Turkish military has stepped up its attacks on the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) with Turkish F-16 fighter jets pounding on hideouts belonging to the PKK in northern Iraq Wednesday night.
The excursion into northern Iraq where the PKK — listed as terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union (EU) — uses as a safe haven for its command operations reflects a growing concern of Turkey over a surge of attacks by the PKK in the country’s southeast which claimed lives of dozens of civilians and military personnel in recent weeks.
Although, the Turkish government claimed that it is exercising its right to self-defense in responding to the PKK threat by conducting cross-border operations into Iraqi territory, both the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq and the central government in Baghdad have repeatedly expressed their concerns over incursions by Turkish military in the past.
In the meantime, a large-scale mop-up operation on the ground by the Turkish security forces are going at full speed in rural areas in Turkey’s southeastern provinces Hakkari and Srnak bordering Iraq. The military beefed up security in the region with the deployment of more troops and equipment.
Turkey’s war against the PKK has been going on for almost three decades with a total casualties of 40,000 people. According to Turkish Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Celik, the cost of terrorism reached 400 billion U.S. dollars so far.
On Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the PKK of “receiving support from countries and circles that are enemies of Turkey.”
Turkish officials have recently pointed out that Syria and Iran as supporters of the PKK in the region as a reprisal to Ankara’s open criticism of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. On Wednesday, the Turkish military conducted an exercise in the border area with Syria as a clear warning to Damascus.
In order to address the PKK issue, the Turkish government has also started giving out broader cultural rights to Kurdish citizens since 2009 while allocating sizable budget for investment and job creation schemes in Turkey’s impoverished southeast.
Besides, Turkey signaled that it may push for a legislative change to strip immunities of pro-Kurdish lawmakers who were affiliated with the PKK.

 

 

source:                                   http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.asp?id=93742