Turkey
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar alongside other military officials on July 9, 2022. Photo: Turkish defense ministry
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey's defense minister said Saturday that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) does not represent Kurdish "brothers," despite Turkish operations inflicting civilian casualties and leading to the abandonment of Kurdish villages.
"No one should have any doubt that the heroic struggle, both at home and across the border, will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized," Hulusi Akar said in a visit to a military base bordering Syria, affirming that Turkey's fight against "terrorism" will continue.
Akar referred to the Kurdish people as "brothers," and added that Ankara's concern is only with "terrorists" of the PKK and that the group is not representative of the Kurds.
The defense minister's statements come despite numerous cross-border operations conducted by Turkey in the Kurdistan Region and Syria, where Turkish rockets have destroyed many villages and killed innocent civilians.
According to the International Crisis Group, 1,047 fatalities have been incurred in Iraq, including civilians, PKK fighters, and state security forces since 2015.
In April, Turkey launched a new phase in a series of anti-PKK operations, an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey.
The operation, dubbed Claw-Lock, is an air and ground assault that heavily focuses on mountainous border areas where the PKK maintains a presence.
The incursion has been widely condemned by Iraqi officials, labeling it as a "hostile" and "provocative" violation of the country's sovereignty, and Turkey has come under strong criticism from Baghdad, Erbil, and the wider international community for violating Iraqi sovereignty.
A parliamentary report published in 2020 revealed that the conflict has left a staggering 504 villages empty across the Kurdistan Region.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in late May that Ankara would soon launch a new military operation into northern Syria in aims of creating a 30 kilometer "safe zone" southwards. The operation is aimed at expelling Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG), considered the PKK's Syrian offshoot by Ankara, from the areas of Manbij and Tal Rifaat in Syria's north.
The looming operation has been widely condemned by Syria and Iran, with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad saying "Turkish claims to justify its aggression on Syrian territory are false and have nothing to do with reality."
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