Turkish military carries out airstrikes against PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan region, 2019. Photo: sm
ANKARA,— Turkey’s defense ministry says it has launched a third military operation against Kurdish militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan region, state-run Anadolu agency reported.
The ministry, in a statement Saturday, announced the start of “Operation Claw-3” in Sinat-Haftanin region in Iraqi Kurdistan.
According to the statement the operation was launched to facilitate border security, neutralize terrorists, destroy caves and shelters in Sinat-Haftanin in northern Iraq, according to the statement.
Operation Claw 3 continues as planned with the support of Air Force planes, Army Aviation elements, howitzers, armed UAVs and UAVs, the statement added.
The Turkish military routinely carries out airstrikes and artillery bombardments in Iraq’s Kurdistan region against suspected PKK targets, but their frequency has increased since Ankara launched “Operation Claw” in May 2019, as have civilian casualties.
On July 5, 2019, Diyar Gharib, a senior PKK official, was killed alongside two others in a Turkish airstrike on the Qandil Mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) said.
Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG), which is dominated by the Barzani clan and has close ties with Turkish government, turning a blind eye on Turkish bombardment of Kurdish border villages that killed dozens of civilians and blames the PKK for instigating airstrikes in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy in Turkish Kurdistan for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population. More than 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels, have been killed in the conflict.
A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974 and currently serving a life sentence in Turkey, has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.
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