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. Tunisia
At the beginning of November 2002 we were told that the French police had arrested eight suspects in relation to the bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia when 19 tourists, including 14 Germans, were killed. The driver of the truck that contained the explosives is a Tunisian, Nizar Naouar who died in the explosion.

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Tunisian revolution

The Tunisian revolution was an intensive campaign of civil resistance, including a series of street demonstrations taking place in Tunisia. The events began on 18 December 2010 and led to the ousting of long-time President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011 eventually, leading to a thorough democratization of the country and to free and democratic elections which saw the victory of a coalition of the Islamist Ennahda Movement with the centre-left Congress for the Republic and the left-leaning Ettakatol as junior partners.

The demonstrations were precipitated by high unemployment, food inflation, corruption, a lack of freedom of speech and other political freedoms and poor living conditions. The protests were sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on 17 December 2010 and led to the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali 28 days later on 14 January 2011, when he officially resigned after fleeing to Saudi Arabia, ending 23 years in power. Labour unions were said to be an integral part of the protests.

Following Ben Ali's departure, a state of emergency was declared. The Constitutional Court affirmed Fouad Mebazaa as acting president under Article 57 of the Constitution. A caretaker coalition government was also created, including members of Ben Ali's party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), in key ministries, while including other opposition figures in other ministries, with elections to take place within 60 days. However, five newly appointed non-RCD ministers resigned almost immediately, and daily street protests in Tunis and other towns around Tunisia continued, demanding that the new government have no RCD members and that the RCD itself be disbanded. On 27 January Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi reshuffled the government, removing all former RCD members other than himself. On 6 February the new interior minister suspended all party activities of the RCD, citing security reasons. The party was dissolved, as protesters had demanded, on 9 March 2011.

Following further public protests, Ghannouchi himself resigned on 27 February, and Beji Caid el Sebsi became Prime Minister; two other members of the Interim Government resigned on the following day. On 3 March 2011, the president announced the elections for the Constituent Assembly, which were held on 23 October 2011 with the Islamist Ennahda Party winning the plurality of seats.

Naming
In Tunisia and the wider Arab world, the protests and change in government are called the Sidi Bouzid Revolt, derived from Sidi Bouzid, the city where the initial protests began. In the Western media, these events have been dubbed the Jasmine Revolution after Tunisia's national flower and in keeping with the geopolitical nomenclature of "colour revolutions". The name "Jasmine Revolution" originated from Tunisian journalist Zied El-Heni, but it was not widely adopted in Tunisia itself. The name adopted in Tunisia was the Dignity Revolution. Within Tunisia, Ben Ali's rise to power in 1987 was also known as the Jasmine Revolution.

The Tunisian revolution has also been considered the first of a series of revolutions named the Arab Spring.

Background

President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali had ruled Tunisia since 1987. His government was characterized by the development of Tunisia's private sector in favour of foreign investment, and the repression of political opposition. Foreign media and NGOs criticized his government, which was supported by the United States and France. As a result, the initial reactions to Ben Ali's abuses by the US and France were muted, and most instances of socio-political protest in the country, when they occurred at all, rarely made major news headlines.

Riots in Tunisia were rare and noteworthy, especially since the country is generally considered to be wealthy and stable as compared to other countries in the region. Any form of protests in the country were previously successfully oppressed and kept silent by the former regime and protesters would be jailed for such actions, as were for example protests by hundreds of unemployed demonstrators in Redeyef in 2008. A news article said of the action that it was "suicidal protests of despair by Tunisia's youth." It pointed out that the state-controlled National Solidarity Fund and the National Employment Fund had traditionally subsidized many goods and services in the country but had started to shift the "burden of providence from state to society" to be funded by the bidonvilles, or shanty towns, around the richer towns and suburbs. It also cited the "marginalisation of the agrarian and arid central and southern areas that continue unabated." The protests were also called an "uprising" because of "a lethal combination of poverty, unemployment and political repression: three characteristics of most Arab societies." Another cause for the uprising has been attributed to the information about corruption that has reached the Tunisian people that the Tunisian government was unable to censor.

Sidi Bouzid and Mohamed Bouazizi

Twenty-six year old Mohamed Bouazizi had been the sole income earner in his extended family of eight. He operated a vegetable cart for seven years in Sidi Bouzid 300 km south of Tunis. On 17 December 2010, a policewoman confiscated his cart and produce. Bouazizi, who had such an event happen to him before, tried to pay the 10-dinar fine (a day's wages, equivalent to 7USD). In response the policewoman insulted his deceased father and slapped him. The woman, Faida Hamdi, tells a markedly different story. A humiliated Bouazizi then went to the provincial headquarters in an attempt to complain to local municipality officials and to have his produce returned. He was refused an audience. Without alerting his family and within an hour of the initial confrontation, Bouazizi returned to the headquarters, doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire. Public outrage quickly grew over the incident, leading to protests. This immolation and the subsequent heavy-handed response by the police to peaceful marchers caused riots the next day in Sidi Bouzid that went largely unnoticed. Bouazizi was subsequently transferred to a hospital near Tunis. In an attempt to quell the unrest President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali visited Bouazizi in hospital on 28 December 2010. Bouazizi died on 4 January 2011.

Protests
Though the bulk of protests followed Bouazizi's self-immolation and led to the departure of Ben Ali, protests also continued after his departure in demanding his party be removed from government. Some more minor protests followed the cabinet reshuffle.

There were reports of police obstructing demonstrators and using tear gas on hundreds of young protesters in Sidi Bouzid in mid-December 2010. The protesters had gathered outside regional government headquarters to demonstrate against the treatment of Mohamed Bouazizi. Coverage of events was limited by Tunisian media. On 19 December, extra police were present on the streets of the city.

On 22 December, Lahseen Naji, a protester, responded to "hunger and joblessness" by electrocuting himself after climbing an electricity pylon. Ramzi Al-Abboudi also killed himself because of financial difficulties arising from a business debt by the country's micro-credit solidarity programme. On 24 December, Mohamed Ammari was fatally shot in the chest by police in Bouziane. Other protesters were also injured, including Chawki Belhoussine El Hadri, who died later on 30 December. Police claimed they shot the demonstrators in "self-defence." A "quasi-curfew" was then imposed on the city by police. Rapper El Général, whose songs had been adopted by protesters, was arrested on 24 December but released several days later after "an enormous public reaction".

Violence later increased as Tunisian authorities and residents of Sidi Bouzid Governorate encountered each other once again. The protests had reached the capital Tunis on 27 December with about 1,000 citizens expressing solidarity with residents of Sidi Bouzid and calling for jobs. The rally, which was called by independent trade union activists, was stopped by security forces. The protests also spread to Sousse, Sfax and Meknassy. The following day the Tunisian Federation of Labour Unions held another rally in Gafsa which was also blocked by security forces. At the same time about 300 lawyers held a rally near the government's palace in Tunis. Protests continued again on the 29 December.

On 30 December, police peacefully broke up a protest in Monastir while using force to disrupt further demonstrations in Sbikha and Chebba. Momentum appeared to continue with the protests on 31 December and further demonstrations and public gatherings by lawyers in Tunis and other cities following a call by the Tunisian National Lawyers Order. Mokhtar Trifi, president of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), said that lawyers across Tunisia had been "savagely beaten." There were also unconfirmed reports of another man attempting to commit suicide in El Hamma.

On 3 January 2011, protests in Thala over unemployment and a high cost of living turned violent. At a demonstration of 250 people, mostly students, in support of the protesters in Sidi Bouzid, police fired tear gas; one canister landed in a local mosque. In response, the protesters were reported to have set fire to tyres and attacked the office of Constitutional Democratic Rally.

Some of the more general protests sought changes in the government's online censorship, where a lot of the media images have been broadcast. Tunisian authorities also allegedly carried out phishing operations to take control of user passwords and check online criticism. Both state and non-state websites had been hacked.

Casualties
Death(s) 338
Injuries 2,147

Rising elites' support and continuing protests
On 6 January 2011, 95% of Tunisia's 8,000 lawyers went on strike. The strike carried a clear message that they do not accept unjustified attacks on lawyers. They want to strongly protest against the beating of lawyers in the past few days." It was reported on the following day that teachers had also joined the strike.

In response to 11 January protests police used riot gear to disperse protesters ransacking buildings, burning tires, setting fire to a bus and burning two cars in the working class suburb of Ettadhamen-Mnihla in Tunis.

On 12 January, a reporter from the Italian state-owned television broadcaster RAI stated that he and his cameraman were beaten with batons by police during a riot in Tunis' central district and that the officers then confiscated their camera. A night time curfew was also ordered in Tunis after protests and clashes with police.

Hizb ut-Tahrir also organised protests after Friday prayer on 14 January to call for re-establishing the Islamic caliphate. A day later, it also organised other protests that went to the 9 April Prison to free political prisoners.

Also on 14 January (the same day that Ben Ali fled), Lucas Dolega, a photojournalist working for European Pressphoto Agency, was hit in the forehead by a tear gas canister allegedly fired by the police at short range; he died two days later.

On 25 January protesters continued to defy a curfew in Tunis as reverberations continued around the region.

Protests against the RCD and new government

Internal and external protests against the presence of RCD members in the new government occurred daily starting on 17 January 2011, the day that the new cabinet was announced. Thousands of anti-RCD protesters rallied on 17 January in a protest with relatively little violence between security services and protestors. Pro-Ben Ali supporters held a rally later in the day The Tunisian General Labour Union's ministers resigned after a day (18 January), citing the presence of RCD ministers in the government as the reason. Mustafa ben Jaafar also refused to take up his post. The interim president and prime minister then left the RCD in a bid to calm protests against the inclusion of RCD members in the government with the PM stating that all members of the national unity government had "clean hands."

On 18 January, street protests against RCD participation in the new government included hundreds of people demonstrating in Tunis, Sfax, Gabes, Bizerta, Sousse and Monastir. The protests continued on 19 January, with the demand that no "former allies" of Ben Ali should remain in the government, including hundreds of protestors marching in central Tunis and about 30 staging a sit-in near the Ministry of the Interior, ignoring a curfew. Protestors also called for the RCD to be disbanded. On 20 January, hundreds of people demonstrated outside of the RCD headquarters in Tunis with the same aims, and protests in other towns around Tunisia were reported. Thousands participated in 21 January protests outside the Interior Ministry.

Zouhair M'Dhaffer, a close confidant of Ben Ali who was seen as the main architect of the 2002 constitutional reform to lift term limits, resigned from the government on 20 January. All other RCD ministers resigned from the party on the same day. The central committee of the RCD also disbanded on that day.

Ghannouchi vowed on 21 January 2011 that he would resign after holding transparent and free elections within six months.
On 23 January, thousands of police began to join protests in Tunis over salaries and to assuage blame over political deaths attributed to them during Ben Ali's rule.

As the country's army chief Rachid Ammar announced on 24 January 2011 it was on the side of the protesters and would "defend the revolution", rumours emerged that the government would be replaced by a council of "wise men".

Cabinet reshuffle

On 27 January 2011 Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi announced that six former members of the RCD party had left the interim government. These included Defence Minister, Foreign Minister, Finance Minister and Interior Minister. Apart from the prime minister, the new government retained just two ministers from Ben Ali's old government the industry and international cooperation ministers- but neither of these had been a member of his ruling RCD party. New ministers included independent state attorney Farhat Rajhi as interior minister, retired career diplomat Ahmed Ounaies as foreign minister and Elyes Jouini (an economist living in France) as minister delegate to the prime minister in charge of administrative and economic reform.

Anti-Ghannouchi protests
As of 28 January 2011, hundreds of people camped beside Mohamed Ghannouchi's office protested against Ghannouchi remaining in the interim government.

On 2 February 2011, the former interior minister, Rafik Belhaj Kacem also, was arrested by his successor, Farhat Rajhi, concurrently with accusations of former allies of Ben Ali trying to destabilize the state. All 24 regional governors were replaced on 3 February 2011.

Later protests and developments

On 4 February, Sidi Bouzid was again the scene of protests. Several hundred people turned up at the local police station as a result of medical staff at a local hospital saying they found signs of burning on the victims' bodies. On 5 February, protesters in El Kef called for the local police chief Khaled Ghazouani to be sacked for abusing his authority. Protesters threw stones and small firebombs as well as burned two cars, one of which was a police vehicle. Police first responded with tear gas and then fired on the protesters in which two people were killed immediately and two died in hospital, 15 others were also wounded. The region's prefect Mohamed Najib Tlijali called for calm as the police chief was arrested.

The former ruling RCD's activities were suspended on 6 February 2011 to prevent a breakdown in state security, with an order for dissolution of the party pending.

Protests flared up again on 19 February and 20 February, with 40,000 protesters demanding a new interim government completely free of any people associated with the old regime. Protesters also demanded a parliamentary system of government instead of the current presidential one.

As a date was announced for an election in mid-July 2011, more than 100,000 protesters continued to demand the removal of Ghannouchi as interim prime minister. After an even larger rally on 27 February 2011, Ghannouchi resigned. He was replaced by Beji Caid el Sebsi. The following day two more ministers resigned (industry minister Afif Chelbi and international co-operation minister Mohamed Nouri Jouini) amid continuing protests for the entire interim government to resign, with the UGTT calling for an elected constituent assembly to write a new constitution. The Ennahda Movement was legalised on 1 March 2011. The resignations of the Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research Ahmed Brahim and the Minister of Local Development Ahmed Nejib Chebbi was officially announced by the Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) agency. A private radio broadcaster Shems FM also reported that the Minister of Economic Reform Elyes Jouini had resigned as well.

On 3 March 2011, the president announced that elections to a Constituent Assembly would be held on 24 July 2011; this likely means that general elections will be postponed to a later date. This fulfilled a central demand of protesters.

On 7 March 2011, the interim government announced that the secret police would be dissolved. On 9 March 2011, the RCD was dissolved by court order.

Refugees

In mid-February, about 4,000 mostly Tunisian refugees landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said that the "Tunisian system was 'collapsing'" and that he would "ask the Tunisian Foreign Ministry for permission for our authorities to intervene to stop the flow in Tunisia. He called the event a "biblical exodus." Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that both countries share a "common interest" to halt the immigration. Until now the system of patrolling the coasts of Northern Africa has worked and we want to re-establish the technique, which had reduced illegal immigration to zero until a month ago. Tunisia then said that it had troops patrolling southern fishing ports and that checkpoints had been erected in coastal towns. By 14 February, at least 2,000 refugees had been sent to Sicily with the other 2,000 quarantined at a re-opened holding centre. On 2 March about 350 more people arrived on the island.

Arrests

Reports indicate that several webloggers and the rapper Hamada Ben Aoun were arrested, but that the rapper and some of the bloggers were later released. Reporters Without Borders said the arrest of at least six bloggers and activists, who had either been arrested or had disappeared across Tunisia, was brought to their attention and that there were "probably" others. Tunisian Pirate Party activists Slah Eddine Kchouk, Slim Amamou (later released, and eventually appointed Secretary of State for Sport and Youth by the incoming government) and Azyz Amamy had been reported to have had "disappeared" as no news was heard about them.

Hamma Hammami, the leader of the banned Tunisian Workers' Communist Party and a prominent critic of Ben Ali, was arrested on 12 January, though he was released two days later.

Domestic political response

During a national television broadcast on 28 December, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali criticized people for their protests calling the perpetrators "extremists and mercenaries" and warned of "firm" punishment. He also accused "certain foreign television channels of broadcasting false allegations without verification, based on dramatization, fermentation and deformation by media hostile to Tunisia." His remarks were ignored and the protests continued.

On 29 December, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali shuffled his cabinet to remove his communications minister Oussama Romdhani, while also announcing changes to the trade and handicrafts, religious affairs, communication and youth portfolios. The next day he also announced the dismissal of the governors of Sidi Bouzid, Jendouba and Zaghouan.

In January 2011, Ben Ali said 300,000 new jobs would be created. However, he also described the protests as "the work of masked gangs that attacked at night government buildings and even civilians inside their homes in a terrorist act that cannot be overlooked." Ahmed Najib Chebbi, the leader of the Progressive Democratic Party, then said that despite official claims of police firing in self-defence "the demonstrations were non-violent and the youths were claiming their rights to jobs". He then criticised Ben Ali's comments as the protesters were "claiming their civil rights, and there is no terrorist act...no religious slogans," while accusing Ben Ali of "looking for scapegoats."

On 10 January, the government announced the indefinite closure of all schools and universities in order to quell the unrest. Days before departing office, Ben Ali announced that he would not change the present constitution, which was read as, in effect, promising to step down in 2014 due to his age. On 26 January, after Ben Ali left the country, international arrest warrants were issued for him, his wife and several other members of his family.

The Interior Ministry replaced 34 top-level security officials in a bid to bring change to the police, security services and spies that were a part of Ben Ali's security infrastructure. The interim head of state Fouad Mebazaa promised a national dialogue to address protester demands.

Foreign minister Ahmed Ounaies resigned on 13 February over controversial praise he gave to French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who was being criticised for her ties to Ben Ali. Mouldi Kefi became the new foreign minister on 21 February.

