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Turkey and Iraq may carry out a joint military operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on March 8, according to CNN Turk.
“Even if the Afrin operation has not yet been completed, we have the capacity to carry out both operations simultaneously,” the minister said adding that the operation may start after the May parliamentary elections in Iraq.
The PKK, which is considered by Ankara as a terrorist group and conducts constant attacks inside Turkey, actively operates and has rear bases in northern Iraq. So, Turkey will have to coordinate its military efforts with Iraq if it wants to deliver a devastating blow to the PKK there.
The diplomat added that Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch in the Syrian area of Afrin “might be completed by May.” In Afrin, the Turkish military is now conducting the opeartion against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which are described by Ankara as a local branch of the PKK.
