SULAIMANI (ESTA) — the Kurdistan Region’s border guard units advanced to the border between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region to intercept the Turkish army, an affiliated media to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Sunday reported.
A heavy-armed force from the 2nd Brigade of border guard units, “carrying” the Kurdistan flag deployed in the border areas of Sarchl mountain in Erbil province, according to ‘Wsha’ news outlet.
“The border guard units aim to intercept the further advancements of the Turkish army to those areas,” it said.
Despite the intercepting of the Turkish army from further advancing into the Iraqi border, another aim is “to prevent the movements of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) to restore the peace of the areas” it added.
Turkey has taken its decades-old conflict with the PKK deep into northern Iraq, establishing military bases and deploying armed military drones against the fighters in their mountain strongholds.
Most of the operations have focused on territory up to 30 km (20 miles) from the border.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union, has fought an insurgency against the state in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