President Ben Ali's ousting

After Ben Ali was forced into exile, Army Commander Rashid Ammar pledged to "protect the revolution." On 14 January, Ben Ali dissolved his government and declared a state of emergency. People were also barred from gathering in groups of more than three, otherwise courting arrest or being shot if they tried to run away. Ben Ali also called for an election within six months to defuse demonstrations aimed at forcing him out.

On the same day, Ben Ali fled the country for Malta under Libyan protection and landed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after France rejected a request for the plane to land on its territory. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi then briefly took over as acting president. Saudi Arabia cited "exceptional circumstances" for their heavily criticised decision to give him asylum. Saudi Arabia demanded Ben Ali remain "out of politics" as a condition for accepting him. On the morning of 15 January, Tunisian state TV announced that Ben Ali had officially resigned his position and Ghannouchi had handed power over to parliamentary speaker Fouad Mebazaa. This was done after the head of Tunisia's Constitutional Court, Fethi Abdennadher, declared that Ben Ali had left for good, Ghannouchi did not have right to power, and Mebazaa would be given 60 days to organise new elections. Mebazaa said it was in the country's best interest to form a National Unity government.

A commission to reform the constitution and current law in general has been set up under Yadh Ben Achour. There have also been calls by the opposition to delay the elections and hold them in six or seven months and with international supervision.

Immediate aftermath

Following Ben Ali's departure, violence and looting continued and the national army was reported to be extensively deployed in Tunisia. Elements loyal to former President Ben Ali have deployed across the country. The capital's main train station was also torched.

A prison director in Mahdia freed about 1,000 inmates following a prison rebellion that left 5 people dead. Many other prisons also had jail breaks or raids from external groups to force prisoner releases. Al Jazeera's correspondent said there were apparently three different armed groups: the police (250,000), security forces from the Interior Ministry, and irregular militias supportive of Ben Ali who were vying for control.

Gun battles took place near the Presidential Palace between the Tunisian army and elements of security organs loyal to the former regime. The Tunisian army was reportedly struggling to assert control. Gunfire continued in Tunis and Carthage as security services struggled to maintain law and order.

The most immediate result of the protests was seen in increased internet freedoms. While commentators were divided about the extent to which the internet contributed to the ousting of Ben Ali from power.

Post-Ben Ali governments

The unity government announced on 17 January included twelve members of the ruling RCD, the leaders of three opposition parties (Mustapha Ben Jafar from the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties, Ahmed Ibrahim of the Ettajdid Movement and Ahmed Najib Chebbi of the Progressive Democratic Party), three representatives from the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) and representatives of civil society (including prominent blogger Slim Amamou). Just one day after the formation of the temporary government the three members of the UGTT as well as Mustapha Ben Jafaar, head of the FTDL opposition party quit saying that they had "no confidence" in a government that still featured members of the RCD party that ruled under Ben Ali.

The Times of Malta suggested that three notable movements not included in the national unity government were the banned Ennahda Movement, the communist Tunisian Workers' Communist Party and the secular reformist Congress for the Republic.

It was unclear whether the ban on these parties and the ban on Hizb ut-Tahrir would be lifted until 12 March 2011, when they were declared as banned again. The Ennahda Movement on the other hand, got a permit. On 20 January 2011, the new government announced in its first sitting that all banned parties would be legalised and that all political prisoners would be freed.

Political actions

On 7 February 2011 Tunisia's Defence Ministry called up recently retired troops as the country still struggles to contain unrest. First steps were taken on a bill that would give the interim president, Fouad Mebazaa, emergency powers, allowing him to bypass the RCD-dominated parliament. An agreement between the interim government and the UGTT on nomination of new governors was reached on 8 February 2011.

The bill to grant Fouad Mebazaa emergency powers was passed on 9 February. He stated that all banned parties would be legalised within days. The bill also allows Mebazaa to ratify international human rights treaties without parliament; he has previously stated Tunisia would accede to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the First and Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (which would mean abolishing the death penalty).

Further protests caused numerous fatalities, and on 27 February 2011 Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi resigned.

On 9 March, a court in Tunis announced the dissolution of the former ruling party, the Rally for Constitutional Democracy (RCD. On 14 April 2011, it was announced that Ben Ali would face 18 charges, including voluntary manslaughter and drug-trafficking. His family and former ministers are also going to face 26 further charges.

On 23 October 2011, Tunisians voted for the first time post-revolution. The election appointed members to a Constituent Assembly charged with rewriting Tunisia's Constitution. The formerly-banned Islamic party Ennahda won by capturing 41% of the total vote.

Domestic

Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi's government asked Saudi Arabia to extradite Ben Ali. Reports emerged on 18 February 2011 that Ben Ali had had a stroke and was gravely ill. Plans for a general amnesty were also announced on that day.
Other

International and non-state

Many governments and supranational organisations expressed concerns over use of force against protesters. France, the former colonial power of Tunisia, was one of just a few states that expressed strong support for the Ben Ali government prior to its ouster, though protests were held in solidarity with Tunisia in several French cities and the French Socialist Party voiced support for the popular revolution. ---

At least 39 people, mostly foreigners, have been killed and 36 injured in an attack on a beach in the Tunisian resort town of Sousse we were told Friday June 26, 2015. Tunisians, Britons, Germans, Belgians, French and at least one Irish citizen are among the dead in the attack claimed by Islamic State (IS).

Fifteen Britons have died following the attack on a Tunisian beach resort we were told Saturday June 27, 2015 but the death toll was likely to rise. A Tunisian student linked to Islamic State (IS) carried out the gun attack in Sousse which killed 38.

The death toll of Britons killed in the Tunisian gun attack will double to at least 30 once identification of victims is complete we were told Monday June 29, 2015. A total of 38 people were killed when a man with links to the Islamic State group opened fire near Sousse. Tunisian officials have said they are certain 23-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui had help in carrying out the attack.

On Friday March 18, 2016, Tunisia has reported fresh clashes between the army and militants close to the border with Algeria. One soldier was injured during an exchange of fire. The North African country has witnessed a rise in extremism since the 2011 revolution that ousted President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.

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. Turkey
- On December 3, 2002, the new Islamic Turkish government has decided to allow the US to use its military bases and the Turkish airspace to invade Iraq if it was first authorised by the UN Security Council. The US will invest hundred of millions of dollars to upgrade them.
- The US government said that, as a consequence, they have good reasons to believe that American citizens could be the objects of terrorist attacks in some Turkish airports.
- Turkey most popular politician, Recep Tayip Erdogan, was elected to parliament on March 9, 2003, in a by-election. He could not participate in last November election because he had previously been convicted for inciting religious hatred. Once in power, his party changed the Constitution so that he could be elected and become prime minister. On March 11 the current Prime Minister, Abdullah Gul, resigned to let Erdogan takes his place.
- The relation between the USA and Turkey improved on April 2, 2003, after Colin Powell visited Ankara for talks with the Turkish prime minister. Turkey agreed, finally, to allow shipment of food, fuel and medicines to American forces fighting in Iraq. Colin Powell then went to Brussels to assist to a NATO meeting organised to clarify the relations between the USA and Continental Europe. Both sides remained on their position.
- In the week starting October6, 2003, the Turkish Parliament should vote if or not sending soldiers in Iraq.
- On October 7, 2003, the Turkish Parliament agreed to send troops to Iraq. However, many members of the Iraqi Governing Council said that it would be a mistake to have Muslim Turkish soldiers in Iraq. The Kurds of Northern Iraq also objected to their presence.
- On November 8, 2003 Turkey decided not to send the 10,000 soldiers it has promised to Iraq due to the strong opposition of some members of the Iraqi Governing Council and from the Kurds. As most countries are refusing to send troops in Iraq, the US is accelerating the training of Iraqi soldiers and policemen.
- On November 15, 2003, car bombers attacked two synagogues in Istanbul. Twenty-two people were killed, and at least 200 hundred wounded, among them many Muslims. The buildings were also damaged. Turkey population is 98% Muslim but the relations between the Muslims and the members of other religions, including Jews, have always been good. It is believed that the local terrorists could not organise such coordinated attacks and that al-Qaida was somehow involved. The attacks could be due to the fact that Turkey has good relations with Israel and was prepared to send 10,000 soldiers to Iraq.
- On November 20, 2003, there were two more bombing attacks in Istanbul killing at least 27 people and wounding more than 400. First the headquarters of the British bank HSBC was bombed followed a few minutes later by the British Consulate. The British Consul Roger Short was killed, the buildings were badly damaged, and some people were trapped below the rubbles. It was known that the British consulate was not safe but nothing was done about it. Some local Islamic groups seems to be involved with, perhaps, the help of al-Qaida,
- On November 21, 2003, some suspects have already been arrested. The government said that the main group responsible for the suicide attacks was the Great Islamic raiders Front, possibly helped by al-Qaida. The first victims, innocent passer-by, mainly Muslims, have already been buried. The British government will review the security of all its embassies and consulates. Some people believe that al-Qaida is the real responsible with the participation of local militants, in this case members of the Great Islamic Raiders Front. Two of the suicide bombers have been identified; they were members of this group. Sixteen British anti-terrorism officers will help the Turks in their inquiries. Silent protests against terrorism will take place all over Turkey. It is hoped that the tourism industry will not suffer too much.
- On November 22, 2003, the Turkish prime minister said that he was ashamed that the recent attacks were organised by Turkish citizens. Many thousands of Turks demonstrated in Istanbul against terrorism.
- On November 25, 2003, the British government is expecting more bomb attacks on Istanbul and Ankara. It is advising British citizens to avoid travelling there unless absolutely necessary. On the same day, a Turkish court charged 8 people for the bomb attacks on the British consulate and the British bank.
- In Istanbul on November 26, 2003, tree more people have been charged in relation to the suicide bomb attacks. The total number of people arrested and charged is now 12.
- On November 29, 2003, the Turkish police arrested a man -a Turk accused of masterminding the bombing of the Beth Israel synagogue in Istanbul on November 15. He was trying to enter Iran with a false passport. He was charged with trying to overthrow Turkey's constitutional order. Authorities have already charged another 20 people in connection with the bombing.
- On December 2, 2003, the Turkish media reported that two suspects arrested by the police, Habib Aktas and Azad Ekinci, took their order from the senior al-Qaida leader Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri when they met. This information comes from another suspect, believed to be Yusuf Polat, arrested while trying to go to Iran on a falsified passport.
- On December 26, 2003, Turkey said that its police arrests of 44 suspects have dismantled an al-Qaida-linked cell accused of having carried the four Istanbul bombing attacks that killed 62 people in November. However leading members are still free.
- On January 11, 2004, the USA is already using a base in southern Turkey for the rotation of its troops in Iraq.
- On January 27, 2004, one day before meeting President Bush, the Turkish Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan said that Iraq would be destroyed if the Kurds were given autonomy. He fears that Kurdish autonomy would cause Iraq to break up on ethnic lines creating a danger by triggering uprising in Kurdish regions of Turkey and other neighbouring countries.
- On February 25, 2004, Turkey indicted 69 suspected al-Qaida militants of being involved in the suicide bombings in Istanbul when 63 people were killed. The ringleaders, Habip Aktas, Gurcan Bac and Azad Ekinci have not been captured; they could be outside Turkey. They will be tried in absentia.
- On May 31, 2004, the trial of 69 people suspected of being involved in the latest bomb attacks in Istanbul was supposed to begin. However there was a problem, the law under which they were to be tried was cancelled by the Turkish parliament some time ago, and the judges could only declared themselves incompetent. The trial was adjourned indefinitely. What will happen to the suspects is not known.
- On June 24, 2004, a bomb exploded in a bus outside a hospital in Istanbul. Four people were killed and 15 injured. Another bomb exploded outside the hotel in Ankara where Bush will spend the night on June 26. Tree people, including two policemen, were injured.
- On June 24, 2004,President Bush will seek more international support to combat the surge of violence in Iraq at next week's NATO summit in Turkey.
- On June 24, 2004, Nato is expected to offer limited training to Iraqi security forces. The decision should be taken at the Nato meeting in Istanbul on June 28. It is unlikely that Nato will send troops to Iraq.
- On June 25, 2004, a car full of explosives was found at Istanbul airport, only days ahead of the Nato meeting in the city.
- The Nato general meeting will meet in Istanbul on June 28 and 29, 2004. Bush and Blair would like Nato to send troops in Iraq but France and Germany oppose it and do not want Nato to take any official role in Iraq. However Nato, with France and Germany agreement, will train Iraqi security forces. France and Germany will only participate if the training is done outside Iraq.
- At the Nato meeting in Istanbul on June 28, 2004, President Bush urged the European Community to give a firm date to Turkey for starting membership talk later this year. President Chirac, rightly, told Bush "to mind his own business" adding "It is as if I was advising the USA on how they should manage their relations with Mexico."
- On July 3, 2004, Turkey decided to retire Turkish troops from Northern Iraq. Thirty officers and non-commissioned officers present in Northern Iraq in the framework of the "Monitoring cease-fire force" since 1997 returned to Turkey. The Monitoring Chase-fire Force was founded in order to cease the clashes between the forces of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the forces of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP
- On August 10, 2003, bombs exploded simultaneously in front of two small hotels in Istanbul killing two people and wounding 11. Two more explosions caused damage, but no casualties, at a liquefied petroleum gas plant on the outskirts of Istanbul. Interior Minister Abdulkadir Kurdish rebels could be responsible for the hotel attacks, but the police were also investigating other possibilities. Islamic and leftist extremists have staged attacks previously in Turkey.
- On September 10, 2004, a video shown on Turkish television claimed that Habib Akdas, suspected leader of the Turkish al-Qaida cell blamed for November suicide bombings in Istanbul, was killed this week in a US raid in Iraq. Akdas is believed to have fled to Iraq around the time of the Istanbul attacks. Akdas may have been involved in the kidnapping of several Turkish workers in Iraq in recent months.
- On September 11, 2004, Turkey urged the US to bring its operations in the north Iraq town of Talafar to an end. Ethnic Turks have died in air strikes. US warplanes bombed Talafar that is a haven for fighters entering Iraq from Syria. About 20 residents were killed on Thursday. American forces have sealed off the town. US aircraft on Friday also attacked insurgents in Falluja for a fourth consecutive day. The US military has been fighting insurgents in Falluja since Monday, when a car bomb there killed seven US marines. Coalition forces lost control of Falluja in April and agreed to turn it over to a local force to end an earlier uprising by Sunni militants.
- A suspected leader of a Turkish al-Qaida cell told a court Monday September 13, 2004, that last year's suicide bombings in Istanbul were part of al-Qaida's global campaign and warned of more attacks if Turkey continues to support US policies, or maintains close ties with Israel. Defendant Harun Ilhan told the court that he and two other suspected ringleaders who remain at large - Habib Akdas and Gurcan Bac - were behind the November truck bombings that left 61 people dead. "Even if Osama dies, our jihad will continue," he told the court.
- The United States insisted on Tuesday September 14, 2004, that it was working closely with Turkey on a whole range of issues. Turkey had concerns about the military operation by the US-led multinational forces in Tall Afar, a place used by the terrorists as a transit point and as a safe haven for launching attacks elsewhere in Iraq.
- Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said Wednesday September 22, 2004, that the government is taking measures to assure the security of Turkish drivers shuttling between Turkey and Iraq. He recommended the transportation companies to drive through Syria to reach the south of Iraq. Most Turkish truck drivers enter Iraq from the north, by way of Turkey's Habur border gate. On Tuesday, the Ankara-based VINSAN construction company became the latest Turkish firm to announce suspension of operations in Iraq in a bid to save the lives of its 10 employees kidnapped by militants. VINSAN is one of the 21 international companies taking part in a 160-million-dollar road tender in Iraq.
- A seven-year Turkish-led peacekeeping mission in northern Iraq's Kurdish region has officially ended. The mission, established by the United States, Turkey and Britain, disbanded Sunday October 3, 2004. The force monitored a cease-fire line set in 1997 to end years of fighting between Iraq's two main Kurdish political parties. Since the US-led invasion of Iraq last year, Kurdish leaders have called for peacekeepers to leave.
- An explosion on a minibus in the Turkish Aegean resort of Kusadasi has killed at least four people on July 16, 2005. At least 14 other people were wounded, including five Britons who were seriously injured. Turkish officials are investigating the possibility that the blast was caused by a suicide bomber or a parcel bomb.
- On July 17, 2005, Turkish authorities believe Kurdish PKK separatists planted Saturday's bomb on a tourist bus. The five people killed were Helen Bennett, of Co Durham, and Tara Whelan, 17, of Co Waterford, Ireland, and three Turkish nationals. Among at least 13 injured are Stephen Staples and Michael Aspinall, of northeast England, and Toni and Sam Punshon and Adam Megoran, of Co Durham. Mr Staples and Mr Aspinall suffered serious injuries and are still being treated at Ege University Hospital in Izmir, north of Kusadasi.

- More than 100 Turkish people, nearly all truck drivers, have been killed in Iraq since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Monday June 5, 2006. A total of 86 Turkish citizens were kidnapped in Iraq and 59 of them were released. Most of the truck drivers were killed or kidnapped by gunmen on Iraqi roads while transporting goods into the country. Some drivers were believed to be attacked for ferrying goods to the U.S.-led forces.

