8 June 2018 - 11:24

Erdogan warns to hit Qandil if Baghdad does not take action

<p style="text-align: left;">Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warns his country would attack Qandil Mountains in Kurdistan Region if the Iraqi central government does not take action against the Kurdistan Workers&rsquo; Party (PKK) there.

In an interview with CNN Turk on Thursday, Erdogan said Turkey may strike Qandil, "at any moment one evening."

A military action would go on to include Sinjar and Makhmur as well, he added.

Turkish military forces have regularly crossed the border with Iraq to carry out operations against positions of the PKK in the mountainous Qandil region, located roughly 40 kilometers southeast of the Turkish border in Iraq's Erbil province.

Turkish pro-government daily Daily Sabah reported late Thursday that the Turkish army had cleared a 400-square-kilometer area from PKK militants in northern Iraq.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said earlier in the week that Turkey had established 11 regional bases in northern Iraq and doubled its troops across the region.

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