Offensive in northern Iraq: Turkey attacks PKK positions

Turkey has launched a new offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq. According to the Defense Ministry, aircraft and artillery attacked targets attributed to the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK.

In northern Iraq, Turkey has launched a new offensive against the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK. According to the Defense Ministry in Ankara, the air force bombed hiding places, tunnels and ammunition depots. Fighter jets, helicopters and armed drones were used. Ground forces are also deployed. At least 19 Kurdish fighters were killed.

According to Ankara, the attack was concentrated in the regions of Metina, Zap and Awashin-Basyan in northern Iraq. The mission was coordinated with “friends and allies,” it said. Details were not given.

A PKK spokesman in Iraq told the AFP news agency that there was “intense fighting” between the Turkish army and the PKK’s military wing.

Good relations with Barsani

Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan maintains good relations with the president of the Kurdish autonomous regions in northern Iraq, Masrur Barzani. The two politicians met in Istanbul on Friday.

The PKK is on terrorist lists in Turkey, Europe and the US, and has positions in south-eastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Their headquarters are in the northern Iraqi Kandil Mountains.

Actions that are controversial under international law

The Turkish military has already conducted several operations against the PKK in Iraq and against the Kurdish militia YPG in Syria. In the past, the scientific service of the Bundestag had doubted whether similar missions were compatible with international law.

Ankara has also repeatedly taken military action against PKK positions in south-eastern Turkey. The PKK, in turn, carries out attacks. The conflict, which has been going on since 1984, has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people. A ceasefire failed in the summer of 2015.