Turkey's MHP leader calls for operation against PKK in Qandil

ANKARA

The leader of a Turkish nationalist party on Tuesday called for a massive military operation against the PKK terror group in the Qandil and Sinjar regions of northern Iraq.

"The glorious Turkish flag should be hoisted on Qandil at dawn, and terrorist leaders should be buried in their caves. The terror camps established in [Iraq's] Makhmur should be burned down," Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), told his party's parliamentary group in the capital Ankara.

The Sinjar region near the Iraqi border, where the PKK terror group has a communication and transfer area, should be destroyed soon, Bahceli said.

"Cleaning the Peshabur border gate [between Syria and northern Iraq], which is controlled by the terror group, is a matter of life and death," he added.

Bahceli said that Turkey's fight against terrorists would not continue in the same way after 13 Turkish citizens were martyred by the PKK terrorists in Iraq’s northern Gara region.

Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Sunday that the bodies of 13 Turkish civilians were found during Turkey’s anti-terror offensive Operation Claw-Eagle 2 in Gara.

Turkish forces launched Operation Claw-Eagle 2 on Feb. 10 to prevent the PKK and other terrorist groups from re-establishing positions used to carry out cross-border terror attacks on Turkey.

Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle were initiated last June to ensure the safety of people and Turkey's borders.

The MHP leader reiterated his call for the dissolution of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is accused by the government of having links to the PKK.

"We cannot say that we have finished, destroyed the PKK before we settled a score with the HDP. In this respect, the closure of the HDP is essential. I believe the Office of the Supreme Court of Appeal Prosecutor will do what is necessary," he said.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.