SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar visited a Turkish military base in the Kurdistan Region, the Turkish defense ministry said on Sunday.
Akar, accompanied by several military commanders, paid a visit to Turkey’s Bilic Tepe Base in northern Iraq on Saturday evening, the ministry said in a statement.
Turkey has set up dozens of military bases in the Kurdistan Region’s province of Duhok, according to Kurdish officials.
It set up three new military points in Amedi district last week amid operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Turkey launched a new ground and air defensive against the PKK in Duhok on April 23. Turkish media reported that commando forces landed in the Metina region from helicopters.
Besides troop deployment, Turkish warplanes continue to bomb areas where suspected PKK positions are thought to be presence.
Akar said during his visit to the Bilic Tepe base that as many as 44 “terrorists” had been neutralized during the operations dubbed Operation Claw-Lightening and Operation Claw-Thunderbolt in Duhok province.
“Our fight against terrorism will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized,” he said. “We are determined to end terrorism … We will provide peace and tranquility here as soon as possible.”
Turkey has conducted numerous ground and aerial cross-border offensives into neighboring northern Iraq to attack the PKK fighters, who maintains bases in the region.
“We do not have any problem with our Kurdish brothers or citizens in any way. Our only goal is to end terrorism, to neutralize the latest terrorist,” Akar said.
“Therefore, we will not forget that Turks, Kurds and Arabs are all brothers and sisters,” he added.
