Turkish army stationed 30km inside Iraq: PM Yildirim

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says the country’s troops have been “deployed 30 kilometers inside” Iraq and in its northern regions in a declared goal of eliminating militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“These operations have started in March. So far, we have been deployed in a 300-kilometer area, in 30 kilometers deep in northern Iraq. It’s beyond may be Qandil, Makhmur or Sinjar,” said the Turkish premier during a special live broadcast on Turkish news channel NTV late on Friday.

Yildirim’s comments came just a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey might strike the Iraqi city of Qandil “at any moment one evening.” On Monday, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had also said Ankara was “waiting” for the right time to launch a military operation against purported positions of the PKK in Qandil.

The Qandil Mountains are located roughly 40 kilometers southeast of the Turkish border in Iraq's Erbil province. Ankara believes the rugged region is being used as the headquarters of the PKK, which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984.

Turkey has conducted frequent airstrikes against the PKK targets in northern Iraq. It previously carried out cross-border operations in the region in the 1990s and 2000s. A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants in 2015 in the wake of a large-scale Turkish campaign against the group.

Baghdad, however, has time and again strongly condemned any violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, including those committed by Ankara, saying any foreign anti-terror operation inside the Arab country must be conducted based on the permission of Baghdad.

SS