“We have given instructions for a third series of strikes in Syria and Iraq. Air and ground operations are under way,” Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara.
“No one should doubt out determination,” he added. “We will not allow Turkey to be turned into a lawless country.”
Turkey had early Saturday carried out a second wave of the air strikes it says are aimed at extinguishing terror threats, this time hitting not just ISIS targets in Syria but also Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq.
The strikes against PKK targets are likely to be a major blow to the stalled Kurdish peace process.
In a statement posted on the PKK website on Saturday, the group said truce with turkey has “no meaning anymore” after last night’s military attacks.
Fighter jets hit PKK targets in several locations in northern Iraq, including warehouses, “logistic points,” living quarters and storage buildings, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s office said.
The outlawed PKK, deemed a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington, has waged a three-decade insurgency against Turkey for greater Kurdish autonomy.
First airstrikes in Syria
Along with the strikes in Iraq, Turkey launched its first-ever air attack against ISIS targets in Syria early on Friday, promising more decisive action against both the militant and Kurdish militants.Turkey stepped up its role in the U.S.-led coalition against the militant group ISIS on Friday. As well as launching its first air strikes against the hardliners in Syria, it promised to open up its air bases to the United States.
In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Security Council, Turkey justified its decision to conduct air strikes in Syria against ISIS militants claiming the Syrian government was neither capable nor willing to tackle the radical Islamist group.
Turkey’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Levent Eler cited Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, which covers an individual or collective right to self-defense against armed attack, as justification for its action.
“It is apparent that the regime in Syria is neither capable of nor willing to prevent these threats emanating from its territory which clearly imperil the security of Turkey and safety of its nationals,” he wrote in the letter, seen by Reuters.
“Syria has become a safe haven for (ISIS). This area is used by (ISIS) for training, planning, financing and carrying out attacks across borders,” he added.
Raids on ISIS, PKK affiliates
Police also detained 590 suspected ISIS and PKK members in a crack down on Friday, Davutoglu said after vowing to fight all “terrorist groups” equally.Turkey’s more active role comes after a suspected ISIS suicide bomber killed 32 people, some of them Kurds, this week in the border town of Suruc. That touched off a wave of violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast, with the PKK killing at least two police officers, calling it retaliation for the suicide bombing.
Many Kurds and opposition supporters have suspected Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling AK Party of covertly backing ISIS against Kurdish fighters in Syria, something the government has repeatedly denied.
Separately, the Istanbul authorities on Saturday banned a planned anti-militant “peace march” scheduled to take place in the Turkish metropolis this weekend, citing security and traffic congestion.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has hoped to rally thousands on Sunday for the protest to condemn violence by ISIS militants following a suicide bombing on Monday that killed 32.
But the Istanbul governor's office said in a statement that the rally had been banned due to “intense traffic” expected in the city and also “provocations” endangering security.
The HDP confirmed in a statement that it had been forced to cancel the rally but vowed that “our struggle for peace and democracy will continue.”
Erdogan took a big political risk in starting peace talks in 2012 with the Kurds, who represent nearly 20 percent of Turkey’s population, but they now blame him for backtracking on promises.
On Friday, Erdogan said he had told U.S. President Barack Obama that the PKK, which he calls a separatist organization, would be a focus for attacks.
alarabiya.net (By AFP, Reuters)
25/7/15
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Turkey continues to hit ISIL in Syria, strikes PKK militants in north Iraq...
ReplyDeleteThe Turkish military on July 25 carried out fresh airstrikes and shelling against targets controlled by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists in Syria and embarked on a new air campaign to bombard camps of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq.
"We have approved the third wave of airstrikes in Syria [against ISIL] and the second wave in Iraq [against PKK]," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said in a press conference in Ankara on July 25.
"These operations are not 'one-point operations' and will continue as long as there is a threat against Turkey," Davutoğlu said, before heading to Istanbul, where he was due to meet with President Tayyip Erdoğan and the head of the army later in the day.
The two-pronged operation against ISIL and the PKK -- two groups who are themselves bitterly opposed -- came after a week of deadly violence in Turkey the authorities blamed on the organisations.
The Turkish F-16 jets all returned safely to their base in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır early July 25 after the latest raids, the official Anatolia news agency reported.
Private broadcaster NTV reported that five war planes took off from Diyarbakır later in the day, after Turkish artillery in the Kilis province launched a fresh bombing campaign targeting the ISIL positions in northern Syria on July 25.
The raids against ISIL, which had begun before dawn July 24, marked a major shift in policy towards the group by key NATO member Turkey, which has faced severe criticism from its Western allies for not doing enough to combat the jihadists.
But on this occasion planes also bombed positions of the PKK in neighbouring Iraq, where the outlawed group’s military forces are based....................http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-continues-to-hit-isil-in-syria-strikes-pkk-militants-in-north-iraq.aspx?pageID=238&nID=85913&NewsCatID=338
25/7/15
Turkish fighter jets have conducted airstrikes on terrorist groups Daesh in Syria and the PKK in Iraq, the Prime Ministry announced early Saturday...
