2024-05-13 12:19:50
Turkey intends to end the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK, designated as terrorist and banned in Turkey) in northern Iraq and Syria within a year.
As Day.Az reports with reference to TASS, this was stated by the head of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic Yashar Guler.
“We have already said that we will complete this work this year. Operation [против РПК] is carried out on an ongoing basis. There will be no such thing as the start of operations “Olive Branch” or “Euphrates Shield” (in northern Syria – approx.). It continues with heavy losses for terrorists almost every day,” the minister told the Milliyet newspaper.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week after a cabinet meeting that Ankara plans to carry out cross-border operations in the near future in northern Iraq and Syria against PKK militants based there.
Erdogan visited Iraq at the end of April, where he discussed issues of joint counteraction to the PKK. Local media and military analysts reported on the possibility of carrying out a cross-border operation in Northern Iraq after the visit with the aim of creating a security zone 30-40 km wide and ensuring control along the entire 378 km border between the two countries.
A similar security zone is planned to be created in northern Syria.
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