Turkish Parliament votes extension of mandate for strikes on Kurds in Iraq

Turkey’s parliament on Thursday extended for one year a mandate that would allow Ankara to order military strikes against Kurdish rebels holed up in neighbouring northern Iraq.

The vote coincides with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reforms to boost the rights of the country’s sizeable Kurdish community and secure an end to the nearly 30-year battle with the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

All opposition parties, except the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, gave solid backing to the motion providing the government with another year-long mandate for cross-border operations against PKK hideouts in northern Iraq.

The current mandate expires on October 17. Parliament has extended the mandate every year since it was first approved in 2007.