Utrecht - Turkey’s parliament on Tuesday extended for one year a mandate that allows the Turkish army to carry out cross-border operations against PKK camps in Iraqi Kurdistan. The move was heavily criticized by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Some are afraid the move of the Turkish government could harm the process to give Kurds more rights in Turkey, but the Turkish government declared it would push ahead with reforms, reported Reuters.
The highest PKK-general Murat Karayilan said in a declaration to ANF, that the approval of the mandate, is an ‘act of war’ and doesn’t show the Turkish government wants to solve the Kurdish issue. “If the AKP government and the Prime Minister were really thinking of solving the Kurdish question, they would have never accepted this mandate.”
The PKK general pledged that his guerrilla’s would ‘defend themselves against attacks’. On 4 October, another PKK general warned for a big and long war between Kurds and Turkish. The Turkish military emphasised that the PKK should lay down it’s weapons or face annihilation (Photo: Rudaw).
Source: Rudaw
