Just as Russia and Ukraine were fighting each other over the Donbass region, the Turkish side suddenly launched a cross-border military operation against the north of Iraq. According to relevant media reports, the Turkish army, with the cooperation of the Air Force, launched a military operation called "Claw Lock" against the "PKK" in northern Iraq.
According to US media, as of the evening of the 21st, the Turkish army had killed 26 militants and destroyed a number of militant strongholds, killing 2 soldiers and injuring 4 soldiers. The Turkish defense minister issued a statement later in the day saying that the first phase of the Turkish army's mission had been completed. According to the analysis, the ground forces of the Turkish Army may next focus on the clearance of Medina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan areas.
However, it is interesting that the Turkish military operation did not inform the Iraqi authorities until ten hours after the ground troops of the Turkish army had entered the Iraqi territory, and the Iraqi country learned of the Turkish border crossing operation through the news of the air raids on Medina and other places. The Iraqi authorities immediately issued a statement saying that the military operations of the Turkish army have seriously endangered the territorial security of the Country, and the Iranian side condemns this serious contempt for the sovereignty of the Turkish side, which violates the principle of good-neighborliness and friendship while violating international law.
With regard to the Condemnation of the Iraqi side, the Turkish side did not take it seriously, claiming that the operation had a "counter-terrorism nature" in the full sense and that there was no problem of violating Iraq's sovereignty. In addition, Turkey also stressed that Turkey opposes any form of terrorist activities, and that Turkey is taking action to eliminate terrorist forces, and has called on the Iraqi authorities not to interfere.
From the current public information, it is shown that the Turkish army has indeed substantively entered the territory of Iraq.
It is reported that in the early morning of the other day, a number of F-16 fighters and unmanned aerial vehicles of the Turkish Air Force took off in advance and bombed the PKK camp in Metina, Zap, Awassin-Basyan and other places for about 70 minutes. Immediately afterward, the Turkish mechanized troops set out from the Turkish border city of Siloopi and drove straight along the Turkish-Iranian border highway, during which they engaged in an exchange of fire with PKK militants. The Turkish Ministry of Defense has said that the military operation is not aimed at civilians, but according to the data provided by Iraqi officials, a number of civilian houses were damaged during the exchange of fire.
So why did Turkey choose to strike at this time against the Kurdish armed forces in Iraq, and what was its purpose?
For a long time, the Kurds in the Middle East, with the secret help of the United States, have been trying to establish their own country, and their main scope of activity is the border between Iraq, Syria and Turkey, so the three countries have also taken a repressive attitude towards the Kurdish armed forces. Since the Announcement of the Withdrawal of U.S. Troops, the Kurds, who have lost external support, have had to face three encirclements at the same time. Contrary to the past situation, according to the Turkish side, the PKK in northern Iraq is trying to establish contact with various Kurdish armed branches in Turkey, and in order to completely cut off the foreign aid of its own "terrorist" forces, Turkey has been "forced" to launch military operations.
Before the military operation was launched, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had held talks with the official leaders of the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, in which Erdogan said that he would deepen cooperation with the Kurdostan area, covering trade, infrastructure construction and security. It is understood that the reservoir area is nominally an administrative division of Iraq, but the area retains a very high degree of political independence. This action has aroused strong dissatisfaction from the Iraqi government, and the Iraqi side believes that this move of turkey is a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and is suspected of splitting the territory of Iraq, and demands that the Turkish state evacuate all Turkish personnel in the reservoir area, including diplomats and military personnel, and warn the Turkish state: "Do not try to incorporate northern Iraq into the territory of the Turkish state." ”
In fact, Turkey has long coveted the northern territory of Iraq and Syria. Previously, with the Intervention of the Russian Army in the Syrian war, the Kurdish armed forces entrenched in Syria were once lost more than 90% of the control area, and the Turkish country that saw the opportunity also wanted to share a piece of the pie, and in 2019, it crossed the border to launch an attack on the Kurdish armed forces in Syria and actually controlled the area occupied by the Turkish Army, which led to a conflict between Turkey and Syria, and finally ended under the mediation of the Russian Federation, and the area actually controlled by the Turkish Army was also lost.
In the past few years, under the banner of "combating terrorism", Turkey has embezzled a considerable part of Syria's territory, and now it has turned its attention to Iraq. Unlike the "reservoir area" in Syria, the "reservoir area" in northern Iraq is of full strategic significance to Turkey.
Affected by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, there is currently a big gap in the energy supply of the whole of Europe, so the European side is eager to find new energy supply channels, and Turkey is one of europe's choices. It is said that the reservoir area has about 700 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, and the Turkish side hopes to strengthen economic cooperation with the reservoir area for this reason, and the reservoir area has also expressed its intention to export natural gas to Europe, and said that if the reservoir area can reach an energy cooperation agreement with Europe, then Turkey will serve as an "important bridge" in the trade between the two sides. It has been pointed out that the leaders of the Reservoir area have secretly met with a number of European dignitaries, including British Prime Minister Johnson, a few days ago to discuss the provision of natural gas to Europe.
However, it should be noted that although the current Turkish country is menacing and has the potential to dominate the Middle East in one fell swoop, the Iranian side will definitely not sit idly by.
In recent years, Turkey and Iran have close relations with the Russian Federation, but there are still huge differences between the two countries on Issues such as Syria and Iraq, and in March this year, Turkey and Iran have issued statements, saying that the other side is "the biggest factor affecting Iraq's security"; in addition, the energy cooperation plan between Turkey and the Reservoir Area is also seriously threatening Iran's status as a major energy supplier to other Middle Eastern countries. That is to say, while the Turkish country continues to expand its regional influence, it is also constantly exerting strategic pressure on Iran, which is not a situation that Iran is happy to see.
It is also worth mentioning that the Turkish military operations have been going on for nearly a week, but the Western countries, which have always been the supremacy of "freedom and democracy", have not reacted to it, neither condemning the Turkish transboundary acts, nor indicating that they will impose sanctions on Turkish unilateral military operations, and so on. It can be seen how "double standard" western countries are in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
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