ReplyDeletePrime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held a late-hour high-level meeting -- attended by ministers and security chiefs -- on the campaign against the terrorist groups.
The Prime Ministry statement said the operation targeted PKK camps, shelters, caves and logistics points located in the mountainous northern Iraq region.
It said the land forces simultaneously hit PKK and Daesh targets with artillery deployed near the Turkish border.
After a new wave of operations in Istanbul Saturday morning, Turkish security forces have now carried out raids in 22 provinces and detained 320 members of terrorist groups on Friday and early Saturday, the statement added.
Turkey was “determined to take every step to ensure the peace and security of our people”, it said.
The Ministry also noted that Ankara was in contact with its international allies, including NATO and the United Nations, and informed them about the military operation.
Turkish military sources said late Friday fighter jets have taken off from southeastern Turkey’s Diyarbakir province towards northern part of Iraq.
On Friday morning, Turkish F-16 fighter jets had hit three Daesh targets in Syria. The jets carried out the operation “without violating the Syrian airspace”, the Prime Ministry said in a statement......http://www.aa.com.tr/en/headline/561927--turkish-fighter-jets-fly-towards-northern-part-of-iraq
Turkey changes tactic in fight against IS group in Syria...
ReplyDeleteTurkish war planes struck Islamic State (IS) group targets in Syria for the first time on Friday, in a sign that Turkey’s government has abandoned its hands-off approach towards the Islamist militants.
Turkey has long been reluctant to join the US-led coalition against the IS group. But Friday’s air strikes, which came a day after a Turkish soldier was killed in a cross-border firefight with militants in Syria, indicated a major shift in policy.
Faced with mounting insecurity along its frontier, Turkey also announced on Friday that it had authorised the United States to launch air strikes from its base at Incirlik close to the Syrian border.
The move, which was announced following a phone conversation between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Barack Obama, is highly symbolic. No other Turkish government has ever given its public support to a US-led coalition.
“The operation against IS reached its target and will not stop,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed on Friday. “We will take all necessary measures to protect our borders.”
Turkey’s non-intervention policy in Syria
Turkey’s intervention, however, may have come too late. Up until now, the country has been unwilling to take up arms against the IS group. In 2014, it refused to join the US-led coalition against the extremist organisation, just as it refused to support Syrian Kurds from the People’s Defence Units (YPG) fighting IS militants across the border in northern Syria............france24.com
Turkey says parts of Syria to become 'safe zones'...
ReplyDeleteTurkey has said areas in north Syria cleared of fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group will become safe zones.
Saturday’s announcement made by Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, came after Ankara announced it had begun bombing ISIL positions in Syria and and Kurdish fighters' camps in northern Iraq.
"When areas in northern Syria are cleared of the (ISIL) threat, the safe zones will be formed naturally," Cavusoglu told a news conference..........aljazeera.com
ISIL attacks Syrian Kurdish outpost near Turkish border...
ReplyDeleteIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants on July 25 detonated explosive laden trucks in two villages near the Kurdish-controlled Syrian border town of Tel Abyad, with reports of casualties, a monitor that tracks the war said.
The UK-based Observatory for Human Rights said the attacks targeted Kurdish YPG checkpoints in two mainly Arab inhabited villages on the south eastern edge of the town.
Tel Abyad, in a strategic location on the border with Turkey, was taken last month by Kurdish forces from ultra-hardline jihadists in an advance backed by US led air strikes.
hurriyetdailynews.com
25/7/15
Raids turcs en Syrie: l'Iran demande le respect de la "souveraineté nationale" ...
ReplyDeleteL'Iran a demandé samedi le respect de la "souveraineté nationale" des Etats dans la lutte contre le terrorisme après les bombardements turcs en Syrie contre le groupe jihadiste Etat islamique (EI).
Les chasseurs-bombardiers de Turquie ont bombardé vendredi et samedi les positions des jihadistes dans le nord de la Syrie, ainsi que les bases arrières des rebelles kurdes turcs du PKK dans les monts Kandil dans le nord de l'Irak. La Turquie est hostile au régime syrien de Bachar al-Assad et refuse toute coopération avec lui, contrairement à l'Iran qui est un allié de M. Assad..........rtbf.be
More than 1,000 Kurds and leftist Turks have marched in Paris to protest airstrikes by Turkey on Kurdish militant camps in northern Iraq...
ReplyDeleteOne banner held high at Saturday's march read, "To hit the PKK is collaborating with Daesh." PKK is the Kurdish acronym for the Kurdistan Workers' Party, whose affiliates have helped battle ISIS, which is called "Daesh" in France.
The march was originally called to protest Monday's ISIS suicide attack in the southeast Turkish town of Suruc that killed 32 people. But Turkish airstrikes on PKK camps in Iraq changed the agenda of the protest march from the Gare de l'Est train station to the Place de la Republique.
AP
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