Some 25 PKK terrorists, including an alleged senior figure, were killed in Turkish airstrikes in the Hakurk and Qandil regions of northern Iraq, Defense Minister Akar said Tuesday.
Akar spoke to reporters on his way back from a trip to Romania and underlined that the country is determined to completely eliminate terrorists from the region.
"The terrorists have nowhere to hide anymore," Akar said, adding that the Turkish military is determined to annihilate the presence of terrorists.
PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which to carry out attacks in Turkey. Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) previously called the PKK's presence in Sinjar unacceptable and urged the militants to leave the area.
Turkey has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terror threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps are not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terror threats, particularly in Sinjar.
The PKK terrorist group managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in mid-2014, on the pretext that it was protecting the local Yazidi community from Daesh. Since then, the PKK has reportedly established a new base in Sinjar for its logistical and command-and-control activities.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