- On July 19, 2006, the Turkish military is moving forward with plans to send forces into northern Iraq to clear out Turkish Kurdish guerrilla bases. But Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said officials were holding talks with the United States and Iraq in an attempt to defuse tensions. Any Turkish cross-border operation is likely to inflame tensions with the United States and destabilize one of the only calm regions of Iraq. A push into northern Iraq could also threaten ties with EU countries, which have been pressing Turkey to improve minority Kurdish rights as a step toward reducing tensions in the largely Kurdish southeast. And there is the possibility that Kurds in largely autonomous northern Iraq could fight the Turks if they enter the country. The guerrillas are mostly based in the Qandil Mountains that straddle Iraq's border with Iran, about 50 miles from the Turkish border. They infiltrate southeastern Turkey from those bases to attack.

- Ten Britons are among at least 21 people injured after three bomb blasts hit a holiday resort in Turkey on Sunday August 27, 2006. The main explosion went off on a local minibus as it travelled through the centre of Marmaris. Six Turkish nationals were also injured in Istanbul after a bomb exploded late on Sunday night.

- Thirty-one people were killed - one person was injured and three were missing- on Tuesday January 9, 2007, when their chartered plane crashed in Iraq while trying to land in foggy conditions. The officials made no suggestion of hostile fire, although an Iraqi rebel group later claimed it had shot down the plane. The Moldavian Antonov-26, which took off from the Turkish city of Adana early on Tuesday, was carrying about 35 people including 30 construction workers. The plane came down some 2.5 km to the northwest of Balad." The plane was carrying 29 Turks, one American and a crew comprising one Russian, one Ukrainian and three Moldavians.

- The Turkish military said on April 12, 2007, it has launched sever "large scale" assaults on Kurdish rebels within the country. Yet, Army Chief General Yasar Buyukanit says that his troops need the authority to move across the border into Iraq to make strikes on enemy camps. Turkey has gone against the US and asked Iraqi leaders directly if they can launch cross-border raids into Iraqi territory to strike Kurdish rebel groups in the area. General Buyukanit explains, "An operation into Iraq is necessary," adding that their main rival, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), "has spread its roots" and obtained "huge freedom of movement in Iraq."

- The speakers of both the Iraqi Parliament and Iraq's Kurdistan assembly described on April 13, 2007, a call by Turkey's top general for a cross-border military operation as a "dangerous escalation," warning Ankara against interfering in the country's affairs. The warning came as the European Commission urged Turkey and Iraq to settle differences peacefully.

- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday April 11, 2007, sought to appease Ankara after a top Iraqi Kurdish leader reportedly threatened to stir unrest in Turkey. Ankara's leadership has expressed anger over quoted threats from Massud Barzani, president of Iraq's northern Kurdistan, to interfere in southeast Turkey where a two-decade old Kurdish rebellion has killed 37,000 people. Barzani said Iraqi Kurds would fan unrest in the region if Ankara continued to oppose Iraqi Kurdish claims on the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Maliki's office issued a statement on his behalf, saying it was his government that decides on regional issues and not any single leader.

- Fears are growing on April 18, 2007, that Turkey may take unilateral military action in northern Iraq against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, whose fighters have been staging cross-border attacks. Turkey's most senior general wants to send his armed forces into northern Iraq to disrupt the safe haven the PKK has enjoyed since Saddam Hussein's ouster, but civilian leaders in Ankara have so far declined to approve any intervention. The United States is urging Turkey to exercise restraint.

- Hundreds of thousands of people rallied in Istanbul on Sunday April 29, 2007, in support of secularism in Turkey, amid a row over a vote for the country's next president. The protesters are concerned that the ruling party's candidate for the post remains loyal to his Islamic roots. The candidate, Abdullah Gul, earlier said he would not quit despite growing criticism from opponents and the army. Mr Gul failed to win election in a first round parliamentary vote. Opposition MPs boycotted the vote. They are also challenging its validity in the Constitutional Court.

- On May 24, 2007, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to support any Turkish military incursion in Iraq against Kurdish rebel bases there after a deadly suicide bombing in Ankara blamed on the militants. Upping the pressure on its southern neighbour, Ankara urged Baghdad Thursday to act against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) holed up in northern Iraq. Erdogan said his government would secure parliamentary authorisation if the army sought to conduct a cross-border operation targeting PKK bases.

- On May 30, 2007, tension is rising on Turkey's border with Iraq amid speculation Ankara may be about to launch an incursion to tackle Kurdish rebels. Turkey is continuing a military build up and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to rule out action. Turkey blames rebels of the PKK group for a recent suicide bombing in Ankara and a landmine attack on troops. The PKK has been fighting for an ethnic homeland since 1984. Turkey blames the group for 30,000 deaths since then.

- American diplomats and generals are working on May 31, 2007, to stop Turkey from invading Iraq. With Turkish forces amassed along their country's southern border, Ankara's top general, Yasar Buyukanit, said that his soldiers are awaiting instructions to invade Kurdish safe havens in northern Iraq.

- Turkey's foreign minister asserted his country's right to act against Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq on Monday June 4, 2007, just before rebels fired rockets and grenades at a Turkish military outpost, killing eight soldiers. The army sent attack helicopter and reinforcements to Tunceli Province in southeastern Turkey.

- Hundreds of Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas who raid Turkey from hideouts there amid fears that Turkey might stage a bigger incursion that could lead to conflict with US-backed Iraqi Kurds. Three Turkish officials described the operation as a "hot pursuit" raid that was limited in scope, and one of them said troops returned to their bases by the end of Wednesday June 6, 2007. Turkey has conducted such brief raids in the past, but the latest incident comes as rebels escalate attacks in their decades-old fight for autonomy in southeast Turkey.

- Iraq made an official protest to Turkey on June 10, 2007, accusing it of shelling Kurdish areas in northern Iraq this week. A protest letter by the Iraqi foreign ministry said the shelling caused widespread damage in northern Iraq. Turkey has not confirmed any such shelling but it has been building up forces along the border with Iraq. Speculation grows that Ankara could mount a raid in Iraq on PKK rebels sheltering there who it blames for recent attacks in Turkey.

- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a strong public stance against a military incursion into northern Iraq on Tuesday June 12, 2007, in an indication that he would not back the military's request for a major offensive. For weeks, the Turkish Army has been pushing for a broad military response to attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, a militant separatist group that takes refuge in northern Iraq. The military has already increased its presence along the border and has been conducting operations against the militants in Turkey. On Tuesday, Mr. Erdogan said Turkey should first continue to fight the militants on Turkish soil before fighting them in Iraq, slowing the movement toward an incursion. He said far more militants were in Turkey than in Iraq. The Turkish Parliament would need to approve a major military action, and Mr. Erdogan's party controls the legislature, so his view on the wisdom of an invasion is important.

- On June 16, 2007, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hosheyar Zebari during the UN Security Council's session in New York welcomed the statements of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling to chase members of Kurdistan Workers Party inside Turkish territories only. He confirmed that Iraq is willing to negotiate with Turkey through the three joint Iraqi and US security committees in order to discuss measures about fighting the PKK's activities.

- On June 16, 2007, Turkey is considering setting up a narrow security zone inside Iraqi territory to stop Kurdish PKK rebels who have been given safe harbour in Iraqi Kurdistan from raiding into Turkish territory and killing and blowing things up. The United States has signalled its coolness to the plan.

- The Turkish military is prepared to crush the PKK and if the Iraqi government or the US-led coalition is unable to handle the situation, it will act, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told Turkey's Radikal newspaper on Sunday July 1, 2007. According to the Guardian, the foreign minister was responding to pressure from Turkey's generals, who have deployed 20,000-30,000 troops along the country' s Iraqi border and are anxious to move against the rebels they claim are crossing the border to stage attacks inside Turkey. In separate remarks on Friday, Gul said Turkey was also considering air strikes against PKK bases in Iraq's Kurdish territories, which would not require any parliamentary approval.

- Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, on July 10, 2007, denied any immediate plans to authorise a military invasion in northern Iraq. But he hinted that once elections have taken place later this month that he would reassess Turkey's options. Mr Erdogan's comments came amid growing speculation that massed Turkish troops will make good a threat to move across the border to clamp down on separatist Kurdish rebels who use bases there for attacks into Turkey.

- Turkey- 's Prime Minister threatened on July 20, 2007, an invasion of northern Iraq if, after the Turkish election on Sunday, talks fail with Iraq and the US on curbing the activities of Turkish Kurd guerrillas. Turkish artillery has been firing increasingly heavy barrages at villages in the north of Iraqi Kurdistan. After three Turkish soldiers were killed and five wounded by a mine laid by PKK guerrillas last week, some 100 shells exploded around the border town of Zakho, forcing residents to flee. The Prime Minister, Recep Tayyib Erdogan, said the PKK fighters had been using northern Iraq as a base to make attacks.
- Iraq and Turkey signed a security agreement on September 28, 2007, aimed at curbing the activities of the Turkish Kurdish separatist group, the PKK. However, the final agreement does not include a key Turkish proposal that its troops be allowed to pursue PKK fighters over the border into Iraq. The proposal had been strongly opposed by the Kurdish officials in Iraq.

- Thirteen people died in southeast Turkey when gunmen, apparently Kurdish rebels, sprayed a bus with machine gun fire, prompting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Sunday September 30, 2007, to vow to punish the attackers. Saturday's audacious attack came a day after Turkey and Iraq signed an agreement to crack down on Turkish Kurd rebels based in northern Iraq and the killing of a Kurdish separatist in the Kurdish-dominated east.

- On October 8, 2007, the US condemned attacks in the past two weeks by rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in Turkey and warned the fighting could destabilize the Kurdish region in Iraq. Turkey has threatened to send troops into Iraqi Kurdistan unless the US and the government in Baghdad crack down on about 4,000 PKK fighters who use mountains there as a base for operations. The US has warned Turkey not to send soldiers across the border and says it's concerned that any attack against the group could undermine the only stable region in Iraq.

- Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan confirmed on Wednesday October 10, 2007, his government was drawing up plans to authorize a military incursion into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels using the region as a base. His government could send a request to parliament as early as Thursday to authorize such an operation. Erdogan is under pressure to act after rebel attacks which have killed 15 soldiers since Sunday, but political analysts say a major cross-border operation remains unlikely.

- On October 11, 2007, Turkey has denounced a vote by a US congressional committee recognising as genocide the 1915-17 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks. President Abdullah Gul said the decision was unacceptable and had no validity for Turkey, which has always denied any genocide took place. The White House said it was very disappointed by the non-binding vote. It fears Turkey could now limit co-operation in the war on terror and provision of military bases near Iraq.

- Turkey, which is a key supply route to US troops in Iraq, recalled its ambassador to Washington on Thursday October 11, 2007, and warned of serious repercussions if Congress labels the killing of Armenians by Turks a century ago as genocide. Turkey might have to "cut logistical support to the US" Analysts also have speculated the resolution could make Turkey more inclined to send troops into northern Iraq to hunt Turkish Kurd rebels, a move opposed by the US because it would disrupt one of the few relatively stable and peaceful Iraqi areas.

- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday October 12, 2007, that he was ready to face up to the cost of a cross-border incursion into Iraq to fight against the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).

- The Turkish government will seek parliamentary approval for a military operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, a government spokesman said Monday October 15, 2007. He believes the Parliament would vote on the motion this week -passage is considered likely- but indicated that the government would still prefer a solution to the conflict that does not involve a cross-border offensive.

- Tensions between Turkey and Iraq are starting to have an impact on the global economy. In New York on October 15, 2007, light sweet crude contracts for November are fetching $US86 a barrel.

- Turkey's Parliament voted 507-to-19 on Wednesday October 17, 2007, to authorize sending troops into northern Iraq to confront Kurdish rebels in hide-outs there. But Turkey, a member of NATO made it clear that it would not immediately carry out the resolution.

- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday October 17, 2007, said he would support a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq against Kurdish rebels.

- The president of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, said on Saturday October 20, 2007, his people will defend themselves if Turkey attacks Kurdish rebels based in the region. He rejected accusations that his government provided cover for Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) fighters. On Tuesday, the Turkish parliament authorised cross-border raids against the PPK which it blames for attacks on soldiers and civilians in Turkey.

- Turkey has plans to make a cross-border incursion to attack Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq but "not urgently", we were told on Sunday October 21, 2007. The Turkish government was ready to order a cross-border strike against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq after 12 Turkish soldiers and 32 rebels died in clashes near the tense border with Iraq.

- On October 23, 2007, Turkey and Iraq agreed to work together to deal with the problem of Kurdish PKK rebels in northern Iraq. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Ankara would put the emphasis on diplomatic means to solve the crisis.

- Iraq said on October 24, 2007, that it will close the offices of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel group and will not allow it to operate on Iraqi soil. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said he would also "work on limiting its terrorist activities which are threatening Iraq and Turkey". The PKK has been blamed for a number of recent deadly raids inside Turkey.

-On October 24, 2007, Turkey targeted Kurdish separatists with a series of cross-border attacks despite reports that Iraq had succumbed to pressure to close down terrorist training camps. Local residents reported spotting Turkish war planes deep inside Iraq territory as ground troops conducted missions six miles south of the Turkey-Iraq frontier.

- On October 25, 2007, a high-level Iraqi delegation is expected in Ankara for key talks aimed at stopping attacks by Kurdish fighters based in northern Iraq. The Turkish foreign minister said the Iraqis must come up with concrete proposals for ending the crisis.

- Iraq pledged on Tuesday October 24, 2007, to crack down on Kurdish separatists launching attacks on Turkey from hideouts in northern Iraq, in a bid to avert a Turkish military incursion into its territory to hit the rebels.
Baghdad will restrict the movement of PKK rebels and target their funding.

- On October 24, 2007, Turkey targeted Kurdish separatists with a series of cross-border attacks despite reports that Iraq had succumbed to pressure to close down terrorist training camps. As many as 34 guerrillas were reported killed in the raids. The military used artillery to shell suspected hideouts of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and warned more ground raids were planned.

- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on October 25, 2007, that US objections would not stop Turkey from crossing into Iraq to eliminate Kurdish rebels.
President Abdullah Gul said Turkey is running out of patience with the Kurdish separatist attacks. A steady stream of US-made Turkish fighter jets roared into the skies near the Iraqi border, loaded with bombs.

- On October 26, 2007, Turkey dismissed a range of proposals from Iraq on dealing with Kurdish rebels, saying they will take too long to work. The foreign ministry said more urgent action was needed than that offered by an Iraqi delegation, which is in Ankara to try to resolve the dispute.

- Turkey, Iraq and the US have all taken steps to combat the threat of Kurdish fighters based in northern Iraq and defuse the crisis in the region we were told on November 1, 2007. The Turkish government has announced economic sanctions against groups which support those responsible for a recent upsurge in attacks on Turkish soldiers. The move came after Baghdad announced more checkpoints to curb the activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The US also said it was giving Turkey intelligence on PKK positions in Iraq.

- Eight Turkish soldiers released by Kurdish fighters on November 4, 2007, have returned to their army units. They were released by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after being captured in an ambush on 21 October near the border with Iraq. They were handed to Iraqi Kurdish officials and flown to Turkey.

- US President George W Bush promised extra help to tackle Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, following talks with Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan on November 5, 2007. Mr Bush offered to share intelligence with Turkey and declared the PKK rebel organisation "an enemy of Turkey, a free Iraq and the United States". Turkey has threatened to hit bases used by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) unless the US and Iraq do more to help.

- Turkey's prime minister denied on Wednesday November 14, 2007, carrying out aerial strikes this week against Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, but the government reaffirmed its readiness for a cross-border operation if deemed necessary.

- The Turkish army says its soldiers killed six Kurdish rebels on December 4, 2007, during a clash near the border with Iraq. One Turkish officer also was killed during the fighting. The rebels -who included four women and two men-, were killed in the southeastern province of Sirnak. The rebels were part of a group responsible for an ambush that killed 13 soldiers in Sirnak on October 7.

- Turkish warplanes bombed suspected Kurdish rebel bases deep inside northern Iraq on December 16, 2007. They targeted the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in areas near the border. The Turkish media said up to 50 planes were used. Iraqi officials say bombs hit 10 villages, killing one woman, while the PKK reported seven deaths. Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the air strikes as a "success".

- On December 18, 2007, about 300 Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq in a raid against Kurdish rebels. The lightly-armed soldiers moved up to three kilometres inside Iraq. It is believed to be the first major Turkish troop deployment in Iraq since the cabinet backed the move last month to hunt PKK rebels based there. Separately, Turkish police have held the leader of Turkey's main Kurdish party for using false documents. They withdrew them later in the day.

- In its third large cross-border attack into Iraq within a week, Turkey said Saturday December 22, 2007, that its warplanes had killed hundreds of separatist Kurdish rebels. The air attack, which lasted less than half an hour, was followed by an artillery barrage on the same area from nearby units in Turkey. Officials with the Kurdish regional government said that Turkish planes had bombed for about two hours around Darkar and Barwari Balla, villages near the border in Dohuk Province. No one had been wounded or killed. On December 16, Turkey unleashed broad airstrikes on several areas along the border in Iraqi Kurdistan. Two days later, a few hundred Turkish troops briefly crossed the border in pursuit of rebels but withdrew them within hours.

