Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday threatened to launch a ground offensive against Kurdish militants in northeast Syria. Speaking to reporters on a flight from Qatar, Erdoğan vowed to avenge the deaths of Turkish citizens killed in recent Kurdish attacks.
Turkey has already launched an aerial campaign in Iraq and Syria following a bomb blast allegedly planned by Kurdish militants in Istanbul last week that killed at least six people. After militants from Syria launched projectiles at the Turkish district of Karkamış in the Gaziantep province on Monday, Erdoğan declared, “There is no question that this operation be limited to only an aerial operation.”
Two civilians were killed and six injured in the rocket attack, which was allegedly launched by the Peoples’ Defence Units (YPG), which Ankara says is an ally of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an Iraqi militant group.
Turkish Airstrikes were framed as retaliation to Nov 13 attack inside Istanbul, and were to be limited to air campaign. But with situation escalating, all bets are off.
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) November 21, 2022
Erdogan holding security meetings. US has warned in past against ground invasion into Syria
“We will make those who disturb us on our territory pay,” Erdoğan promised, noting that he would consult with the defence ministry and military officials to “decide the level of force that should be used by our ground forces.”
In fact, according to a statement by the Defence Ministry, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar visited the land forces command and met with all three heads of the armed forces, who later discussed operational details with Erdoğan via phone.
Last week, following the explosion in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, Turkey launched an aerial campaign—dubbed Operation Claw Sword—against PKK and YPG bases in Iraq and Syria. The Defence Ministry said 184 militants have been killed in the airstrikes and 89 Kurdish military targets have been destroyed.
“Our struggle will continue until the last terrorist is neutralised. In order to save our country and our nation from this scourge of terrorism, we will do what needs to be done against the bloody, baby-killing terrorists without reducing the pressure,” Akar emphasised.
In May, Erdoğan said Turkey would soon launch a military operation in Syria to establish a “safe zone” to prevent militants from attacking. Turkey has also frequently launched airstrikes against PKK bases in Iraqi Kurdistan. In April, the Turkish military launched Operation Claw Lock to prevent the PKK from using Iraq to attack Turkey.
Three months later, a Turkish airstrike in Iraq’s Duhok province killed eight tourists and injured 20 people. The incident was condemned by Iraq, which called the airstrikes a violation of its territorial integrity. Baghdad also condemned last week’s airstrikes in Kurdistan as a “violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”
📹 | #Turkish MoD shares new footage of "Operation Claw Sword" against PKK/YPG terrorists in northern #Syria and #Iraq.pic.twitter.com/Y6iTJo6oaV
— EHA News (@eha_news) November 20, 2022
Turkey has occupied northern Syria since 2016 in a bid to remove Kurdish militants. Since then, Turkey has launched three major operations in the area carved out by the Kurds, collectively known as Rojava, following the Syrian civil war.
Turkey launched Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016 to push YPG fighters out of Afrin and Manbij. The following year, Turkish forces and its Syrian proxies conducted a major offensive in Afrin called Operation Olive Branch. In 2019, Turkey, along with its Syrian allies, launched a major offensive into northeast Syria—known as Operation Peace Spring—against Kurdish militants in Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad.