Turkey tries to legitimize incursion in northern Iraq
As Turkey advances inside Iraqi territory to eliminate members of the Kurdistan Workers Party, Baghdad has openly rejected the action, though the Kurdistan Regional Government remains curiously silent.
Turkey and Kurdish militants are waging war against each other inside Iraq, which in no uncertain terms has condemned the incursion.
Turkish aircraft bombed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) warehouses in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq on June 16, having entered 18.5 miles into the Iraqi Kurdistan region June 10. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed his country had also launched military operations against the PKK in Iraq’s Sinjar region.
A day earlier, the PKK had announced its fighters were ready to confront the Turkish forces, claiming Ankara is seeking to occupy the Kurdistan region. The announcement ushered in the possibility of protracted battles.
Turkey claimed to have killed 26 PKK militants June 12 in airstrikes on northern Iraq. The PKK announced June 14 that five Turkish soldiers had been killed in Erbil province, 217 miles north of Baghdad. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is based in Erbil.