- Turkish jets bombed separatist Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq for the second day in a row on Sunday December 23, 2007. The aircraft hit a remote border region 50 miles north of Erbil but that there were no civilian casualties because the area was deserted.

- Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq have killed more than 150 rebels -or was it 175- and hit more than 200 targets in recent days, the Turkish military said Tuesday December 25, 2007, countering Kurdish claims that only a handful of people were killed in the attacks. Who is right?

- Turkish warplanes on Monday February 4, 2008, bombarded three Kurdish settlements in a mountainous area of northern Iraq, a refuge for rebel Kurds.

- On February 9, 2008, Turkey's parliament approved two constitutional amendments easing the ban on women wearing Islamic headscarves in universities.

- Turkish warplanes launched a strike against the targets of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Wednesday February 20, 2008. Meanwhile, Turkish military continues operations against the PKK in southeastern Turkey, mainly in Cudi and Kupeli regions of Sirnak province.

- The Turkish military shelled several Kurdish rebel positions inside northern Iraq on Thursday February 21, 2008. Turkey has massed tens of thousands of troops along its mountainous frontier with Iraq. It has already carried out several small-scale cross-border commando operations as well as aerial bombing raids against rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

- Thousand Turkish soldiers entered into northern Iraq to target Kurdish rebels on February 22, 2008 after an air and artillery bombardment. Turkey promised its force would "return home in the shortest time possible after its goals have been achieved".

- Turkey's army said on February 23, 2008, its ground offensive in northern Iraq has left five soldiers and dozens of Kurdish rebels dead. Turkey said its ground forces had crossed the border to tackle rebels late on Thursday after an air and artillery bombardment. PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the offensive is limited in scale and troops will return as soon as possible. The UN secretary general and the US have urged Turkey to show restraint in the offensive.

- Turkish troops engaged Kurdish PKK rebels in close combat on Sunday February 24, 2008, that left scores dead in a major ground offensive into northern Iraq. Iraq's government said Turkey should withdraw its troops as soon as possible and urged Ankara to sit down with Baghdad for talks to resolve the crisis over the PKK. The rebels said they had shot down a Turkish Cobra attack helicopter. Baghdad and Washington fear the offensive could further destabilise Iraq. Ankara launched the cross-border attack on Thursday after months of aerial bombardment of suspected PKK targets in the remote, mountainous region. It accuses rebels of using northern Iraq as a base to stage deadly attacks inside Turkey. 33 PKK rebels, including a leader, and eight soldiers died in heavy, close combat in poor weather conditions on Sunday. It said at least 112 rebels and 15 soldiers have died since the operation began.

- On February 26, 2008, the Iraqi Government demanded that Turkey withdraw its army from Iraq's snowbound northern mountains. Five days after Turkey launched its military incursion there are reports that its commandos have penetrated 100 miles inside Iraqi territory, as far as Iraq's border with Iran.

- Turkey withdrew its troops from northern Iraq on February 29, 2008after a week-long offensive against Kurdish PKK rebels. Turkey said it had achieved its goals, and there was no question of any foreign influence on the decision although Iraq and the US had urged Turkey to end its incursion across the border, amid fears of escalating regional tensions. After the pullout, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the PKK rebels to lay down their arms.

- On March 8, 2008, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani restated that his government will not tolerate Kurdish rebels in the north launching attacks against Turkey. Speaking on a visit to Ankara, his first trip to Turkey as leader, he said he had told regional authorities to halt the activities of PKK fighters. He is meeting his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, to discuss the recent Turkish cross-border offensive.

- Iraq's president, Talabani, a Kurd, while visiting Turkey, said Saturday March 8, 2008, he wants a "strategic" partnership with Turkey, including getting Turkish businesses to invest in his oil-rich but war-torn country. The rebels -who seek autonomy for Kurds in Turkey's southeast- have often launched attacks on Turkey from bases in northern Iraq. Talabani said the rebels would not be tolerated inside Iraq's borders and that the government was pressuring them to lay down their arms. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he wants better relations with Iraq, a week after Ankara ended an army offensive against PKK rebels based in the north of the country.

- Turkish fighter jets hit cells of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on March 20, 2008. This is the first air attack since Turkey ended its eight-day ground incursion into northern Iraq on February 29.

- Turkish warplanes fired on a group of Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq on Tuesday April 15, 2008, as they tried to enter Turkey. The warplanes had "neutralised", generally meaning killed, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in the Avasin-Basyan region of northern Iraq. Turkish forces bombed for an hour in the Zagros Mountains, but that there were no casualties among the PKK according to this group's spokesman.

- Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq on Wednesday April 23, 2008. Jets hit the Hakurk region of northern Iraq for 45 minutes. The area is where the borders of Iraq, Turkey and Iran meet and where the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party maintain a major camp.

- Turkey's military mounted a cross-border air attack on Kurdish separatist positions in Iraq on April 26, 2008. Army sources are describing it as the biggest Turkish air operation in northern Iraq this year.

- Turkish aircraft have bombed northern Iraq on Thursday May 2, 2008. At least 30 planes were involved in the raids on what it called senior Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) positions in the Qandil Mountains. Turkey's parliament gave the military one-year authorisation for cross-border raids, which expires in October.

- Air strikes launched in retaliation for a rebel raid killed 19 Kurdish fighters in Turkey's southeast on Friday May 9, 2008. Six soldiers died in the violence. Two soldiers were killed in the attack late Friday and four more troops died while pursuing suspected rebels in Hakkari province. The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, denied the military's claims of 19 rebel deaths, saying "not a single guerrilla was killed."

- Turkey launched air and artillery attacks against Kurdish separatist rebels in northern Iraq on May 11, 2008, after an insurgent strike on a military base. The attacks targeted a group of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members who had escaped into Iraq from Turkey after a rebel attack on a military headquarters that resulted in the deaths of six soldiers.

- On May 12, 2008, Turkish fighter planes bombed Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq in a third straight night of air strikes. Warplanes targeted suspected rebel hideouts near the towns of Neroye and Rekan in the Dahuk province in northern Iraq, near the Turkish border.

- Three policemen and three gunmen died in an attack near the US consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Wednesday July 9, 2008. The US ambassador to Turkey condemned it as "an obvious act of terrorism" aimed at the US. No injuries were reported to staff inside the consulate. Another policeman and the driver of a police tow-truck were injured in the ensuing gun battle.

- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on July 10, 2008, he has support from Iraq's government and Iraqi Kurdish leaders to fight the Kurdish rebel group, the PKK. Mr Erdogan, only the second regional leader to visit Iraq since 2003, spoke at a joint Baghdad news conference with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. He said the nations would work together to build security and economic ties. Mr Erdogan was also expected to sign trade agreements and discuss Iraqi investment and reconstruction plans.

- Kurdish rebels say Turkish warplanes have bombed abandoned guerrilla camps in the Zab region in northern Iraq on July 19, 2008. They say there were no casualties. Turkish jets bombed the area twice.

- The Turkish warplanes attacked Kurdish separatist targets in northern Iraq on July 24, 2008. 13 targets were "successfully hit" in the raids. There was no information on any casualties suffered by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

- The Turkish military said Sunday July 27, 2008, that its fighter jets had hit 12 Kurdish separatist targets in the Qandil region of northern Iraq. All the planes returned safely to their bases and Turkey was working to confirm "terrorist casualties."

- On Wednesday July 30, 2008, Turkish warplanes have struck Kurdish targets in northern Iraq in apparent retaliation for a terrorist attack in Istanbul on Sunday that killed 17 people, including a pregnant woman just days away from giving birth.

- A number of suspects in last week's deadly bombings in Istanbul that killed 17 people have been arrested we were told on Saturday August 2, 2008. Most of the perpetrators of the bombings, which also injured 154, were in custody. The two explosions, minutes apart, hit a packed square in a residential area of Istanbul on Sunday, July 25. It was the deadliest attack on civilians in Turkey in five years.

- Kurdish guerrillas killed five Turkish village guards in a clash in southeast Turkey on Friday August 1, 2008. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels opened fire on the state-sponsored militia as they embarked on a patrol in the mountainous province of Sirnak, along the border with Iraq.

- Turkish warplanes bombed a hideout of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Saturday August 16, 2008. The jets "successfully" hit the PKK base in a cave in the Avasin-Basyan area and returned to their bases.

- Turkish warplanes attacked suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq. The raids on Thursday September 25, 2008, hit areas in the Qandil Mountains. One PKK member and two civilians were wounded. A number of mountain villages were hit by the Turkish planes, and school and civilian homes were damaged.

- One Turkish soldier was killed and another one wounded in an attack staged by the militants of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey. The PKK militants opened fire at the Turkish security forces at a mountainous area in Hani town of Diyarbakir province on Tuesday September 30, 2008.

- Fighting between Kurdish rebels and Turkey's army and air force in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq killed 15 soldiers and at least 23 insurgents on Friday October 3, 2008, in the deadliest battle between the long-time enemies this year. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 20 soldiers also were wounded in the fighting, and the battle prompted him to cut short an official visit to Turkmenistan. The rebels attacked soldiers near a military outpost in southeastern Turkey. Later Turkish warplanes, helicopters and artillery units pounding insurgent positions in northern Iraq.

- The Turkish army said the bodies of two soldiers, missing since PKK's attack on Friday October 3, 2008, were found as the operations in the region continue. The bodies of the two soldiers who had been reported missing were found by the Turkish Armed Forces. The statement brought the number of soldiers killed in the attack to 17.

- The Turkish military bombed PKK rebel targets Saturday October 4, 2008, in northern Iraq in response to clashes that left at least 15 Turkish troops dead. The PKK said it sustained no casualties in the operation. The air operation was conducted on the PKK's "hiding positions" in the Avasin-Basyan area of northern Iraq near the border with Turkey.

- Turkish warplanes bombed suspected Kurdish rebels trying to enter Turkey from northern Iraq on Friday October 10, 2008.

- At least 31 PKK positions in the Harkurk area along the Turkey-Iraq border were hit on Saturday October 11, 2008.

- Turkish troops and Kurdish separatist rebels clashed on Thursday October 16, 2008. Five soldiers were killed on each side. A spokesman for the rebels said they had shot down a Turkish helicopter on the Turkish side of the border with Iraq on Wednesday. The Turkish military said it crashed because of technical failure, killing a soldier and wounding 15.

- On Tuesday October 28, 2008, Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel positions in neighbouring northern Iraq. The jets, backed by artillery fire, pounded "effectively" Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) hideouts in the regions of Hakurk and Avashin-Basyan as well as Zap, a major rebel stronghold.

- Turkish fighter jets on Wednesday December 17, 2008, bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, the second raid in as many days. The strike, like the previous one Tuesday, targeted Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) hideouts in the Qandil Mountains.

- When a pair of black leather oxfords hurled at President Bush in Baghdad produced a gasp heard around the world, a Turkish cobbler had a different reaction: They were his shoes. We have been producing that specific style, which I personally designed, for 10 years, so I couldn't have missed it, no way," said Ramazan Baydan, a shoemaker in Istanbul on December 21, 208. Cobblers from Lebanon, China and Iraq have also staked claims to what is quickly becoming some of the most famous footwear in the world; however orders for Mr. Baydan's shoes, formerly known as Ducati Model 271 and since renamed "The Bush Shoe," have poured in from around the world.

- Turkish General Staff said on Friday February 6, 2009, that air strikes have been waged against targets of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq during the last two days. Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets in Hakurk region.

- Turkey's state-run news agency said Friday February 13, 2009, that 13 Kurdish rebels were killed in northern Iraq during Turkish bombing last week.

- Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish guerrilla targets in northern Iraq on Thursday March 12, 2009. Turkey's military has waged offensives both in Turkish territory and across the border in northern Iraq against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

- On March 23, 2009, Turkey's President Abdullah Gul is on a visit to Iraq, the first by a Turkish head of state for more than 30 years. Mr Gul is due to hold talks with his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. They would discuss issues including trade and the Kurdish rebel group, the PKK. The activities of the PKK, which uses bases in northern Iraq to attack Turkey, have long been an issue of contention between the two countries.

- Turkey launched air strikes against suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq overnight and Thursday April 30, 2009. The operation came after nine Turkish soldiers were killed by a bomb in Turkey's southeast Wednesday.

- On May 27, 2009, Turkey's military said its warplanes have attacked Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, following a landmine explosion that killed six Turkish soldiers and wounded eight others. The Kurdish rebel's senior commander, Murat Karayilan, said recently his PKK no longer sought an independent Kurdish state, but recognition of Kurdish rights and identity.

- Turkish military planes attacked Kurdish militants in northern Iraq late on Saturday June 6, 2009. Between four and six aircraft carried out the operation after Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters were spotted on Iraqi soil near the Turkish border. Turkish ground forces began shelling PKK bases in northern Iraq on Saturday and the firing was continuing.

- More than 120 people suspected of ties to Al Qaeda, including some who were alleged to be senior members of the terrorist group's Turkish branch, were arrested in raids across the country on Friday January 22, 2010.

- The army announced late on Friday (May 7, 2010) that its forces crossed the southern border with Iraq in an operation against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), entering its neighbour's territory with gunships and unmanned drones. Five suspected militants were killed in a strike conducted at the weekend. The army later said it attacked after PKK members fired at its helicopters. One Turkish solider died and another was injured by a landmine in the southeast Hakkari province. It happened near the border village of Daglica, an area where the PKK is active.

- Turkey's warplanes have struck Kurdish rebel targets inside northern Iraq we were told on Saturday May 8, 2010. The warplanes pounded positions across the border on Friday after army helicopters came under anti-aircraft fire from Iraqi soil. The rebel positions there were destroyed. The helicopters were chasing a group of Turkish Kurdish rebels who killed two soldiers in a cross-border attack near the Daglica area along the Iraqi border. Five rebels were killed in the clashes.

- Two soldiers have been killed in two separate explosions near the country's border with Iraq where Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants operate. The soldiers were killed when two improvised detonative devices went off in the southeastern provinces of Hakkari and Sirnak on Saturday May 8, 2010. Turkey blamed the blasts on PKK militants.

- Turkish fighter jets have bombed dozens of Kurdish rebel targets in neighbouring Iraq on May 20, 2010. Some 20 planes bombed dozens of targets in the Kurdish northern autonomous region.

- On Saturday May 22, 2010, spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers' Party, also known as the PKK, said Turkish air strikes on Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq killed four rebels earlier this week. The air strikes also wounded five others.

- A Turkish airstrike on Kurdish rebels hideouts in northern Iraq last week killed 19 Kurdish guerrillas and left several others wounded. Four rebels were killed in a separate clash Wednesday May 26, 2010 in eastern Tunceli province inside Turkey, bringing the overall rebel death toll to 23 since last week's air assault on rebel camps in northern Iraq's Hakurk, Zap and Qandil Mountain regions.

- Six Turkish soldiers have been killed and seven injured in a rocket attack on a navy base in the country's south on May 31, 2010. Suspected Kurdish rebels fired on a military vehicle carrying troops in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun.

- Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq announced on Friday June 4, 2010, that they had ended their unilateral ceasefire with Turkey. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) statement came less than a week after six Turkish soldiers were killed in a rocket strike which a news agency close to the rebels said was claimed by the PKK. It ends a truce declared by the rebels in April 2009, the latest in a string of such announcements over the years which Ankara has dismissed as mere propaganda ploys.

- Turkish warplanes bombed Monday June 7, 2010, several Kurdish rebel positions in neighbouring northern Iraq. Six combat planes targeted Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases in Zap-Khakurk in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish zone.

- Turkish soldiers have crossed the border into northern Iraq to chase Kurdish rebels. Three commando companies and one Special Forces battalion penetrated two miles into Iraq. Four rebels were killed in the incursion Wednesday June 16, 2010. Warplanes have pounded Kurdish rebel positions and mortar and anti-aircraft units deeper inside Iraqi territory. The cross-border offensive was ordered after the rebels attempted an unsuccessful attack on troops near the Turkish-Iraqi border.

- Turkey's military said Friday June 18, 2010, that it killed as many as 120 Kurdish rebels in an air raid on rebel hideouts in northern Iraq last month and a daylong incursion by elite commandos into Iraq this week.

- Ten Turkish soldiers have been killed on June 19, 2010, in an attack by Kurdish rebels near the Iraqi border. Members of the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) launched an overnight raid on an outpost near the city of Semdinli in Hakkari province. Twelve rebels were killed in subsequent clashes. Turkish aircraft have also bombed PKK positions in Iraq.

- Turkish warplanes bombed northern Iraq on Monday June 28, 2010, the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and an Iraqi Kurdish official said, as Ankara stepped up its riposte to increased fighting with the rebels. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the air raids which targeted the Sidakan district of Arbil province in the mountainous northeast of Iraq.

- Seventeen people have been killed in fighting between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels in south-eastern Turkey on July 1, 2010. Those killed include 12 Kurdish rebels, two soldiers and three members of a government-allied militia. The fighting broke out overnight in Siirt province when rebels attacked a military unit.

