Turkish military dismisses Russian allegations that Turkish troops are inside Syria


Turkey's military on Monday dismissed reported Russian allegations claiming that Turkish troops are inside Syrian territory as "false" in an official statement.

The statement released on the Turkish Armed Forces' website said:

"On March 14, 2016, some media outlets published pieces containing the statement "According to our information, they [Turkey] are digging in a few hundred meters from the border inside Syria," referring to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.These allegations are untrue."

Lavrov told the comments to Ren-TV, which were broadcasted on Sunday and quoted by Russian news agencies, that Russia reportedly had evidence that Turkey's armed forces are on Syrian territory.Also on Monday, Turkish warplanes bombed camps belonging to the PKK terrorist organization in northern Iraq, the Turkish army said, following a car bomb attack in Ankara that killed at least 37 people.Eleven warplanes carried out the air strikes on eighteen recently identified targets in the organization's Gara and Qandil Mountains camps in Northern Iraq, including ammunition depots, shelters and other targets have been destroyed, the military said in a statement.

Since the breach of the cease-fire in July 2015, the military has been conducting airstrikes on PKK camps in Northern Iraq to terminate the threat the terrorists pose to Turkey.Security forces have also been continuing their operations in several southeastern districts of Turkey.The PKK has been designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.