By KUNA
Ankara : Turkish General Army Staff on Friday said its troops will return to bases as soon as they achieve their targets against PKK in northern Iraq.
The ground attack was executed by some 10,000 troopers that made a 10-kilometer incursion into Iraqi soil and will return after ending the mission, Turkish news Agency Cehan said.
On his part, Iraq’s Ambassador in Ankara told Turkish News Agency Anatoli that his country did not send an objection letter to Ankara regarding the attack, saying that such reports were “baseless.” The Turkish military was authorized last November to enter into northern Iraq to purse PKK rebels.
The PKK, listed by the United States, the EU 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 two-decade conflict.