(Istanbul) Turkey announced Wednesday evening that it had carried out new air strikes against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, for the third time since the Ankara attack where two police officers were injured Sunday, after having threatened earlier in the day with reprisals against Kurdish fighters present in northern Syria.
“Twenty-two targets, consisting of caves, shelters and depots, considered to be used by the terrorist organization were destroyed,” during airstrikes Wednesday evening, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced.
The perpetrators of the attack which injured two police officers on Sunday in Ankara were trained in Syria, the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs said earlier in the day, threatening reprisals against Kurdish fighters present in northern Syria and the north of the ‘Iraq.
A meeting on national security bringing together the Ministers of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Interior, as well as the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Director of Intelligence Services also took place in the afternoon in the Turkish capital.
“Thanks to the work of our security forces, it was established that the two terrorists came from Syria and were trained there,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.
The PKK, in armed struggle against the Turkish authorities since 1984, claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack on the headquarters of the Turkish Interior Ministry.
One of the two perpetrators blew himself up and the other was shot dead before being able to enter the ministry compound.
“From now on, all infrastructure and installations, particularly energy, belonging to the PKK and the YPG (Kurdish People’s Protection Units, Editor’s note) in Iraq and Syria constitute legitimate targets for our security forces,” said Mr. Fidan .
“I advise third parties to stay away from places and people affiliated with the PKK and the YPG,” he added.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense also shared on Wednesday on X (formerly Twitter) a video of strikes carried out Tuesday evening on targets believed to belong to the PKK in northern Iraq.
Ankara describes the YPG – partners of the United States in the fight against the jihadists of the Islamic State group – as “terrorists” and considers them an extension of the PKK, classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
The Turkish army says it has targeted the positions of Turkish Kurdish PKK fighters in northern Iraq since Sunday, where they have rear bases.
Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet al-Abbassi will visit Ankara on Thursday to meet his Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler, according to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
” War crime “
Mr. Fidan’s statements could be a sign of a future intensification of Turkey’s strikes in Syria.
One of the alleged organizers of the attack which left six dead in 2022 in Istanbul was killed during an operation led by Turkish intelligence services in northern Syria, Turkish media reported on Wednesday.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that an “intelligence official” from the autonomous Kurdish administration in northeast Syria was killed on Tuesday.
The leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, a US-backed coalition) Mazloum Abdi denied on Wednesday that the perpetrators of the Ankara attack had come from the autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Syria.
“Turkey is looking for pretexts to legitimize its ongoing attacks against our region and launch new military aggression,” he said on social media.
“The threat to target the region’s infrastructure, economic resources and populated cities is a war crime, something we have already witnessed,” he added.
Ankara regularly carries out drone attacks in Syria in areas controlled by the autonomous Kurdish administration.
Between 2016 and 2019, Turkey carried out three major operations in northern Syria against Kurdish forces and organizations.