Ankara reinforces its bases in northern Iraq after 12 soldiers killed
A Turkish tank and soldiers at the Zilkan military base in Iraq. Photo: Al Mayadeen
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Thursday that Turkey will reinforce its newly established bases in northern Iraq in the coming months after 12 Turkish soldiers were killed in the region.
The Turkish soldiers were killed last week in northern Iraq in clashes with militants belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) stationed there.
“In the past few years, we have built roads extending hundreds of kilometers into northern Iraq to our fixed bases,” Erdogan said in a televised meeting in Ankara. “We are carrying out the same work in new places we control.”
“By spring, we will complete the infrastructure of our newly established bases and will make terrorists unable to set foot in the region.
Turkish forces regularly carry out strikes in neighboring Iraq as part of the operations they launch against PKK militants.
Since 2019, Turkey has launched a series of operations in northern Iraq after Erdogan announced a new security concept for combating terrorism and a plan to eliminate terrorism and terrorists.
Turkey, the United States, and the European Union classify the PKK, which demands more rights for Kurds and has large fortifications in northern Iraq, as a terrorist group.
The PKK began fighting against Turkey in 1984, and over the past decades, it has launched many attacks that have resulted in deaths in Turkey.