The Turkish Armed Forces are expected to conduct a large-scale ground military operation in northern Iraq against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, according to Turkish media.
The central administrations in Iraq have reportedly been informed of the Pence-Kilit anti-terrorist operation. According to Kurdish politician Masoud Barzani, as a result of this operation, the Turkish side expects to “close” for PKK militants all 378 kilometres of the border with Iraq.
According to Hürriyet, a large-scale ground operation will be conducted in the Panja-Kilid operational area. Before the operation, an agreement was also reached with Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Ankara has been hunting alleged terrorist groups since 2016 and is seeking to create a security line 30 kilometres (19 miles) deep, which Russia and the United States pledged support for in October 2019.