- The Iraqi government on Friday July 2, 2010, rejected Turkey's calls for intervention in its conflict with the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. Iraq's role is as part of a joint security committee with Turkey and the United States to find "appropriate mechanisms" to deal with the PKK threat, and not "playing policeman". The PKK has been battling the Turkish government since the early 1980s.

- A bomb planted by suspected PKK separatist rebels in Turkey and a technical fault in Iraq have halted pumping on the Kirkuk to Ceyhan pipeline we were told on Sunday July 4, 2010. The explosion late on Saturday took place near the town of Midyat in Mardin province, near the border with Syria. Crew workers from Turkey's state-run pipeline operator BOTAS were working on Sunday to repair the pipeline so that pumping can resume.

- Kurdish guerrillas attacked a military outpost in southeast Turkey overnight on July 6, 2010, triggering a clash in which 12 militants and three soldiers were killed. Military helicopters flew in troop reinforcements to search for the remaining Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels who launched the attack in the mountainous Semdinli district of Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq. Three soldiers were also wounded in the fighting. In a separate clash, one rebel was killed and six soldiers wounded on Monday evening after rebels opened fire on security forces at a military outpost in the eastern province of Elazig.

- On Saturday July 10, 2010, Turkish warplanes have bombed the village of Sidakan near the Iranian border in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq, wounding one civilian.

- On Monday July 19, 2010, fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, killed at least seven Turkish soldiers in clashes in eastern Turkey, triggering renewed sparring between the government and the opposition over anti-terrorism policies. Troops and Kurdish militants were still fighting Tuesday in the region around Kavusak village in Hakkari province where six soldiers were killed. A seventh soldier was killed in the southeastern city of Van, and Turkish forces backed by aircraft began sweeping the area.

- An explosion has ripped through a minibus in southeastern Turkey, killing at least 10 people on board. The blast happened Thursday September 16, 2010, as the bus was travelling near the village of Gecitli in Hakkari province, on the border with Iran and Iraq. The explosion left four others injured, including a 15-month-old baby.

- An explosion injured two police officers in the southeastern Turkish town of Yuksekova, where a funeral was being held on Friday September 17, 2010 for the victims of a previous bomb attack. The funeral in Hakkari province, bordering Iraq and Iran, was for victims of a roadside bomb attack on Thursday that killed 10 people. The explosion occurred in a car in the city centre.

- Turkey police have detained five people suspected of providing financial and technical support to al-Qaida in Afghanistan. The five, including four university students, were detained Wednesday October 20, 2010, during raids in five Turkish cities. One suspect is suspected of raising and sending money to al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and was developing computer programs designed to down or jam unmanned aircraft.

- Turkish security forces killed at least 12 Kurdish militants after they were spotted crossing the border from Iraq we were told on Saturday May 14, 2011, while a soldier was killed by a mine blast. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas were killed during operations Friday and early Saturday in the southeast province of Sirnak. The soldier died in Hakkari, another insurgency-plagued province bordering both Iran and Iraq. Some PKK fighters operate from bases in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq.
Kurdish rebels ambushed a military convoy near Turkey's border with Iraq on Wednesday August 17, 2011, killing eight soldiers and a village-guard. Armoured personnel carriers in the convoy came under rocket fire after being attacked with roadside bombs. The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, detonated four bombs as the unit passed by. The attack also wounded 11 other soldiers.

- Turkish warplanes attacked 60 targets in the mountains and border areas of northern Iraq, ending the assault early Thursday August 18, 2011, in pursuit of Kurdish separatist rebels who killed nine security officials and wounded 15 in an ambush a day earlier. Prior to the successful air strikes, the Turkish artillery hit another 168 locations in the same region that military intelligence showed were frequented by the P.K.K., or Kurdistan Workers Party, which has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast since early 1980s.

- On Friday August 19, 2011, Turkish warplanes and artillery pounded Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq for a second night, hours after the rebels mounted attacks on security forces in southeastern Turkey. The Turkish raids, the first against rebels holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq in more than a year, mark a stark escalation of the 27-year-old conflict after the collapse of efforts toward a negotiated settlement. The Turkish warplanes attacked 28 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets on Thursday in the areas of Qandil mountain, Hakurk, Avasin-Basyan and Zap.

- Seven Iraqis were killed in a Turkish air strike in Iraq's semi-autonomous northern Kurdish zone on Sunday August 21, 2011. The air strike hit a car carrying civilians.

- Turkish aircraft bombed north Iraq on Monday August 22, 2011, the sixth day of a bombing campaign against bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the region. Turkish aircraft targeted the Kortek, Qandil and Jabal Mattine regions. It appears that Turkish forces may be making preparations to enter Iraq, and that the PKK is also preparing for possible ground fighting.

- Turkey's military said Tuesday August 23, 2011, air strikes on suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq this week have killed an estimated 90 to 100 guerrillas. 80 separatist rebels were injured in six days of cross-border air raids. Targets hit included 79 shelters and hideouts, 18 caves, eight depots, 14 PKK buildings or facilities, one ammunition depot, nine anti-aircraft gun positions and three rebel road blocks.

- Turkish war planes bombed Kurdish guerrilla positions in Iraq Sunday September 4, 2011, while in southeast Turkey insurgents killed two soldiers and two village militia members in separate weekend attacks. Fighters of the main Kurdish separatist militant group, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), operate from camps in the Qandil mountains in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The Turkish air strikes hit targets in the Soran district. Between 145 to 160 militants were killed in air and artillery strikes on PKK bases in northern Iraq in August. Saturday, Turkey's southeastern neighbour Iran said its troops had killed or wounded 30 members of the PJAK (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan), an offshoot of the PKK.

- Kurdish rebels attacked a police station and a paramilitary police headquarters near Turkey's border with Iraq, killing five people, including three civilians. Three civilians, a police officer and a soldier died late Sunday September 11, 2011, after the guerrillas opened fire on the two buildings in the town of Semdinli. The town is located in the mainly Kurdish province of Hakkari, which borders Iraq. Ten other people, most of them soldiers, were injured in the raids by members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The pro-Kurdish Firat news agency, however, said the civilians were killed by shots fired by the police and said the dead included a 14-year-old. Turker said the military immediately launched an operation to catch the rebels.

- Turkey on Wednesday September 21, 2011, reportedly bombed the main Kurdish rebel base in northern Iraq and chased rebels in a mountainous area in Turkey's southeast in response to escalated attacks by the autonomy-seeking guerrillas. The Turkish warplanes have bombed at least 20 more suspected Kurdish rebel targets since late August, vowing to continue with its strikes. The jets bombed the main rebel base on Qandil Mountain deep inside northern Iraq. About 2,000 Turkish troops, meanwhile, launched a massive operation against Kurdish rebels in the mountainous Tunceli province after a large group of rebels was detected in the area.

- Turkish warplanes have bombed suspected rear bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. The bombings began late on Thursday September 22, 2011, and come after Ankara threatened earlier this month to launch a ground incursion into Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region where the PKK maintains bases. The attacks targeted the Kriskan village in the Qandil mountains area. On Thursday, a radical Kurdish group that Turkey says is a PKK front claimed responsibility for a bomb attack two days earlier that killed three people in the centre of Ankara. Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey have recently escalated their attacks on Turkish targets. Three security officials were killed in two separate attacks in east and southeast Turkey, on Wednesday and Thursday. The Turkish air force has bombed suspected PKK targets repeatedly since August 17.

- Turkish warplanes have again bombed suspected rear bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) separatist group in northern Iraq on Monday September 26, 2011. Turkish artillery also fired across the border into Iraq.

- Kurdish militants killed at least 24 Turkish soldiers in an attack near the Iraq border on Wednesday October 19, 2011. Turkey's military responded by sending hundreds of troops into northern Iraq in a counterattack on Kurdish insurgent hide-outs.

- On Thursday October 20, 2011, thousands of Turkish troops crossed into Iraq to hunt fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which is staging its deadliest strikes since the 1990s. Twenty-two battalions in five areas on both sides of the border are engaged in the fight against the Kurdish group, backed by aerial bombing and artillery attacks, the army said on its website today. Turkey is in the first stages of the operation and is seeking assistance from Iraq, in whose northern mountains the PKK has its main base.

- Turkish troops have killed at least 49 Kurdish rebels in the Kazan Valley region near the town of Cukurca that borders Iraq, the military said Saturday October 22, 2011, as hundreds of troops also pursued Kurdish fighters within northern Iraq. On Wednesday, Turkey launched anti-rebel offensives involving around 10,000 troops both in southeastern Turkey and across the border in Iraq. The military operations began hours after 24 soldiers were killed in Cukurca by the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in the deadliest one-day toll against the military since the 1990s.

- On Monday October 24, 2011, Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and some 500 soldiers have crossed the border with armoured vehicles. The Turkish forces were advancing toward a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camp at Haftanin, around 20 km from the Habur border post and north of the town of Dahuk. Warplanes bombed PKK targets at Haftanin and Hakurke. Several hundred PKK fighters are believed to be based at Haftanin.

- Turkey has bombed the Sulaimaniyah and Arbil provinces of Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region, wounding one civilian, we were told on Wednesday November 23, 2011. The bombing caused heavy damage to farms and livestock in Qalat Dizah.

- A rocket attack on Turkey's embassy in Baghdad on January 18, 2012, has highlighted the rapid deterioration in relations between Turkey and Iraq, a development tied to Turkish criticism of the detention of opposition politicians by the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Assailants fired three rockets at the embassy.

- Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Saturday February 11, 2012. Warplanes had struck the Zab and Hakurk areas, targeting caves and hideouts belonging to the separatist terror organisation.

- Turkish warplanes have bombed suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq. The jets hit caves and other rebel shelters in Iraq's Zap and Hakurk regions, near the border with Turkey, in an operation that began late Saturday February 11, 2012.

- A Kurdish rebel group said on Friday March 9, 2012, that Turkey's air force carried out air strikes on border areas of north Iraq, but gave no details about casualties or damage.

- A Turkish military helicopter crashed into a house near the Afghan capital Friday March 16, 2012, killing 12 Turkish soldiers on board and four Afghan civilians on the ground. It was by far the deadliest incident involving Turkish soldiers in Afghanistan, where they have a noncombat role. The helicopter, a Sikorsky, was on a mission for U.S.-led NATO forces when it went down near Kabul. There was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the crash.

- Turkish warplanes and attack helicopters have struck Kurdish rebel targets inside Iraq after a rebel attack killed eight Turkish soldiers, we were told on Wednesday June 20, 2012. Kurdish rebels attacked Turkish military units with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades Tuesday in southeastern Turkey. The clash left at least 26 rebels dead along with the eight soldiers. The military also said one rebel was captured alive.

- On Sunday June 24, 2012, Turkey carried out air strikes on nine Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq, days after severe clashes on the other side of the border. Most of the targets were in the Qandil region and were hideouts and caves belonging to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants. It said all its planes had returned safely to their bases. Turkish soldiers and Kurdish militants clashed last week in one the most intense battles this year of the separatist conflict, with 26 combatants killed in fighting at army outposts in southeast Turkey. Up to 100 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched simultaneous dawn attacks on three military observation points in Hakkari province near Turkey's mountainous border with Iraq, killing eight soldiers and wounding 19.

- Fire-fighters in southeast Turkey on Saturday July 21, 2012, put out a fire on a pipeline carrying about a quarter of Iraq's oil exports. It was unclear when oil would resume flowing. Turkey blamed sabotage by Kurdish separatists for the explosion on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. The fire broke out on Friday near the town of Midyat in Mardin province, near the Syrian border.

- Turkey's security forces have killed as many as 115 Kurdish rebels during a major security offensive over the past two weeks, we were told on Sunday August 5, 2012. The rebels were killed in an airpower backed offensive near the town of Semdinli, in Hakkari province which sits on the border with Iraq. The offensive began on July 23.

- Kurdish rebels stormed a Turkish army post on the Iraq border Sunday August 5, 2012, triggering fighting that killed 22 people in the latest clash since Ankara launched a major offensive against the outlawed PKK.Six soldiers, two village guards and 14 Kurdish rebels were killed following the assault on an army post in a village in the southeastern province of Hakkari. Three of the slain rebels were women. Another 15 soldiers, one village guard and five civilians were wounded.

- A car bomb blamed on Kurdish separatists exploded near a police station in a city near Turkey's southeastern border with Syria on Monday August 20, 2012, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens more.

- Turkish fighter jets bombed the areas of Juakirk, Kurti and Harmoush on the border of Sidakan in the Kurdistan region of Iraq Tuesday August 21,2012, in the latest strike on Kurdish rebels suspected to be hiding out in the region.

- Turkish troops have killed 16 Kurdish guerrillas in an operation in southeastern Turkey targeting militants who launched a bomb attack on a military convoy that killed five soldiers, we were told on Thursday August 23, 2012. The clashes are part of a growing cycle of violence in the remote, mountainous province of Hakkari bordering Iraq and Iran. The army sent in troop reinforcements and helicopter gunships after Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels detonated remote-controlled bombs in the attack on the army convoy in Hakkari's Semdinli district on Wednesday. Five soldiers were killed and seven wounded in that attack.

- Kurdish militants have killed 10 police and soldiers in an assault near the Iraqi border we were told on Monday September 3, 2012. The attack happened late Sunday in southeastern Sirnak province. An undetermined number of Kurdish guerrillas were also killed. In Syria, regime forces locked in a civil war with opponents of President Bashar Assad ceded control in some areas near the Turkish border to Kurdish fighters said to be linked to Turkey's Kurdish militants. Turkish analysts suspect the regime's seemingly passive conduct was aimed at stirring trouble for Turkey, which opposes Assad, by providing additional space for the PKK to organize.

- Turkish fighter planes and attack helicopters struck suspected Kurdish militant positions in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq late on Wednesday September 5, 2012. The offensive involved at least 2,000 ground troops and 10 F-16 warplanes. At least one soldier was killed and two wounded as the first clashes started with ground troops. There were no reports that Turkish ground troops had crossed the border.

- Turkish soldiers have killed 18 Kurdish rebels in two days in an offensive involving over 2,000 troops, as well as by F-16 fighter jets operating on both sides of the Turkey-Iraq border we were told on Friday September 7, 2012. The operation against separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) began on Wednesday night in Sirnak, a southeasterly province bordering Iraq and Syria. The operation has largely focused on Kato Mountain, a remote area in Sirnak, but Turkish security sources as well as Iraqi residents said warplanes had bombed areas inside northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. Several F-16 jets take off from Diyarbakir air base on Thursday night and Friday morning. Diyarbakir is the main city in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast. There were no reports that Turkish ground troops had crossed the border into northern Iraq.

- Turkish armed forces have killed 75 Kurdish militants near the border with Iran and Iraq over the past week, a provincial governor said on Friday September 14, 2012, as a major offensive involving air strikes and several thousand ground troops intensifies. Eight F-16 fighter jets took off from an air base in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

- Suspected Kurdish separatists killed four Turkish soldiers and wounded five more in an attack on a military convoy near the border with Iran and Iraq, we were told on Saturday September 15, 2012.

- On Wednesday October 3, 2012,  Turkey responded with artillery fire into Syria after the Turkish border town of Akcakale was shelled, killing five people. A statement from the office of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly said the Turkish artillery had fired "on points in Syria that were detected with radar, in line with the rules of engagement."

- The Turkish parliament's approval of military operations outside Turkey on Thursday October 4, 2012, has reignited calls from Syrian opposition activists for international intervention a day after shelling from Syria killed five Turkish civilians. The Turkish parliament's authorization means that armed forces would be able to go into Syria without support from its allies. The vote came after two Turkish women and three of their daughters were killed when shells fired from Syria hit their home in the border village of Akcakale. The Turkish government said the Syrian regime had accepted responsibility for the shelling and had apologized for the deaths. Atalay said the vote is not approval for war but simply that Turkey's military will have the right to respond to future attacks.

- Turkey stepped up retaliatory artillery strikes on a Syrian border town on Thursday October 4, 2012, killing several Syrian soldiers. Damascus apologized through the United Nations for shelling which killed five civilians in southeast Turkey on Wednesday and said it would not happen again.

- Turkey returned fire after Syrian mortar bombs landed in a field in southern Turkey on Saturday October 6, 2012, the day after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned Damascus that Turkey would not shy away from war if provoked. It was the fourth day of Turkish retaliation for firing by Syrian forces that killed five Turkish civilians on Wednesday.

- Turkish artillery fired toward Syria for a fifth day in a row on Sunday October 7, 2012, minutes after a Syrian shell landed on Turkish territory. A short time later, eight mortars could be heard fired from Turkey. Shrapnel from the Syrian mortar caused some damage to a grain depot, but no one was hurt by the shelling.

- A plane intercepted by Turkish fighter jets on its way from Moscow to Damascus was carrying equipment and ammunition destined for the Syrian Defence Ministry, we were told on Thursday October 11, 2012. The Airbus A320 that was forced by Turkey to land in Ankara late Wednesday.  There were 10 containers aboard the plane, whose contents included radio receivers, antennas and equipment thought to be missile parts.

