“Since January 1 in the north of Iraq and Syria, we have neutralized 261 terrorists,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The PKK is a Kurdish group that has waged an armed insurgency against Turkey for decades and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara alongside another group Turkey claims to be its Syrian offshoot – the YPG.
“We have demolished terror nests, lairs, and shelters of terrorism, and we will continue to destroy them,” Akar added, claiming that Turkey is not eyeing “anyone’s land in any way” but conducts such operations only to “ensure the security” of its borders.
Following two devastating quakes that struck Turkey and Syria and killed around 50,000, the PKK declared a ceasefire within Turkey’s borders in order to focus all resources on rescue efforts.
However, as Turkey’s south – home to a large Kurdish population - continues to be gripped by the disastrous earthquake, the country carried out two deadly drone strikes on vehicles in northeast Syria (Rojava), controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – a US-backed multiethnic force which the YPG are the core component of, killing at least two.
The SDF in northern Syria fought the lion’s share of the battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) and ultimately territorially defeated the terror group in 2019.
In a time when the world is busy helping those affected by earthquake in Turkey & Syria, the Turkish occupation is escalating against our region. Today, a Turkish UAV targeted a car east of Qamishlo. The criminal mentality of Turkish regime is more dangerous than the earthquake. pic.twitter.com/3t3f6v1iMV
— Farhad Shami (@farhad_shami) February 22, 2023
The People’s Defense Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the PKK, reported on Saturday that the Turkish army had carried out 90 attacks on the force in the Kurdistan Region in two days.
In their annual casualty figures for 2022, the Turkish interior ministry claimed that its forces inflicted 1,220 casualties on a “number” of terror groups including the PKK, while the PKK claimed that 2,942 Turkish soldiers were killed during their attacks against the Turkish army.
Last October, PKK-affiliated Firat News Agency (ANF) published several videos purportedly showing Turkish soldiers targeting its fighters with chemical weapons, adding that Turkey has used banned bombs and chemical substances at least 2,476 times in six months.
The Turkish defense ministry later deemed the claims that its soldiers used chemical weapons against the PKK "completely baseless and untrue."
More than 500 villages have been emptied in the Kurdistan Region over three decades of the Turkey-PKK conflict.
