Ankara launches ops against PKK in Iraq, two weeks ahead of elections

Speaking less than two weeks ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections, Turkey's president said jets have struck Iraq's Qandil mountains, where outlawed Kurdish PKK militants maintain their headquarters
Monday, 11 June 2018 16:09

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday said his AKP government was pressing an operation against bases of outlawed Kurdish militants in both Qandil and Sinjar regions in northern Iraq with intense air strikes that were far from over.

Speaking less than two weeks ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections, Erdoğan said some 20 warplanes had destroyed 14 key targets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in the Qandil and Sinjar.

"They shot and returned but it has not finished yet. It will continue," Erdoğan said during an election rally in the central province of Niğde.

Ankara conducts frequent air raids on suspected militant camps in Qandil. It is in this area that the PKK's military leadership such as Murat Karayılan and Cemil Bayık are believed to be based.

There has been growing expectation in Turkey that the AKP government was preparing a major operation in Qandil against the PKK, which has waged a decades-long armed conflict in Turkey. This move is designed to win the ultra-nationalist vote in a possible runoff. 

The Turkish army on Sunday had already announced it had hit 14 targets in air raids on Qandil.

"Qandil will not be a threat, a source of terror for our people any more. We will drain the terror swamp in Qandil as we did in Afrin, Jarablus, Azaz, al-Bab," Erdoğan said. He was referring to areas in northern Syria.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said last week that Baghdad was ready to cooperate with Ankara to prevent attacks from Iraq into Turkey. He also called on Turkey to "respect Iraqi sovereignty" and accused Turkish politicians of raising tensions for domestic purposes ahead of June 24 elections.