Türkiye blocks PKK attacks from Iraq thanks to Claw operations

Adm. Zeki Aktürk told journalists Thursday that a series of “Claw” operations launched in 2019 in northern Iraq thwarted PKK terrorist group attacks targeting Türkiye.

Aktürk’s remarks at the Defense Ministry’s weekly press briefing follow the killing of 12 Turkish soldiers in a PKK attack in Iraq’s north.

Aktürk, the press adviser of the ministry, said the army “avenged the martyrs” and eliminated 59 terrorists since the attack last week. “Thus, number of terrorists neutralized in one year reached 2,201,” he highlighted.

He said the Turkish army destroyed 71 targets in Iraq and Syria following the PKK’s attacks, from shelters of terrorists to oil facilities which it benefits from.

Aktürk stated that Türkiye has adopted a new security concept in counterterrorism that was based on eliminating terrorism at its source, regardless of borders.

“A series of Claw operations started in 2019 neutralized a large number of terrorists and led to the seizure of munitions and weapons from (PKK), as well as the discovery of hideouts of terrorists.

“Through the operations, attacks through Iraq’s north by the separatist terror group, which is on the brink of extinction inside Türkiye, are blocked,” Aktürk stated.

“With Claw operations, security forces reached places deemed ‘inaccessible’ in the past and neutralized 1,655 members of the separatist terrorist group. In operations, 4,999 landmines and handmade explosives were destroyed.”

“A total of 2,472 caves and other hideouts were destroyed. (Security forces) also seized 2,934 weapons,” he said.

He noted that in addition to the ground operations, airstrikes as far as about 150 kilometers (93.2 miles) from the Turkish border hit “terrorist hubs,” including Qandil, where the PKK’s senior cadres are in hiding.

He highlighted that Türkiye’s operations in Iraq and Syria were perfectly in line with international laws on countries’ right to self-defense and underlined that PKK and Daesh were their sole legitimate targets in both countries.

In Syria, Aktürk acknowledged that terrorists continued their efforts to disrupt peace restored in that country’s north thanks to Turkish military operations. He said terrorists carried out 496 attacks involving harassment fire and assaults this year and the army retaliated all those attacks, eliminating 1,502 terrorists in the process.

Defense Ministry sources outlined the details of the attacks that killed 12 soldiers and injured 13 others on Thursday.

Sources said the two locations where attacks took place were very distant from each other and located on rough, elevated terrain dotted with cliffs and thousands of caves.

Sources said military presence was required in the area regardless of weather.

The ministry source said the attacks were not the work of a “group of 50 or 100 terrorists” but smaller groups hiding in caves and under freezing weather where blizzards reduced visibility as low as five meters.

Sources said detecting the approaching terrorists was impossible under those weather, neither by thermal imaging systems nor by drones.

Sources said heroic defense of military units and the actions of the commander of an attacked military battalion who did not abandon his post though he was injured, thwarted a larger terrorist attack.