Turkey’s Erdogan says military operation in north Iraq to end soon

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday announced the imminent end of his government’s operations against Kurdish PKK fighters in northern Iraq and Syria. 

Turkey began its Operation Claw-Lock in April 2022, claiming it nneded to secure its border with northern Iraq, from where it accused Kurdish separatists of launching attacks on Turkish territory.

“We will very soon complete the lockdown of the area of operation in northern Iraq,” Erdogan said, adding that Kurdish forces were now “incapable of acting inside our borders”.

Erdogan said that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had been “completely trapped” in both Iraq and Syria, telling young military academy graduates that Turkish forces were “all over them”.

“We will complete the missing points of the security corridor along our southern border with Syria.”

Erdogan’s comments tally with those made earlier this week by Turkey’s Defence Minister Yasar Guler, who said his country was “determined” to clear the border area with Iraq and neighbouring Syria of “terrorists”.