Turkey could, if necessary, carry out a ground operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq, Murat Baybatur, a lawmaker from the AKP party, told on Wednesday.
“Just as we have conducted a ground operation on the territory right up to the Al Bab [city] in order to clear the northern part of Syria from the IS [Daesh terrorist group, banned in Russia] and the PKK, if needed, our armed forces could also carry out a ground operation in the area of [Iraqi] Sinjar [town],” Baybatur said.
He added that the Turkish Armed forces were conducting “necessary preparatory work.”
Tensions between Turkey and Kurds escalated in July 2015 when a ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK collapsed because of a series of terror attacks allegedly committed by PKK members. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the United States and the European Union.