Turkey Does India-Like Surgical Strike In Syria As Response To Istanbul Attack

| Updated: 20 November, 2022 10:54 pm IST

Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes on Kurdish militant bases in northern Syria and northern Iraq on Sunday, destroying 89 targets. As per  Turkey’s defence ministry said this was done in retaliation to last Sunday’s terror attack in Central Istanbul that claimed six lives.

The strikes targeted bases of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey says is a wing of the PKK, the ministry added in a statement.

 

Ankara has blamed Kurdish militants for the blast on famous shopping street in the Taksim Square area, Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue on Nov. 13 that killed six people and injured more than 80.

No group has claimed responsibility for he explosion on the busy pedestrian avenue. The PKK and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have denied involvement.

The Turkish air strikes were carried out in Qandil, Asos and Hakurk in Iraq and Kobani, Tal Rifat, Cizire and Derik in Syria, the ministry said.

At the recently G-20 summit in Bali, without naming anyone, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in sharp words warned against those supporting “terrorism” in Turkey. Addressing media at the summit, Erdogan said that under the pretext of fighting against the Daesh (ISIS), “they have become accomplices” of terror groups.

On November 15, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Joe Biden discussed bilateral relations, including trade and security issues, on the sidelines of a G20 summit. Biden had also offered his condolences for those who died in a bomb attack in Istanbul on Sunday.

However, Turkey refused to accept the US condolences for Sunday’s deadly terror attack in Istanbul.

On November 13, six people were been killed and 81 injured in an explosion on Istanbul’s popular pedestrian street İstiklal Avenue, in a bomb attack. Turkey’s president described as an act of terrorism. Right before leaving for the summit Erdogan had termed the attack as “treacherous” and promised strong punishment for those behind it.

Terrorists cannot escape the fate awaiting them no matter who they try to hide behind, Turkish President said during his speech at the G20 summit in Bali.

Turkish authorities had earlier said that the initial findings in an investigation into the attack showed that the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian wing YPG might be behind it. The US, according to Turkey, backs the YPG in northeastern Syria under the pretext of fighting against the Daesh terrorist group.

Ankara has long objected to the U.S.’ support for the YPG, claiming that the group is a security threat to Türkiye.

On Tuesday, the US Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. on Wednesday joined his colleagues in urging the inclusion of their bipartisan amendment to limit the sale of F-16s to Turkey in this year’s defence spending bill. “We cannot allow Erdogan to use American weapons to violate the sovereignty of our NATO ally Greece and destabilize the region,” he said in a tweet.

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