With the controversial campaign inflaming tensions in Turkey after June 7 legislative elections failed to produce a conclusive result, parliament held an emergency session to discuss the operations.
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Despite the strikes against the PKK, the U.S.is pledging to work with Turkey to create a 68-mile “Islamic State-free zone” along its border with Syria.
All allies expressed their strong support for Turkey and we all stand together in solidarity with Turkey. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules requiring prior authorization to speak to journalists.
The spike in violence in recent days has prompted concerns that a promising peace process is falling beyond fix.
The PKK has said the action has rendered the peace process meaningless.
Barzani “requested that the issue not be escalated to that level because peace is the only way to solve problems and years of negotiations are better than one hour of war”, said a statement released by his office.
The rebels have attacked a major oil pipeline from Iraq, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Wednesday, a day after they also attacked a gas pipeline from Iran.
It was just the fifth such meeting in NATO’s 66-year history. “We strongly condemn the terrorist attacks”, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation chief Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting of the alliance’s ambassadors in Brussels.
The Turkish green light came at a time when the US is planning to expand its military footprint in Turkey with more personnel and combat aircraft.
Erdogan was taking Turkey to war in revenge, Demirtas said, seeking to discredit the Kurdish movement ahead of a possible repeat election. One outside analyst said eliciting such support may have been why Turkey sought the unusual forum in the first place.
As the security situation in Turkey has deteriorated in recent weeks, the country responded with a military campaign against ISIL jihadists in Syria.
Turkey says it is targeting the PKK, in airstrikes that began Friday night, after attacks against police officers in retaliation for a suicide bombing, blamed on the Islamic State, which killed 32 people at a pro-Kurdish youth rally near the Syrian border. Later, three Turkish policemen and soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Velayati, Sanliurfa and Diyarbakir, southeast of the country.
After months of reluctance, Turkish warplanes last week started striking militant targets in Syria, and Turkey’s leaders agreed to allow the U.S.to launch its own strikes from Turkey’s strategically located Incirlik Air Base.
Once-reluctant Ankara then launched attacks against IS targets in Syria and Kurd positions in northern Iraq, despite the fact that Kurdish forces have won some of the biggest military successes against the jihadists. U.S. backed Kurdish fighters operating in Syria have been the most forceful against the extremist terrorist group.
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Turkey’s decision to open up Incirlik airbase will provide the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition greater logistical access to carry out airstrikes in Syria as well as gather intelligence. Supply lines through Turkey allowed the Islamic State to exchange captured resources – such as oil and historic artifacts – for weapons and equipment as well as money to pay its fighters. “Or is it aiming to hit the Kurds in Syria and Iraq, maybe for other internal reasons?”
