Eurasia Press & News
All facilities and activities of terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq will be “legitimate targets” for Turkey, Ankara’s defense minister Yasar Guler said.
“First of all, we want everyone to know that all facilities and activities of the PKK/KCK, PYD/YPG in Syria and Iraq will be our legitimate target from now on, as they have been so far,” Guler said as cited by state news agency Anadolu.
He added that the ministry determined that the two terrorists responsible for a suicide bombing attack in the capital Ankara had traveled from Syria. The “two terrorists were members of PKK/KCK, PYD/YPG, and that they came from Syria and committed this act,” he said.
Guler’s statements follow an incident in Ankara on Sunday in which a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the Turkish Security Directorate General, while a second terrorist was killed by security forces at the entrance gate.
The Turkish interior ministry said the two attackers had links to the PKK.
Turkey maintains a firm stance on both the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG), considering them as terrorist organizations. Ankara views the PKK as a significant security threat due to its decades-long armed insurgency aimed at establishing an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey.
The YPG, which operates in Syria, is seen by Turkey as an extension of the PKK due to its ideological and organizational links. Ankara has repeatedly called on its allies, particularly the US, to cease their support for the YPG, expressing concerns that it could further fuel the PKK’s activities and pose a direct threat to Turkish security.
