Thick smoke billows from a raging fire at a storage tank of the al-Awda oil field facility near al-Qahtaniyah in northeastern Syria close to the Turkish border on Dec. 24, 2023, a day after a reported Turkish strike. (Credit: Delil Souleiman/AFP)
Turkey said on Monday its air force "neutralized" 26 Kurdish militants in strikes in Syria and Iraq in response to the killing of soldiers at the weekend, while authorities also detained dozens of pro-Kurdish opposition officials.
On Saturday, the defense ministry said that 12 Turkish soldiers were killed during fighting with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, prompting Ankara to conduct a barrage of air strikes and operations in the region.
On Monday, it said initial findings showed that at least 26 militants were "neutralized" in those strikes. Ankara typically uses the term to mean killed.
Defence Minister Yasar Guler also said on Sunday that 30 PKK militants had been neutralized in an area of northern Iraq where Turkey carries out cross-border operations, bringing the total number of militants killed since the weekend to 56.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. Turkish forces regularly carry out strikes in neighboring Iraq as part of its offensive against PKK militants based there.
Police also detained 52 people from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) – formerly known as HDP – at a youth wing meeting in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, security sources said on Monday.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on social media platform X that the suspects were charged with "praising crime and the criminal" and "spreading terrorist organization propaganda," and added arrest warrants were issued for others.
In response, DEM – the third biggest party in parliament – condemned the detentions as motivated by political interests and called for its members to be released immediately.
President Tayyip Erdogan and his government have repeatedly accused the pro-Kurdish opposition party of having links to the PKK, and authorities have arrested dozens of its officials over recent years. The party denies accusations of militant links.
force "neutralized" 26 Kurdish militants in strikes in Syria and
Iraq in response to the killing of soldiers at the weekend,
while authorities also detained dozens of pro-Kurdish opposition
officials.
On Saturday, the defense ministry said that 12 Turkish
soldiers were killed during fighting with the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers Party...