Erdogan: Turkey may strike Kurdish militants in Iraq’s Quandil Mountains “at any moment one evening”
Turkey will strike Kurdish militant camps in the mountains of northern Iraq if Baghdad does not itself clear the area of militants, President Recept Tayyip Erdogan said on June 7.
On June 6, speculation grew that Erdogan plans to raise the Turkish flag over the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) headquarters in Iraq’s Qandil Mountains prior to the elections scheduled for June 24. Seizing the HQ of the PKK—listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the US and a true bete noir for Turkish nationalists given the insurgency it has waged against the Turkish state for decades—would be expected to swing votes in what could be closely fought parliamentary and presidential elections.
Speaking in an interview with broadcaster CNN Turk, Erdogan said Turkey may take action against militant camps in the mountains in Qandil, Sinjar and Makhmur. Its armed forces might strike Qandil “at any moment one evening”, he said.
Also in the interview, Erdogan said that after the elections are completed Turkey may lift the state of emergency its government imposed after the failed coup attempt in July 2016.
The issue of lifting emergency rule would be discussed after the elections were over, he said
The UN human rights office in March called on Turkey to end the state of emergency, saying it was having a "chilling effect" on Turkish society by demonstrating that any dissent would be punished.
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