President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey had begun operations in Iraq’s Sinjar region, an area where it has threatened a military incursion, two days after sources said Kurdish PKK militants would withdraw from the area.
“We said we would go into Sinjar. Now operations have begun there. The fight is internal and external,” Erdogan told a crowd in the Black Sea province of Trabzon, without elaborating on what operations he was referring to.
Iraq’s Joint Operations Command denied that any foreign forces had crossed the border into Iraq.
“The operations command confirmed that the situation in Nineveh, Sinjar and the border areas was under the control of Iraqi security forces and there is no reason for troops to cross the Iraqi border into those areas,” it said in a statement.
Sources in Sinjar said there was no unusual military activity in the area on Sunday.
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Update #1: Updated: Erdogan announces operation in Shingal to remove PKK (RUDAW)
Update #2: Turkey targets Iraq’s Sinjar to oust Kurdish rebels (AP)
WNU Editor: No reaction from Baghdad which leads me to believe that they have greenlighted this Turkish military operation against the Kurds. Anticipating this attack, Kurdish forces have apparently withdrawn from the area .... Kurdish guerrillas 'withdrawing' in northern Iraq after Turkish threat (Reuters). In the meantime .... Turkish President Erdogan has warned that Turkey's military offensive against Kurdish positions in Syria is expanding .... Turkey to target new town in Syria operation: Erdogan (AFP).
