After the attack in Istanbul: Turkey confirms the start of military operations in northern Syria and Iraq

Created: 11/20/2022, 12:54 p.m

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday (November 20) with Defense Minister Hulusi Akar (left) on board the presidential plane.

© Handout / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP

Turkey confirmed a military operation in northern Syria and Iraq on Sunday - experts use the terrorist attack in Istanbul only as a pretext.

The conflict with the PKK has been smoldering for decades.

Istanbul - The attack in Istanbul a week ago was apparently the trigger for a military operation by Turkey against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria and Iraq.

Both regions are "used as bases for terrorists," the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Sunday, confirming the military operation and the use of Turkish warplanes.

"Terrorist elements" should be neutralized and attacks on Turkey avoided, it said.

The focus of the attacks: the Kurdish militias YPG and the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK.

Turkey invokes its “right to self-defense” according to the UN charter when attacked

"Accounting time!" tweeted the Turkish Ministry of Defense on Sunday night.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has commanded the deployment of Turkish warplanes in the Air Force Operations Command, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced on Sunday.

According to the information, Turkey invokes its right to self-defence enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

The mission is about "stopping terrorist attacks from northern Iraq and Syria, ensuring border security and eliminating terrorism at its source," the ministry said.

According to the information, the attacks were directed against bases of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and units of the YPG, which Ankara regards as the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Turkish air force attacked Kurdish positions in northern Syria on Sunday night.

At least 12 people were killed and others injured, a spokesman for the organization said.

The regions of Kobane and Aleppo are affected.

According to the YPG, Syrian government posts were also attacked.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar (centre) with senior members of the Turkish Armed Forces at Turkey's Air Force Operations Center in Ankara on Sunday (November 20).

© HANDOUT / Press Office of the Ministry of National Defense of Turkey / AFP

Just pretense?

Erdogan blames Syrian PKK supporter for Istanbul attack

Earlier this week, Turkey blamed an alleged PKK supporter from Syria for an attack in Istanbul that killed six people on Sunday last week.

Accordingly, the assassin is said to have received her instructions in Kobane in the Kurdish region in north-eastern Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had spoken of a "sneaky attack".

Both the armed PKK organization and its political wing, as well as the military alliance SDF led by Kurdish YPG units, firmly denied the allegations.

PKK and YPG accuse Turkey of having created a pretext for renewed military action in northern Syria.

Independent experts have also expressed such suspicions, especially since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced such an offensive months ago.

Since the middle of the year, Erdogan has been talking about a possible military offensive that is intended to penetrate from the national border up to 30 kilometers deep into the neighboring country.

Russia and Iran - both also involved in the Syrian civil war - had advised Turkey against such an approach.

The USA had also warned Ankara against another offensive.

Turkey is a NATO ally.

Turkey has been conducting military offensives in northern Syria for years

Turkey has conducted four military offensives in northern Syria since 2016, also targeting the YPG.

Ankara sees the YPG as an offshoot of the Kurdish underground organization PKK and regards both as terrorist organizations.

The USA is cooperating with the YPG in the fight against the terrorist militia IS, but classifies the PKK as terrorist.

Ankara is also blocking the NATO accession of Sweden and Finland, citing, among other things, the alleged support of the Kurdish militias by both countries.

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The conflict between Turkish armed forces and PKK has a decades-long history and has so far claimed thousands of victims - according to the organization International Crisis Group, the majority of PKK members and allies were killed.

Kurdish human rights activist Düzen Tekkal condemned the Turkish military operation on Sunday: "All those who are currently celebrating JinJiyanAzadi must condemn the air attacks by NATO ally Turkey on Kurdish positions in the strongest possible terms.

Because those who are currently being bombed defended our free world against the IS murderer gangs in 2014," Tekkal wrote on Twitter