- On Monday October 15, 2012, Turkish authorities forced an Armenian plane bound for the Syrian city of Aleppo to land in order to inspect its cargo. Turkish officials said the plane was carrying humanitarian aid and was allowed to continue on its journey after the inspection.

- Turkey's army fired on Syria on Friday October 19, 2012, after two shells launched from Syria landed in Turkish territory. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for all sides involved in the Syrian conflict to observe a ceasefire during the Islamic Eid al-Adha festival next week.

- Turkey's military has fired on Syria 87 times, killing 12 Syrian soldiers and destroying several tanks in retaliation for Syrian shells and mortars landing on Turkish territory, we were told on Saturday October 20, 2012. The retaliatory fire had been in response to 27 mortars or shells fired from Syria. Turkey had responded to every incident. Twelve Syrian soldiers had been killed as a result of Turkish fire. Five Syrian tanks, three armoured vehicles, one mortar weapon, one ammunition vehicle and two anti-aircraft guns had also been destroyed and many other military vehicles had been damaged. Eighteen mortar shells fired from Syria had landed in the Akcakale district of Sanliurfa province, where five Turkish civilians were killed this month, while nine had landed in Hatay province further to the west. Turkey had fired 69 times from Hatay and 18 times from Akcakale. Turkish F-16 war planes were on high alert at the Incirlik air base in Adana, some 100 km from the Syrian border. The fighters had been scrambled as recently as Friday in response to Syrian helicopters flying close to the shared border.

- An anti-aircraft shell from Syria hit an empty room of a health centre inside Turkey, we were told on Tuesday October 23, 2012. No injuries were reported. The shell pierced through a window of the health centre some 200 yards inside the Turkish border, in the town of Reyhanli and ricocheted five times before hitting a wall. An investigation was launched into the incident. Forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad have been battling rebels near the town of Haram, in Syria's Idlib province, across the border from Reyhanli.

- Two Iraqi civilians were killed and three wounded in a Turkish air strike in Iraqi Kurdistan during the latest operation targeting Kurdish PKK separatist rebels sheltering there, we were told on Wednesday November 7, 2012. The strike on Tuesday hit a village near Rania, close to the remote mountains of Kurdistan in northern Iraq. Turkish ground forces carried out a two-day cross-border operation targeting Kurdish militants in northern Iraq on November 5-6.

- Russian President Vladimir Putin, a close ally of Damascus, headed to Turkey on Monday December 3, 2012, for talks likely to be overshadowed by the two countries' differences over Syria. Ankara is expected to press Putin to stop backing President Bashar Assad's regime. Moscow has shown no inclination to relinquish its support for its last Middle East ally, whom it has shielded from international sanctions and continued to provide with weapons amid the escalating civil war.

- On Tuesday December 4, 2012, the Western military alliance decided to send U.S., German and Dutch Patriot missile batteries to help defend the Turkish border would bring European and U.S. troops to Syria's frontier for the first time in the 20-month civil war.

- On Thursday December 6, 2012, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he wanted to improve strained ties with neighbouring Turkey, but warned Ankara not to interfere in Iraq's internal affairs. In the latest sign of worsening relations between Iraq and Turkey, the central government in Baghdad on Tuesday denied permission to land for a plane carrying Turkey's energy minister to an energy conference in Iraqi Kurdistan. Baghdad has been angered by Ankara's moves to forge closer ties with northern Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government, which is in a dispute with the federal government over oil and land rights. Turkey and Iraq have also accused each other of inciting sectarian tensions and have summoned each others' ambassadors in tit-for-tat manoeuvres.

- U.S. troops arrived in Turkey on Friday January 4, 2013, to man Patriot missile defence batteries near the Syrian border. Syria has previously launched Scud missiles at cities near the Turkish border in a desperate bid to extend its firepower. In response, the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands deployed Patriot air defence missiles to the border region to intercept any Syrian ballistic missiles. The missiles and troops will be under the overall control of NATO, but the missiles will be operated by U.S. forces. A group of 27 U.S. troops landed in Gaziantep, Turkey, where they will survey the Patriot deployment.

- Dozens of camouflaged military trucks streamed out of an army base in the southern Netherlands on Monday January 7, 2013, carrying Patriot missiles to defend Turkey from what the Dutch defence chief called the real threat of missile attack from Syria. Five convoys totalling 160 vehicles ferried two Dutch Patriot missile batteries from an army base near Eindhoven to the port of Eemshaven, where they will be loaded onto a ship for a two-week voyage to Turkey. The Netherlands, Germany and the United States are each sending two Patriot missile batteries and up to 400 troops to Turkey after Ankara asked for NATO's help to bolster security along its 900-km border with Syria.

- Turkish jets have struck suspected Kurdish rebel targets in a cross-border raid in northern Iraq. Four F-16 jets fired at 12 targets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, on Mount Qandil, on the Iraqi-Iranian border, late on Monday January 14, 2013. It did not report any casualties.

Turkish fighter jets have pounded at least 50 Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) targets in northern Iraq on Tuesday January 15, 2013. Sixteen F-16 fighter jets took off from their base in Diyarbakir and bombed the targets in Qandil Mountain. The aircraft targeted two villages in the region, destroying a number of homes.

- Turkey sent jets across its border with Iraq to strike separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) we were told on Thursday February 21, 2013. The jets bombed 12 targets in the Kandil Mountains in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq on Wednesday. Pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency confirmed the raid, saying it targeted two villages and destroyed many farms and orchards.

- Kurdish rebels will start withdrawing thousands of guerrilla fighters from Turkey on May 8 and retreat across the border to northern Iraq we were told on Thursday April 25, 2013, in an important milestone toward ending the nearly three-decade old insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives. In a news conference held in northern Iraq’s Qandil Mountains, rebel commander Murat Karayilan said the extraction would be gradual, but warned it would come to an immediate stop should the rebels be attacked as they leave Turkey.

- Kurdish rebels have started their gradual retreat from Turkey to bases in northern Iraq, a Kurdish party leader said Wednesday May 8, 2013, kicking off a key stage in the peace process with the Turkish government aimed at ending one of the world’s bloodiest insurgencies. The Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, declared a cease-fire in March and agreed to withdraw guerrilla fighters from the Turkish territory, heeding a call from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who is engaged in talks with Turkey to end a nearly 30-year battle that has cost tens of thousands of lives.

- Two car bombs exploded near the border with Syria on Saturday May 11, 2013, killing 43 and wounding 140 others. Turkish officials blamed the attack on a group linked to Syria. The blasts, which were 15 minutes apart and hit the town of Reyhanli’s busiest street, raised fears that Turkey could increasingly be drawn into Syria’s brutal civil war. One of the car bombs exploded outside the city hall while the other went off outside the post office. Reyhanli, a main hub for Syrian refugees and rebels in Turkey’s Hatay province, is just across the border from Syria’s Idlib province.

- Four of eight Turks captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan last month have been freed we were told on Sunday May 12, 2013. A civilian helicopter carrying the Turks, an Afghan and two others was forced to land in bad weather in eastern Afghanistan in April. The group was abducted by insurgents in a remote part of Logar province where the Taliban have a strong presence. The men were freed with the help of Turkish intelligence.

- A man and a 15-year-old boy were killed by stray bullets shot from Syria in a Turkish border town and Turkish troops returned fire we were told on Wednesday July 17, 2013. The Turkish military said it acted in accordance with its rules of engagement after bullets fired from the adjacent Syrian town of Ras al-Ain hit police headquarters in the southeastern Turkish town of Ceylanpinar and houses in the town's center. The incident, which took place on Tuesday, underscores growing concern that Syria's more than two-year-old civil war is dragging in neighboring states. ---

Turkish soldiers and tanks took up position along the border with Syria on Tuesday September 30, 2014, as its government debated whether to deploy troops to battle the Islamic State terror group, a move that comes as tens of thousands pour into the country to escape ISIS fighters. The flood of refugees from Syria has escalated -with 150,000 people fleeing to Turkey in recent days- as ISIS fighters armed with tanks and heavy weapons advance on the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani, known in Arabic as Ayn al Arab, destroying villages in their path. U.S. airstrikes overnight targeted ISIS positions near Kobani.

The United States and Turkey have reached a tentative agreement to train and equip moderate Syrian opposition fighters and expect to sign the pact soon we were told on Tuesday February 17, 2015. The U.S. military is planning to send more than 400 troops, including special operations forces, to train Syrian moderates at sites outside Syria as part of the fight against the Islamic State. The U.S. plans to train about 5,000 Syrian fighters a year for three years under the plan. Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as Turkey, have publicly offered to host training sites. Turkey hopes the training will also bolster the weakened and divided Syrian opposition in their struggle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey has closed its embassy in Yemen we were told on Monday February 16, 2015, the latest of a number of foreign powers to withdraw their diplomats as the country’s civil conflict worsens. The ambassador and other embassy staff had returned to Turkey. The Turkish embassy will resume activities when state authority had been reasserted. Turkish citizens were asked to leave Yemen.

The Turkish Army launched an operation into Syria to evacuate soldiers guarding the Tomb of Suleyman Shah, which has been besieged by Islamic State militants, and move the tomb’s remains we were told on Sunday February 22, 2015. The military then destroyed what was left of the site to prevent the militants from using the enclave, and one soldier was killed by accident during the operation. The operation, called “Sah Firat,” began on Saturday and involved a large convoy of tanks and other heavy weaponry that entered Syria through Kobani, the Kurdish territory in Syria. The military operation was conducted in correspondence with Enver Muslim, the leader of the Syrian Kurdish group in control of Kobani, and aimed to evacuate around 40 soldiers, including 20 elite troops from the Turkish Special Forces who guarded the tomb. Suleyman Shah was the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire. His tomb is considered by the government here to be in Turkish territory, and it has been guarded by Turkish soldiers.---

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on the international community to start ground operations against Islamic State militants in Iraq, calling the militants a ‘virus’. Erdoğan welcomed Iraqi President Fuad Masum on Wednesday April 22, 2015. He condemned IS militants and their activities for causing damage to Muslims as a whole and Islam as a religion. A land operation is necessary to support air operations in Syria and Iraq if the military operation against IS is to be successful, Turkish President said.

Turkey's prime minister crossed into Syrian territory in an armored convoy Sunday May 10, 2015, to pay a surprise visit to the tomb of the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire. The move prompted immediate criticism from Syria, which accused Turkey of acting aggressively toward a sovereign state.

Turkey said it shot down a Syrian helicopter on Saturday May 16, 2015, that had violated its airspace, while Syrian state media said it was a remotely controlled surveillance drone. It crossed over into Turkish airspace for seven miles, over a period of five minutes, before it was fired upon.

As Kurdish rebels in northern Syria rack up wins against the Islamic State group, Turkish media is abuzz with talk of a long-debated military intervention to push the Islamic militants back from the Turkish border, a move that will also outflank any Kurdish attempts to create a state along Turkey's southern frontier. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired a National Security Council meeting Monday June 29, 2015, which covered developments in Syria and pro-government newspapers were rife with purported proposals, ranging from loosening the rules of engagement to give Turkish troops a freer hand to fire into Syria, to a tanks-and-troops invasion aimed at occupying a 110-kilometer long, 33-kilometer wide buffer zone.

An explosion left more than two dozen people dead and scores more injured Monday July 20, 2015, in the southeastern Turkish city of Suruc, near the Syrian border. At least 27 people were killed and nearly 100 hospitalized due to the blast which was caused by a suicide bomber.

Turkish warplanes bombed military positions of Turkey's rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in neighbouring Iraq Friday July 24, 2015. The strikes targeted mountain positions in the north of the Dohuk province, which is part of Iraq's northern autonomous region of Kurdistan. The PKK, which is banned in Turkey and has long had a presence in Iraq, has several training camps in Dohuk, a province that also borders Kurdish areas of Syria.

On Saturday July 25, 2015, we were told that Turkey launched overnight airstrikes against several positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s party (PKK) in northern Iraq for the first time in four years. The air raids put an end to a two-year ceasefire between the Turkish government and the PKK, severely endangering the already fragile peace process started in 2012 in an attempt to end a bloody conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people over 30 years. The bombs hit several PKK targets in northern Iraq, including shelters, bunkers, storage facilities and the Qandil Mountains, where the PKK’s high command is based. Turkish fighter jets also targeted Islamic State positions in Syria for the second night in a row. In addition to the air raids, the Turkish military carried out artillery attacks against Isis in Syria and the PKK in northern Iraq. Strikes were carried out on targets of the Daesh (Isis) terrorist group in Syria and the PKK terrorist group in northern Iraq; all anti-terrorism operations were carried out indiscriminately against all terrorist groups. ---

Turkish fighter jets are conducting more raids against Kurdish rebel positions across the border in northern Iraq. F-16 jets took off from Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir air base on Sunday July 26, 2015, to hit Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK targets. Earlier, Turkey called for a meeting of its NATO allies to discuss threats to its security and its airstrikes targeting the PKK and Islamic State group militants in Syria.

Turkish troops have shelled a Syrian village near the border, targeting Kurdish fighters who have been battling the Islamic State group with the aid of U.S.-led airstrikes we were told Monday July 27, 2015. In cross-border strikes since Friday, Turkey has targeted both Kurdish fighters as well as the IS group, stepping up its involvement in Syria's increasingly complex civil war. The Syrian Kurds are among the most effective ground forces battling the IS group, but Turkey fears they could revive an insurgency against Ankara in pursuit of an independent state. A Turkish official said Turkish forces are only targeting the IS group in Syria and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in neighbouring Iraq.

Turkish air strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq killed –and eight wounded- at least six people on Saturday August 1, 2015, as Ankara's bombardment of the Kurdish rebel group entered its second week. Turkish warplanes struck the village of Zarkel, in the Rawanduz area east of Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region. Two women were among six people killed in the raid, which completely destroyed several buildings.

Three people were killed in clashes between police and Kurds in a town in southeastern Turkey on Friday August 7, 2015 while a local MP called on security forces to withdraw to prevent the violence spiraling. Sporadic gunfire rang out and smoke rose from the town of Silopi in Sirnak province, close to Turkey's borders with Iraq and Syria. Armoured jeeps and water cannon vehicles patrolled streets as youths in jeans and t-shirts looked on behind street corners. Makeshift barricades made of bricks and sandbags were erected in side streets. Seven people, including two police officers, were also wounded in the clashes. PKK guerrillas had attacked security forces with rockets, handmade explosives and rifles as police launched an operation against fighters who had dug trenches and erected barricades across the town. A 17-year-old youth and a 58-year-old man were among the dead and operations were continuing against protesters in the area.

Police have detained a female suspect following an attack on the U.S. consulate building in Istanbul on Monday August 10, 2015. Two attackers opened fire on the U.S. consulate building in Turkey's biggest city, and fled when police shot back. Those involved in the attack on the building in Istanbul's Sariyer district included one man and one woman. There were no casualties. ---

Turkey is in the process of constructing a 45km wall along its border with Syria purportedly in order to deter militants from travelling across the border in both directions. 12km of the concrete wall has already been built along the border at the town of Reyhanli, in Hatay province, across the border from the Syrian town of Atmeh. The Turkish military is also digging ditches, expected to stretch eight kilometres, just behind the wall. Turkey has faced criticism in past for having a lax approach to security at its borders. The Syria-Turkey border has been a major point of entry for people travelling to fight with militant groups like Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State (IS).

The Turkish military announced Tuesday August 25, 2015, that 34 Kurdish militants were killed in a wave of airstrikes in Iraq. According to Ankara, all those killed were members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), after Turkey’s air force targeted the group’s camps in northern Iraq’s Qandil mountain region. ---

Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdish targets in Iraq after militants unleashed the deadliest assault on the army since the breakdown of their ceasefire in July.  The military operation began on Sunday September 6, 2025, with airstrikes on Kurdish-linked targets and helicopters dropping Special Forces into a mountainous area near the Iraqi frontier. Dozens of Turkish troops were killed in the area on Sunday, after Kurdish militants ambushed their convoy in the mainly-Kurdish Hakkari province. The army said 16 people were killed in the assault, while a website linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) put the death toll at 32.

Turkish ground forces have crossed into Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish militants for the first time since a ceasefire two years ago. The incursion was a "short-term" measure to hunt down PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) rebels. Turkish warplanes also launched a wave of air strikes on PKK bases in northern Iraq on Tuesday September 8, 2015. Meanwhile, at least 14 Turkish police officers died in a bomb attack blamed on Kurdish militants also on Tuesday. The attack in eastern Igdir province came a day after suspected PKK bombs killed at least 16 Turkish soldiers in south-eastern Hakkari region.

Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq overnight Friday September 11, 2015, the latest in a series of daily air strikes on the militants as conflict surges in southeast Turkey. More than 15 warplanes struck sites where the PKK are located at Qandil, Zap and Avashin in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Two of 18 Turkish workers kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad this month have been freed in the southern city of Basra we were told on Wednesday September 16, 2015. The men were among 18 employees of major Turkish construction firm Nurol Insaat kidnapped on September 2 in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad, where they were working on a football stadium project. The two men were found late on Tuesday.

