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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Turkish military has advanced up to 20 km into the Kurdistan Region, a former Iraqi military chief of staff told Rudaw on Monday, blaming the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for pulling Turkey into the Kurdistan Region.
“In some places Turkey has advanced 9km, but in others they have advanced up to 15 to 20 km into the Kurdistan Region,” Babakir Zebari told Rudaw’s Samia Hassan on Monday, accusing the PKK of having an anti-Kurdistan Region agenda.
“The PKK has clear antagonism against the Kurdistan Region. They have never held back to take the Kurdistan Region, that has been earned through thousands of martyrs, away from Kurds,” Zebari added. “This is their only goal, wherever there are Turkish troops, they go and drag them deep into the Kurdistan Region.”
The PKK is an armed group that has struggled for increased rights for Kurds in Turkey for decades. Ankara considers it a terrorist organisation, and has used the PKK presence in the Kurdistan Region’s mountainous areas to launch regular cross-border attacks.
Hundreds of villages have been emptied due to Turkey-PKK clashes in the Kurdistan Region, and civilians are also killed in the Turkish operations.
Zebari’s comments follow recent Turkish operations against the PKK, focusing on the Metina and Avashin areas near Duhok.
“Turkey has had no agreement with neither the Iraqi nor the Kurdish side to enter the borders of the Kurdistan Region,” Zebari said. “I believe if they could, they would not leave those points unless they are pressured.”
Iraq summoned Turkey’s top diplomat in the country after Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar made an unannounced visit to Turkish troops in the Kurdistan Region earlier this month.
Last year, the Turkish presidency released a map saying it has established 37 “military points across the Kurdistan Region.
Clashes also take place between the PKK and Peshmerga forces. On Wednesday, clashes erupted between the PKK and Peshmerga’s Halgurd Command, affiliated with the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
In December, one Peshmerga was killed and three PKK fighters were heavily injured in fighting, one of whom later passed away, in clashes between the two sides in Duhok’s Amedi district.
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