ANKARA, (Reuters) – Turkey will strengthen its new permanent bases in northern Iraq in the coming months after the deaths of twelve Turkish soldiers in the region, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
The twelve soldiers were killed last week during clashes with fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The PKK, considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States and Turkey, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and more than 40,000 people were killed in the conflict.
“In recent years, we have built hundreds of kilometers of roads in northern Iraq for our permanent bases. We are carrying out the same activities in the new places we control,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting televised in Ankara.
“By the time spring arrives, we will have completed the infrastructure of our newly established bases (in northern Iraq) and we will ensure that terrorists can no longer set foot in the region.”
Turkish forces regularly carry out strikes in neighboring Iraq as part of the country’s offensive against PKK militants.
The PKK demands greater rights for Kurds and has significant fortifications in northern Iraq. (Report by Huseyin Hayatsever; French version by Gaëlle Sheehan)
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