By Xinhua
Ankara : Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and Government Spokesman Cemil Cicek said on Tuesday that there are no civilians in the area where Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) are currently staging a cross-border ground operation in northern Iraq.
“There are only terrorist camps there and some other facilities used by terrorists,” he told reporters at the Turkish parliament in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
Turkey has been waging the cross-border operation into north of Iraq since last Thursday in order to neutralize members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) stationed in the area and infrastructure belonging to them.
“When the PKK took shelter there and attacked Turkey, Turkey used its right to self-defense, stemming from international laws, in order to protect its own territorial integrity and life and security of its people,” he said.
Cicek said that Turkey will end its operations when it fully eliminates the threat and sends the PKK terrorists away from that area.
Cicek said Turkey waited for a long time and had diplomatic talks before it entered north of Iraq, adding that Turkey is fighting against the PKK in the north of Iraq, whereas top members of this organization are freely moving in EU member states.
Turkey’s military said Monday that 41 PKK militants and two Turkish troops were killed in the latest fighting.
In a statement posted on its Web site, the General Staff said that Monday’s clashes have brought the guerrilla death toll to 153since the beginning of the cross-border operations.
Turkish General Staff added that fierce clashes with PKK terrorists continue in two separate locations.
According to the General Staff, a group of Turkish troops returned to Turkey and have been replaced by new groups of Turkish soldiers.
Turkish air force conducted night flights to locate the areas where PKK terrorists are running away from, said the General Staff.
The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast of the country. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.