Turkish forces killed 24 Kurdish gunmen in northern Iraq and Syria over the past week, the defense ministry said on Thursday, continuing attacks in the region after a disarmament call from the PKK leader and a separate accord between US-backed Kurds and Damascus.
Speaking at a briefing in Ankara, a defense ministry source said the deal between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus did not change Türkiye’s commitment to counter-terrorism in Syria, and that it still demands that the YPG militia, which spearheads the SDF, disband and disarm.
Türkiye views the SDF, which controls much of northeast Syria, as a terrorist group linked with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) group, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. It has carried out several cross-border offensives against the group.
The PKK's leader, jailed in Türkiye, called for the group to disarm last month. The group is based in northern Iraq.