Turkey vows to continue attacks on PKK militants in Iraq

Turkey says it will continue its attacks on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group in northern Iraq despite Baghdad’s protest at repeated violations of its airspace.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said on Saturday that the operations against the militants “will continue as long as terror organizations nest on Iraqi soil and as long as Turkey’s security needs require it to.”

"The activities of the PKK terrorist organization in the territory of Iraq and Syria have become a national security issue for Turkey," he added.

He made the remarks a day after Baghdad summoned the Turkish ambassador over Ankara’s latest airstrikes against Kurdish militants.  

Aksoy said the government in Baghdad had a duty to prevent Iraqi land being used as a base for attacks on neighbors.

Baghdad, meanwhile, said the Turkish military’s Thursday airstrikes were unacceptable “on all levels” and violated its sovereignty and the security of its citizens.

The Turkish military said in a tweet on Friday it had killed eight PKK militants in airstrikes targeting the Zap, Hakurk and Haftanin regions of northern Iraq.

Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq. The militants regularly clash with Turkish forces in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey, which is attached to northern Iraq.

SS