ANKARA: The Turkish military killed 21 Kurdish militants in northern Syria and Iraq, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the ministry reported that 20 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Syrian Kurdish YPG militants, who were preparing to launch an attack, were killed in northern Syria, while one militant was killed in northern Iraq. “Our operations will continue effectively and resolutely,” the ministry added.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Kurdish militants in Syria will either lay down their weapons or “be buried”, amid hostilities between Turkiye-backed Syrian fighters and the militants since the fall of Bashar al-Assad this month.

“The separatist murderers will either bid farewell to their weapons, or they will be buried in Syrian lands along with their weapons,” Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament.

Erdogan says Kurdish militia will be ‘buried’ if the fighters do not lay down arms

“We will eradicate the terrorist organisation that is trying to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish siblings,” he added.

Following Assad’s departure, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia must disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria’s future. The change in Syria’s leadership has left the country’s main Kurdish factions on the back foot.

The operations on Wednesday come amid ongoing hostilities in northeastern Syria between Turkiye-backed Syrian factions and the YPG.

The PKK, designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkiye, the European Union, and the United States, began its armed insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

Turkiye views the Kurdish YPG militia — the main component of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

In a Reuters interview last week, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time, saying they had helped battle the militant Islamic State group and would return home if a total ceasefire was agreed with Turkiye, a core demand from Ankara. He denied any organisational ties with the PKK.

Erdogan also said Turkiye would soon open its consulate in Aleppo, and added Ankara expected an increase in traffic at its borders in the summer of next year, as some of the millions of Syrian migrants it hosts begin returning.

Following the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the YPG must disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria’s future.

Ankara routinely conducts cross-border airstrikes and military operations targeting the PKK, which maintains bases in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq. In mid October, the Turkish parliament approved a motion authorising military strikes for a one-year period against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which uses bases in northern Iraq for attacks on targets across the border in Turkiye.

Turkiye said on Thursday it would pursue diplomacy to defuse a crisis over Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq as Baghdad made fresh appeals to dissuade its neighbour from military action.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2024