MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : THE ERDOGAN WAR IN NORTH IRAQ

‘We cleared Afrin – we’ll do the same thing in Qandil’: Turkish PM

By Rudaw  21 June 2018 – ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey has 11 temporary military bases in northern Iraq conducting operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

The Turkish PM told the pro-government broadcaster A Haber that 400 square-kilometers of the region have been cleared of PKK fighters, Anadolu reports. “We are shelling Mt. Qandil through air operations at times. This time PKK terrorists are crossing into Iran when they are on the back foot,” he said.“We cleared the area in northwestern Syria’s Afrin during Operation Olive Branch. We will do the same thing in Mt. Qandil area,” he added.

Operation Olive Branch, launched by the Turkish army and its Syrian proxies, began on January 20 in a bid to clear the Turkish-Syrian borders of People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters in the Kurdish canon of Afrin.Ankara believes the YPG is linked to the PKK, a named terrorist organization in Turkey – a claim both groups deny.  Turkey has launched airstrikes against suspected PKK bases in the mountains of the northern Kurdistan Region. It forces have pushed at least 30 kilometers into the Region with the aim of reaching the PKK’s headquarters in Qandil.Baghdad and Erbil have both condemned the Turkish incursion and called on the PKK to leave Iraqi territory.  www.mesop.de