In spite of the fact that he has been required to conduct military activities outside Turkey's borders, President Tayyip Erdogan continues to make progress in his fight against Kurdish rebel movements in the region. So much so that denunciations of systematic violations of Syrian, Iraqi and Kurdish sovereignty have been a constant over the past decades; Turkey has established numerous de facto military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan over the last 25 years, and in this logic, several territories have been occupied by Turkish troops since 2016.
Turkey's campaign against the Kurdish minority prompted nearly 60 Ottoman aircraft to bomb Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraqi and Syrian territory overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. As reported by the Ottoman Defense Ministry, six different air bases were used by drones and fighter jets to attack Kurdish training camps, shelters, and ammunition storage areas in the Syria and Iraq regions of Derik, Majmur, and Sinjar. Ministerial sources reported that three simultaneous strikes outside Turkish borders destroyed 80 targets, while maintaining that the operation against Kurdish guerrillas is not over. Hulusi Akar announced that the task was not over; it would continue until the last kurd was neutralized.
However, according to a statement released by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a bombing of a Syrian power plant, located in the town of Derik, in Al Hasaka province, killed four security guards and workers installation; however, there may be additional casualties in the near future as a large number of injured are in critical condition. It also condemned the "human and material losses" caused by the attacks by the Iraqi Kurdistan anti-terrorist services.
Following the events, Baghdad and Iraq's security forces demanded that Ankara cease interfering with Iraq's internal sovereignty, in the interest of both countries. While the Ottoman government privately believes that Arab countries are firmly on its side in fighting the PKK, which is also considered a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union, which have placed it on the terrorist organization list at Turkey's request.
Its main focus is Turkey, where the Kurdish population exceeds 15 million, or about 20% of the nation's total population. The Kurdistan Workers' Party took up arms in the 1980s to demand the independence and self-determination of the Kurdish minority from the Turkish state; globally, this minority may number up to 45 million people.
Erdogan saw the existence of PKK fighters as a source of regional provocation and instability, as well as the notion of a potential State of Kurdistan in portions of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. In fact, all Kurds living in the area eventually came to arouse the President's enmity, making the PKK no longer the lone opponent of the Ottoman president in the nation. The People's Protection Units, who have been a strong friend of Washington in the war against Daesh in Syria, have not, however, gotten the same assistance from Western countries as Ankara's assault against the Kurdish-Syrian YPG militia.