At least 55 militants were killed when Turkish warplanes hit Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in northern Iraq overnight we were told on Saturday September 19, 2015.

Turkish warplanes have bombed the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant targets in southeastern Turkey as well as northern Iraq, destroying ammunition and fuel depots and killing five militants we were told on Monday September 21, 2015. The air strikes in the southeastern province of Hakkari come amid a surge of attacks against the military by the PKK. On September 19, the military said it had killed at least 55 militants in attacks on PKK camps in northern Iraq. ---

Turkey Tuesday September 29, 2015:

• Clashes between Turkish security forces and autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels have claimed nearly 60 lives in the southeast and across the border in northern Iraq.
• More than 30 Kurdish rebels were killed overnight in a cross-border military operation in northern Iraq.
• Kurdish militants killed two police officers Monday night in the southern city of Adana. Assailants riding a motorcycle fired on a police vehicle outside a hospital in Adana before fleeing.
• Six rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, were killed Monday in a clash with the security forces in Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq.
• At least 19 others were killed in airstrikes Friday conducted by Turkish jets against suspected PKK targets in northern Iraq's Gara region.

 

A nine-year-old girl was killed and five people were wounded when a rocket fired by Kurdish fighters hit a house in Bismil district of Diyarbakir province in southern Turkey on Sunday September 28, 2015. Kurdish rebels had targeted an armoured police vehicle but instead struck a three-story house in the mainly Kurdish town of Bismil. In a separate incident on Monday, five children were wounded when a bomb tore through a street in the city of Diyarbakir. The children were hurt in Diyarbakir's historic district of Sur.

Sixteen Turkish workers kidnapped from a construction site in Baghdad and held for nearly a month were released on Wednesday September 30, 2015. The workers were handed over to the Turkish ambassador in Iraq; they were all in good health. The men, employed by Turkish construction company Nurol Insaat, were part of a group of 18 Turkish workers snatched in Baghdad's Shiite-dominated Sadr City on September 2. After their abduction, a video showed the hostages and demanded that Turkey halt the flow of militants into Iraq, stop the passage of oil from Iraq's northern Kurdish region via Turkish territory and lift what was described as a "siege" on Syrian cities. ---

Fourteen members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed and three were caught in clashes in Nusaybin in Mardin province as the border town remained under curfew we were told on Sunday October 4, 2015. Turkish forces carried out air strikes on PKK targets in Hakkari province on the border with Syria, the northeastern province of Kars and in northern Iraq. The raids on Saturday evening and early Sunday destroyed shelters, camps and caves. Fighting also continued in Semdinli district in Hakkari following a simultaneous attack on a number of government and police buildings. Exit and entry into the town was being regulated.

Two explosions at a peace rally in the Turkish capital Ankara have killed at least 86 people and injured 186. The blasts took place near the city's central train station as people gathered for a march organised by leftist groups. The attack is the deadliest ever of its kind on Turkish soil.

Fierce gun battles erupted in the southeast Turkish town of Cizre on Saturday October 31, 2015, between security forces and members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) youth-wing (YDG-H). Violence intensified in the predominantly Kurdish southeast ahead of Sunday's snap poll. Armoured police vehicles rolled into the Yafes neighbourhood, where the YDG-H had dug trenches and erected barricades, and immediately came under intense gunfire. Police responded with smoke bombs and masked police officers were seen moving into the neighbourhood. There was no word on casualties.

Turkish jets carried out new raids on suspected Kurdish rebel targets across the border in northern Iraq we were told Tuesday November 3, 2015. The Turkish airstrikes hit shelters, underground bunkers and weapon emplacements belonging to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in six locations Monday in northern Iraq, including the Qandil Mountains where the rebel leadership is based. Turkey authorities declared a curfew in certain parts of the mainly Kurdish town of Silvan where at least two militants were killed.

Eighteen people were killed in clashes with the military in southeastern Turkey on Thursday November 5, 2015, lifting this week's death toll to almost 40 in the mainly Kurdish area and dampening prospects for a ceasefire. The military killed 16 PKK rebels in a rural area near the town of Yuksekova near the Iraqi border. The army killed 15 PKK fighters and lost two soldiers there on Wednesday. In the town of Silvan two men were shot to death in street clashes. Two others were killed earlier this week.

Turkish jets hit Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq overnight on Friday November 13, 2015, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the international community to prioritize the fight against terrorism in the wake of the Paris attacks. Eight F-16 jets flying from Diyarbakir air base hit bunkers and weapons stashes in the Kandil region, where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has its headquarters. ---

Turkish fighter jets have bombed suspected Kurdish rebel targets in a new cross-border offensive in northern Iraq. A military statement on Saturday November 21, 2015, said the overnight airstrikes hit suspected Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, hideouts, shelters and supply points in four areas of northern Iraq. Areas targeted included the Qandil Mountains where the PKK's leadership is based. Separate raids were also conducted on PKK caves, shelters and weapon emplacements in Turkey's mainly Kurdish Sirnak province.

Turkish fighter jets on patrol near the Syrian border on Tuesday November 24, 2015, shot down a Russian warplane that Turkey said had ignored numerous warnings and violated its airspace. NATO announced that it would hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday in Brussels to discuss the episode, as credible reports were emerging from Latakia Province, where the Russian jet went down, that rebels possibly wielding TOW antitank missiles and other weapons had hit a Russian helicopter sent to the scene of the crash to look for survivors. In his first remarks on the incident, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia confirmed that an F-16 Turkish fighter jet had shot down the Russian plane, a Sukhoi Su-24, with an air-to-air missile. But he insisted the Russian jet had been in Syrian airspace at the time. Mr. Putin was clearly angry; he called the incident a “stab in the back” by those who “abet” terrorism and warned it would have “serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations.” Mr. Putin did not specify what those consequences might be, but hours later his foreign minister, Sergey V.Lavrov, cancelled a Wednesday visit to Turkey, and a large Russian tour operator, Natalie Tours, announced it was suspending sales to Turkey, where Russians account for about 12 percent of all tourists last year.

Russia said Turkey may have planned the downing of one of its warplanes near the Syrian border as Germany bolstered calls to ease tensions and maintain focus on defeating Islamic State. The attack appeared to be “an ambush” and “looks very much like a planned provocation,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters Wednesday November 25, 2015, suggesting Turkey was defending Syrian anti-government fighters based in nearby areas. The incident represents the first direct clash between foreign powers embroiled in the Syrian civil war and is weighing on Russian and Turkish asset prices. While Putin has ruled out any military retaliation against Turkey the clash has highlighted dangers the Syria conflict could spiral into a broader one since Russia began air attacks there September 30.

Turkey late Sunday November 29, 2015, once again started shelling Kurdish fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in border villages of the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Turkish artillery began shelling the villages of Bedkar, Spindar, Baluka and Kara in the Kani Masi district of Amedi.

Iraq asked NATO on Tuesday December 8, 2015, to order Turkey to withdraw its troops immediately from northern Iraq after Ankara said it would not deploy any more but refused to pull out those already there. The arrival of a heavily armed Turkish contingent near the frontline close to Mosul has added yet another controversial deployment to a war against Islamic State that has drawn in most of the world's major powers. Russia, already furious with Ankara after the Turkish air force shot down one of its jets flying over Syria last month, said it considered the Turkish force's presence in Iraq illegal. Ankara says its troops are in Iraq to train Iraqi forces. Training at this camp began with the knowledge of the Iraqi defines ministry and police Turkey said.

Ankara carried out airstrikes targeting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) forces in northern Iraq we were told on Wednesday December 9, 2015. Ten F-16 fighter jets launched an attack on Tuesday, targeting PKK positions in the Kandil, Hakurk, Zap and Avasin-Baysan regions in northern Iraq. The targets were destroyed.

Shiite paramilitary groups have threatened to use force against Turkey unless it pulls its forces out of Iraq. They liken the Turkish incursion to the occupation of Iraq by IS militants.

Turkey's prime minister accused Russia on Wednesday December 9, 2015, of attempted "ethnic cleansing" in northern Syria, trying to drive out the local Turkmen and Sunni Muslim populations to protect its military interests in the region. The Turkmens are ethnic kin of the Turks and Ankara has been particularly angered by what it says is Russian targeting of them in Syria. ---

A number of Turkish army trucks arrived at the Ibrahim Khalil border of the Kurdistan Region Monday December14, 2015, on their way back to Turkey in what could be troop rotation or partial withdrawal. 10 army trucks carrying soldiers and tanks passed through Duhok province towards the border. However in the early hours of Monday a new batch of Turkish army trucks had crossed the Ibrahim Khalil border on their way to the Bashik base near Mosul. The initial Turkish contingent consisted of 15 tanks, eight armoured vehicles, 13 military vehicles and a number of trucks. The number of Turkish soldiers is estimated between 150 to several hundred. Baghdad has condemned the Turkish move as a violation of its sovereignty. 

Turkey Monday December 14, 2015:

• Tensions mounted in Turkey's southeast after seven people were killed in clashes with security forces.
• Two people were killed as police clashed with crowds protesting against a security crackdown in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
• Further south, five Kurdish rebels were killed in Mardin province's Dargecit district, another area under curfew.
• Armoured police vehicles roamed Diyarbakir's streets, firing water cannon and tear gas as hundreds gathered for a march called by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) to protest a two-week-long curfew in the city's district of Sur.
• Tear gas billowed in the city streets as armoured vehicles sped around and protesters lobbed stones at police. Shopkeepers shuttered their stores ahead of the protest, which the government said was banned. Few buses were operating, rubbish was not collected and most students did not go to school.
• Youths with scarves masking their faces tried to block streets with piles of bricks and burning wood before police pursued them into side streets.
• In Sirnak province, the governor imposed a curfew in two towns near the borders of both Syria and Iraq from Monday night, a day after teachers were seen streaming out of the area on the orders of education authorities.
• The two towns of Cizre and Silopi were under tight security, with police armoured vehicles stationed at the entrances to both. Many families in the eastern town of Cizre left their homes hastily as the curfew was announced.
• According to data compiled by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, 52 curfews have been imposed since mid-August across seven Turkish provinces in the region, affecting areas where some 1.3 million people live.

 

Islamic State militants launched an attack on a military camp in northern Iraq where Turkish troops are stationed on Wednesday December 15, 2015. Seven Kurdish peshmega fighters were killed and four Turkish troops were injured in the bombardment. Islamic State fired rockets at the Bashiqa camp, which is located near Mosul. Katyusha projectiles fell into the camp and Turkish troops returned fire following the attack.

Turkey accused Iraq on Friday December 18, 2015, of undermining the global fight against Islamic State militants by taking its complaint about the deployment of Turkish troops in northern Iraq to the United Nations Security Council. The 15-member council met on the issue on Friday at the request of Iraq and Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari who asked the body to adopt a resolution demanding Turkey withdraw its troops immediately. Jaafari signalled the request for council action was a last resort. Iraq has spared no effort to exhaust all diplomatic channels and bilateral negotiations with Turkey, in order to withdraw its forces that are unauthorised in Iraq. Turkey deployed around 150 troops in the Bashiqa area earlier this month with the stated aim of training an Iraqi militia to fight Islamic State. Turkey withdrew some troops this week, moving them to another base inside Iraq's Kurdistan region, but Baghdad said they should pull out completely. Turkey's U.N. Ambassador Halit Cevik said the deployment had been taken out of context and that additional troops had been sent to the camp to provide force protection due to increasing threats. Ankara believes it had taken sufficient measures to de-escalate the situation, so efforts could be re-focused in combating Islamic State militants, who have seized swaths of Iraq and Syria. Turkey said it has never had and will never have any interest in violating Iraq's sovereignty. ---

Foreign ministers of the Arab League held an emergency meeting in Cairo on Thursday December 24 2015, at the request of the Iraqi government. On the agenda: finding a solution to Turkey’s ongoing military presence in northern Iraq. Hundreds of Turkish troops entered Iraq earlier this month and are stationed near Mosul. Ankara says they are there to protect Turkish military personnel training Iraqi militia in the area. But Baghdad wants them out and the Arab League agrees. The Arab League supports Iraq’s request and this reflects their solidarity.

Five Turkish soldiers were wounded on Sunday December 27, 2015, in an attack perpetrated by the Islamic State (IS) on the Bashiqa training camp in northern Iraq, the second attack in two weeks on the camp. IS militants first attacked the training camp on December 16, killing three Iraqi Sunni fighters and wounding 10 people, including four Turkish soldiers.

Fourteen Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members were killed in southeastern Turkey on Monday January 4, 2016, as military operations to root out armed fighters focused on urban centres across the mainly Kurdish region. Six PKK fighters were killed in operations in southeast town of Cizre and seven barricades on streets were lifted. Explosions rocked the town of Cizre on Tuesday where hundreds of residents left their homes, fleeing violence. A Sixteen year old girl said they have not had access to food or water for the past 22 days. Five PKK fighters were killed in the Sur district of Diyarbakir and three others were killed in the town of Silopi. Around 296 Kurdish fighters have been killed in large-scale security operations in southeast Turkey, since December 14, 2015.

Turkish tanks and artillery have bombarded Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq over the past 48 hours, killing almost 200 of its fighters in retaliation for a suicide bombing in Istanbul we were told on Thursday January 14, 2016. An Islamic State suicide bomber, who entered Turkey as a Syrian refugee, blew himself up among groups of tourists in the historic centre of Istanbul on Tuesday, killing 10 Germans and seriously wounding several other foreigners.

Turkish tanks and artillery have bombarded Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq over the past 48 hours, killing almost 200 of its fighters in retaliation for a suicide bombing in Istanbul we were told on Thursday January 14, 2016. An Islamic State suicide bomber, who entered Turkey as a Syrian refugee, blew himself up among groups of tourists in the historic centre of Istanbul on Tuesday, killing 10 Germans and seriously wounding several other foreigners. After the incident on Tuesday close to 500 artillery and tank shells were fired on Daesh positions in Syria and Iraq. ---

Projectiles fired from Syria struck near a school Monday January 18, 2016, in the southern Turkish city of Kilis, killing one person. The rocket had hit a schoolyard, killing a cleaning lady, while two other rockets fell in vacant land. A wounded student, a girl in the seventh grade, was taken to a hospital for treatment. It seemed "mortars" had been fired from Syria. The Turkish army responded with fire against targets in Syria. Earlier, four people were injured in an explosion on the grounds of a middle school in Kilis. There are four schools in the area, just 10 kilometers from Syria.

On Friday January 22, 2016, we were told that the Turkish forces have bombed the village of Sharanish, an Iraqi home to many Christians, Chaldeans and Assyrians. The bombings happened over the weekend. The attack happened on the Upper Sharanish village, where some 25 Assyrian families live. The Muslim village in Lower Sharanish was not targeted.

Turkish warplanes bombarded areas inside the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) late Friday January 29, 2016, targeting bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Four Turkish jets launched strikes in the sub-district of Bradost and two villages in Soran district, 120 km northeast of Erbil city.

Turkey has accused Russia of again violating its airspace and warned it would "face consequences" if such infringements continue. The foreign ministry said a Russian jet flew into its airspace on the border with Syria on Friday January 29, 2016. Moscow described the claim as "baseless propaganda".

Turkish fighter jets have bombarded a village in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. The warplanes targeted the village in the northern province of Dohuk on Thursday February 4, 2016. There has been no immediate report of casualties. However the airstrikes inflicted heavy damage on the village while many of its residents reportedly left their homes fearing fresh attacks on the area.

The Turkish army has shelled Kurdish targets near the city of Azaz in northwest Syria, including an air base recently retaken from Islamist rebels, with a massive attack. It also hit Syrian forces across the border. The Turkish military hit Syrian government forces on Saturday February 13, 2016, in response to fire inflicted on a Turkish military guard post in Turkey’s southern Hatay region. Meanwhile, the Turkish shelling of Kurdish positions continued for more than three hours almost uninterruptedly; the Turkish forces are using mortars and missiles and firing from the Turkish border not far from the city of Azaz in the Aleppo Governorate.

Turkish warplanes continues hitting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions inside the Kurdistan Region late Wednesday February 17, 2016, after a deadly explosion in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, which killed 28 people and wounded dozens of others. Warplanes launched airstrikes on the village of Banke in Zakho district. The air raid on the Batifa sub district caused fires in the largely agricultural area and cut electricity to villages. Warplanes bombarded a number of villages near Amedi and Sidakan districts last week, and destroyed a bridge in the Barwari Balla area.

Turkey’s warplanes resumed airstrikes on the positions of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region northern Iraq we were told February 20, 2016. The PKK positions near the Zap, Gare, Metina, Avshin and Kandil settlements located in the north of Iraq were targeted. ---

Turkish military helicopters killed 12 Kurdish militants in strikes near the southeastern border with Syria on Wednesday February 24, 2016. The Cobra attack helicopters launched the assault as a group of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters travelled through a mountainous area near the Idil district of Turkey's Sirnak province. Late on Wednesday, Turkish warplanes carried out an air bombardment on PKK camps in Qandil, the group's centre in northern Iraq hitting ammunition depots, shelters and logistical centres.

