- Turkey targets Kurdish militants.
- Suspected Syrian training.
- Expanding cross-border airstrikes.
Turkey announced on Wednesday that two suspected Kurdish militants, who died while carrying out an attack in Ankara over the weekend, had received training in Syria.
In response to the Sunday attack, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan declared that Turkey now possesses the authority to target a broader range of Kurdish objectives in Syria and Iraq.
The Turkish police shot and killed one of the attackers, while the other apparently died in a suicide bombing outside the Turkish interior ministry. Two police officers sustained injuries during the incident.
Fidan conveyed in televised remarks, “Our security forces’ investigation has made it abundantly clear that the two terrorists originated from Syria and received training there.”
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He further asserted, “Henceforth, all infrastructure, large facilities, and energy installations affiliated with armed Kurdish groups in Iraq and Syria are considered legitimate targets for our security forces.”
A faction of the Kurdish PKK militia, designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, marking the first such incident in Ankara since 2016.
Shortly afterward, Turkey initiated airstrikes against PKK targets in Iraq.
Fidan’s statements suggest that Turkey may extend its airstrikes to include the war-torn region of Syria.
Kurds have established a semi-autonomous region in northern and eastern Syria.
In 2019, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), effectively the Kurdish region’s military, led the campaign to dislodge Islamic State group fighters from their last remaining pockets of Syrian territory.
However, Turkey views the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), who dominate the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as an offshoot of the PKK.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly vowed to intensify actions against the YPG.
