Turkey attacks targets in northern Iraq after attack on Ankara’s Belarusian route: this is how Putin and Lukashenko treacherously lure refugees to Europe

A few hours after the bombing of Ankara, the Turkish army carried out air strikes in northern Iraq. The Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday evening that “a large number of terrorists have been neutralized”. The attacks targeted the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other ‘terrorist elements’. The ministry invoked the right to self-defense. The PKK has its headquarters in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq.

On Sunday morning, an attacker blew himself up in front of the Turkish Ministry of the Interior. The Turkish government said police officers killed another attacker with a shot to the head. Two police officers were slightly injured in the attack. In the evening, the PKK-affiliated news agency ANF distributed an alleged letter of responsibility from the PKK.

Thousands of people have been killed in the decades-long conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state. Ankara regularly carries out military operations against the PKK in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. The latter in turn carries out repeated attacks, especially on Turkish security forces. But civilians also die. Turkey accuses the PKK of endangering national security and unity through terror. The PKK states that it fights, among other things, for the ‘rights of the Kurds’ and against oppression. In 2015, a peace process between Türkiye and the PKK failed. (sda/dpa)