes reportedly killed 16 militants, including some commanders, the ministry said. There was no immediate comment from the PKK, a banned separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s.”
Last Month, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey met with Kurdish and Iraqi officials in Erbil and Baghdad. Erdoğan raised the issue of PKK forces utilizing northern Iraq against Turkey.
The latest attacks by Turkey against the PKK follow recent raids that killed over 30 PKK forces in Gara, Haftanin, and Hakurk.
Turkey – a NATO member – occupies North Cyprus and parts of North Syria. Also, under Erdoğan, this nation is expansionist in furthering pan-Turkism. Accordingly, Turkey meddled against Armenian Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh by supporting Azerbaijan.
Voice of America reports, “Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes in northern Iraq and has sent commandos to support its offensives as part of a long-running campaign in Iraq and Syria against militants of the Kurdish PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. Ankara regards both as terrorist groups.”
The International Crisis Group says, “Türkiye has increasingly relied on its airpower, including armed drones, to push back against the PKK and its affiliates.”
The Kurdish Question – unlike the Palestinian Question – gets limited attention internationally. However, the Kurds are the most populous stateless people in West Asia.
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