The Turkish Air Force made airstrikes in at least five locations on the territory of neighbouring Iraq, targeting strongholds of the Kurdish militia. 67 militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have been killed. Turkish warplanes have attacked PKK targets in northern Iraq, including the headquarters of the PKK leadership situated right on the Iraq-Iran border in the Qandil Mountains, hitting the settlements of Avasin, Basyan, Haftanin, Metina and Qandil, Reuters reports, citing the army. The airstrikes took place on Wednesday, March 9, 2016.

Turkish warplanes bombed camps belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the north of Iraq early on Monday March 14, 2016. The strikes come less than 24 hours after a car bomb in Ankara killed at least 37 people. A total of 11 fighter jets were involved in the bombardment of the PKK positions. Some 18 targets were hit, including ammunition depots and shelters. A woman who joined the PKK in 2013 was one of the two suspects behind the car bombing in Ankara. The woman was born in 1992 and was from the eastern Turkish city of Kars.

One police officer and three Kurdish fighters were killed in clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish insurgents in southeast Turkey's largest city of Diyarbakir on Tuesday March 15, 2016.

A suicide bomb attack at a busy shopping area in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Thursday March 17, 2016, has killed at least four people. Three Israelis and an Iranian died. Another 36 people were injured in the blast near a government building on Istiklal Street.

Turkish fighter jets have carried out several air strikes against PKK terrorist hideouts in northern Iraq following successful military surveillance in the targeted areas. On Friday March 18, 2016, 20 aircrafts have carried out air strikes against targets in the areas around Sinat, Haftanin, and Gara and destroyed the targets with direct hit. Ten other Turkish military aircrafts also hit PKK targets around its Hakurk camp in northern Iraq.

Turkish military launched airstrikes on PKK militants in northern Iraq on Tuesday March 22, 2016. At least 13 Turkish fighter jets reportedly took part in the operation. The army hit shelters, caves and ammunition depots used by PKK fighters in northern Iraq and in areas near the town of Semdinli, in the Hakkari province of southeast Turkey.

Turkish warplanes bombed and destroyed nearly a dozen targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq late on Wednesday March 23, 2016; the latest operations targeted insurgent camps near the Turkish border. The F-16 and F-4 jets carried out the operation against the camps in the Hakkurk, Haftanin, Avasin and Basyan areas, destroying 11 targets including ammunition depots and shelters.

Turkey Thursday March 24, 2016:

• Turkish warplanes struck Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq and killed 24 PKK fighters in the towns of Nusaybin, Sirnak and Yuksekova in southeast Turkey.
• The militants launched a car bomb attack on a military installation in the region.
• Thursday night's bombing killed three security force members and wounded 24 at a security outpost near the southeast's largest city of Diyarbakir. The installation suffered severe damage in the blast on the highway between Diyarbakir and the town of Lice.
• More than a thousand insurgents have been killed in the largely Kurdish southeast since a 2-1/2-year-old PKK ceasefire collapsed in July, triggering the heaviest clashes in the region since the 1990s.
• Turkish F-16 and F-4 jets destroyed PKK ammunition depots and shelters in the Avasin and Basyan areas.
• More than 300 members of the security forces have died, while the pro-Kurdish opposition says hundreds of civilians have also been killed in the military operations which were stepped up in December.
• More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984. The PKK, which says it is fighting for Kurdish autonomy, is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Turkish Air Force jets on Saturday March 27, 2016, joined coalition forces in attacking Islamic State targets in northern Iraq. The attack marks Turkey's first aerial assault on the group in northern Iraq.

A Turkish soldier was killed at a military base. The Turkish soldier was killed by rockets fired by IS militants during a fight with the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces that landed at a base in the Bashiqa region where some Turkish soldiers are stationed. A second Turkish soldier was slightly wounded. ---

Fighter jets have carried out strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Four F-16 jets bombarded the region of Zap, destroying shelters, caves and ammunition depots used by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Eight F-4 2020 fighter jets hit PKK targets in the region of Metina. The Kurdish rebels, which Ankara and its allies consider to be terrorists, have been fighting for greater autonomy in Turkey.

Turkey’s government has forced thousands of Syrian refugees to return to their war-torn country in recent months, exposing the perils of an agreement that allows Greece to send refugees arriving by boat back to Turkey, Amnesty International said in a report issued Friday.

We have been told that the Turkish authorities had been “rounding up and expelling groups of around 100 Syrian men, women and children to Syria on a near-daily basis since mid-January.” Among them were three young children who were forced to return to Syria without their parents. The allegations come amid growing trepidation over a deal concluded in March between Turkey and the European Union that allows Greece to send refugees back to Turkey. European leaders, hoping to stop millions of migrants who are trying to reach their shores, have framed the agreement as an effort to dissuade refugees from making the perilous sea journey. There has also been consternation over the lengths European leaders have been willing to go to keep migrants away —including offering billions in aid to Turkey to conclude the agreement, while ignoring an increasingly harsh crackdown on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s opponents by the Turkish authorities.

The Turkish military has carried out airstrikes on Monday April 4, 2016, in northern Iraq against targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The Turkish planes hit weapon stores, shelters and other PKK sites in the Qandil area of northern Iraq.

Two rockets fired from Syria have landed in a Turkish border town, wounding at least two people. One of the rockets exploded near a park in Kilis on Thursday April 6, 2016. The second rocket did not explode.

Turkish warplanes conducted air strikes on Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Wednesday April 6, 2016, destroying caves and shelters used by the rebels. F-16 and F-4 jets destroyed the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in the Zap area of neighbouring Iraq. ---

Turkish warplanes continue hitting suspected Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions inside the Kurdistan Region, destroying agricultural fields. We were told Friday April 8, 2016, that Turkish jets conducted strikes in the villages of Yanze, Bokriskan, Komtan, Zargali, Lewzhe and Kurtak near the Qandil Mountains late Thursday. The strikes caused no known casualties but damaged fields near the area. This came after the jets also launched airstrikes on Wednesday in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, hitting caves and shelters used by PKK fighters targeting the Zap area.

On Sunday April 10, 2016, we were told that dozens of villages have been abandoned and hundreds of families displaced close to Iraq's northern border with Turkey as a result of Turkish airstrikes targeting militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, better known as the PKK. Of the 76 villages of the Barwari sub-district of Dohuk governorate, which lies along the Turkish border, between half and a third are empty, save for a few people occasionally returning to check on their property or work on their farms.

Pirates have attacked a Turkish cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria kidnapping six of the crew. The ship carrying chemicals was travelling from Gabon to Ivory Coast. The pirates attacked the ship late at night on Sunday April 10, 2016, as it was sailing close to the oil-rich Niger Delta. The vessel's captain and the chief engineer were among those kidnapped. The ship's Turkish owners say none of the crew were injured in the attack but that they have no information on their whereabouts.

Turkish artillery units on Tuesday April 12, 2016, shelled Islamic State group targets across the border in Syria hours after rockets fired from Syria struck a Turkish border town, wounding eight people (two of them were in serious condition). Two rockets hit the town of Kilis in the third such cross-border incident at the town in the past five days. One rocket struck a guesthouse while the second landed on an empty field near a bus terminal. Authorities evacuated children from a nearby youth centre that has been turned into a temporary school for Syrian refugees. Turkish artillery units fired at IS targets around the town of Azaz, in northern Syria. The targeted IS positions were located around the villages of Sawran, Dabiq, Akhtarin and Ehtemlat and added that the shelling was continuing.

Rockets fired from Syria have killed four Syrians —three of them children— in a Turkish border town. Four rockets that hit the town of Kilis also wounded a Turkish citizen and five other Syrians.

Two rockets hit the Turkish town of Kilis near the Syrian border on Sunday April 24, 2016, killing one person and wounding 26. The rockets struck two houses in a poor neighbourhood near the town centre. Turkish soldiers near the border returned fire into Syria. ---

Six Turkish members of a cargo ship's crew who were kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria two weeks ago have been released and are safely back in Istanbul we were told Tuesday April 26, 2016. The Turks, who included the M/T Puli's captain, chief officer and chief engineer, were abducted some 90 miles off Nigeria on April 11. Other members of the crew were left on board, unharmed. The tanker was carrying liquid chemical fuels and was travelling to Cameroon.

The Turkish army carried out air strikes in rural parts of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq, targeting logistics posts used by Kurdish militants we were told Saturday April 30, 2016. Twenty jets took off from Diyarbakir air base late on Friday and bombed sites used by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants for food and weapons support in Hakurk, Avasin and Qandil in northern Iraq. Two separate rounds of air bombardments were carried out in Sirnak province near the Iraq border after receiving an intelligence tip-off.

Two police officers were killed in a car bomb explosion in southeast Turkey on Sunday May 1, 2016. The blast targeted police headquarters in the city of Gaziantep. At least 22 people were wounded, 18 of them police and four civilians.

Turkish warplanes hit targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Sunday May 8, 2016, as three soldiers and 12 militants were reported killed in separate clashes over the weekend. The F-16 and F-4 2020 aircraft destroyed bunkers, ammunition depots and gun installations in four northern Iraqi regions, including Qandil, where the PKK has camps.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday May 11, 2016, that Turkey has killed as many as 3,000 militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS. Erdogan said no other country is fighting the ISIS militants the way Turkey is. The President called for more help from western allies in the fight against militants, especially near the Syrian border, where the town of Kilis has been hit for weeks by repeated rocket fire from fighters across the border.

Turkish war planes destroyed 98 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant targets in Turkey and northern Iraq in nine air strikes on Friday May 13, 2016. Turkey has been carrying out regular attacks on PKK camps and related targets in the mountainous region of northern Iraq near the Turkish border since a ceasefire with the PKK collapsed in July last year.---

Turkish jets have conducted air strikes against outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq we were told Friday May 20, 2016. The jets hit the Gara region of northern Iraq and destroyed shelters belonging to the PKK. The jets also hit the Kandil Mountains in northern Iraq, known as the headquarters of the PKK on May 19.

Turkey’s air force have carried out a series of attacks on PKK terrorist sites in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq we were told Sunday June 5, 2016. Airstrikes hit PKK targets in Yuksekova district, Hakkari province, and in Diyarbakir province’s Lice district on Saturday. Turkish jets also bombed PKK bases in the Avasin, Qandil and Gara areas of northern Iraq. On Friday, air attacks killed 20 PKK terrorists in Hakkari’s Semdinli district. In neighbouring Sirnak province, a PKK terrorist was killed and a village guard wounded in fighting late Saturday. The guard died in hospital Sunday.

On Tuesday June 7, 2016, a car bomb attack targeting a police bus has killed seven officers and four civilians in central Istanbul. It was the fourth major attack in Turkey's largest city this year. The attack happened near the city's historic Beyazit Square neighbourhood, a major tourist attraction, and an Istanbul university building. The explosives were remotely detonated as the bus passed through the busy Vezneciler district at the morning rush hour. About 36 other people were injured.

Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey overnight on Wednesday June 22, 2016. The strikes destroyed targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), including shelters and weapon stores.

The Turkish military has conducted air operations against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists in Haqurq region of Northern Iraq, along with Kars, Şırnak and Hakkari provinces of Turkey. 13 targets were destroyed during operations conducted on Friday June 24, 2016. Two targets were destroyed in an operation on Haqurq; two other targets were destroyed in Kağızman of Kars, six in Şırnak and three in Çukurca of Hakkari. Meanwhile, another operation continues, intended to stop terrorist activity in Lice town of the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakır. More than 10 tons of explosives were seized. More than 7,600 terrorists have been killed since July last year, when the group resumed its 30-year armed campaign.

At least 41 people have been killed and more than 140 injured in a shooting and suicide bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk international airport on Tuesday June 28, 2016. ---

An armed wing of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said that the organization has killed 40 Turkish soldiers in a raid in Cewzat at Mardin- a southeastern Turkish province- on July 9 (Saturday). Over a hundred soldiers- from both sides- have died since July 2015 after a two-year ceasefire ended between PKK and Turkey. The clashes have however left a number of civilians homeless.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has flown to Istanbul, after an army group said on Friday July 15, 2016, that it took over the country. He was seen surrounded by cheering supporters, saying in a live TV speech that the coup attempt was an "act of treason" and the army must be cleansed. Sixty people died during overnight clashes, many of them civilians, and 754 soldiers were arrested. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the situation was largely under control. He has ordered the military to shoot down aircraft being used by coup plotters. Earlier, one of the helicopters being flown by forces involved in the coup attempt was shot down over the capital Ankara.

The Turkish army on Saturday July 16, 2016, ordered its troops stationed in Iraq to withdraw immediately. The decision came after Turkey experienced a military coup, where the military troops spread at the streets of Turkish capital Ankara and Istanbul, while the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to punish those who were responsible of the putsch, and called upon citizens to prevent the coup.

Turkish jets, days after the failed coup in the country, launched cross-border strikes against Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq. The attack killed at least 20 alleged militants we were told on Wednesday July 20, 2016. After the failed coup the Turkish authorities have rounded around 9,000 people, which include 115 generals, 350 officers and approximately 4,800 other military personnel. These people are suspected to be involved in the failed coup attempt.

Turkey's Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Thursday July 21, 2016, that the country would suspend the European Convention on Human Rights, further to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's announcement of a three-month state of emergency following last week’s failed coup attempt. It comes after he accused Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, exiled in the U.S., of orchestrating the coup that left 246 people dead and more than 1,000 wounded. In response to the attempted military takeover, the Turkish government has fired or suspended 50,000 people from their posts across state institutions, arrested 10,000 people, including judges, teachers and journalists, and closed hundreds of schools. ---

Armed wing of PKK announced on Monday August 1, 2016, that it killed 21 Turkish soldiers and destroyed six secret sites of the Turkish army near the Iraqi border. Six secret locations of the Turkish army have been destroyed and a cache of weapons were also seized.

Turkish warplanes attacked PKK rebels in the Sinath-Haftanin region in northern Iraq, resulting in the death of a number of Kurdish fighters. The strikes followed a PKK attack on Turkish soldiers in Uludere, Sirnak province, in which four soldiers were killed and nine injured. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) resumed its 30-year armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015 and since then over 600 Turkish security personnel and more than 7,000 PKK fighters have been killed.

Following a wave of attacks that killed at least 12 people, Turkish jets raided suspected Kurdish rebel targets across the border with northern Iraq, we were told Thursday August 11, 2016. Meanwhile, police in Istanbul conducted a series of raids across the city, detaining 17 suspected Kurdish militants. The cross-border raid and police operation came a day after four Turkish soldiers were killed near the border with Iraq in attacks targeting military vehicles and eight other people died in southeast Turkey in simultaneous bomb attacks targeting police vehicles. Turkey blamed all three attacks on the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

A car bomb explosion hit a police headquarters in Cizre, southeast of Turkey, on Friday August 26, 2015, killing at least eight people and wounding 64 others. Turkish Special Forces, tanks and warplanes launched their first major incursion into Syria on Wednesday August 24 in support of Syrian rebels. It is aimed both at driving Islamic State away from the border area and preventing territorial gains by the Kurdish YPG force.

Turkish jets bombed Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Monday August 29, 2016, as Ankara pressed its military operation against Islamic State and a Syrian Kurdish militia in neighbouring Syria. Turkish air force jets launched strikes against targets of the "separatist terrorist organisation" in Gara in northern Iraq. The targets were "destroyed". The PKK is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States and its command is based in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq.

Monday August 29, 2016, the PKK said that 23 Turkish soldiers were killed near the Iraqi border. Three attacks were carried out and these were made when Turkish Army carried out an operation at Hmazinan, a border area situated near the Iraqi border.

At least 20 tanks and five armoured personnel carriers crossed at the Turkish border town of Elbeyli, across from the Syrian town of al-Rai on Friday September 2, 2016. The new incursion is unfolding about 55 kilometres west of Jarablus, where Turkish forces first crossed into Syria ten days ago. The tanks linked up with Turkish-backed Syrian rebels at al-Rai, who are participating in the operation, dubbed Euphrates Shield. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have captured three more villages to the west of Jarablus from the Islamic State group.

On Friday September 2, 2016, three rockets fired from IS-held territory in Syria struck the Turkish border town of Kilis, some 30 kilometres from Elbeyli; one person was lightly wounded. Five others were wounded last Monday when three rockets hit Kilis. The wounded were children. Rockets have killed 21 Kilis residents and wounded scores since January. The Turkish Armed Forces responded to the rockets with howitzers, striking two weapons pits and bunkers, and “destroying the locations and the Daesh terrorists there. Turkey and allied Syrian rebels have also fought U.S.-backed Kurdish forces known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, around Jarablus.

Turkey launched a new incursion into Syria on Saturday September 3, 2016, dispatching additional tanks and troops across the border to support Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State and expanding the scope and reach of its 10-day-old military intervention. The additional Turkish forces crossed the border into the rebel-controlled town of Al-Rai. Al-Rai is 34 miles west of Jarabulus, the border town that was the original target of the initial August 24 intervention. The Islamic State still controls the territory between the two towns. Taking territory from the Islamic State in areas along the Turkish border also prevents Syria’s Kurds from controlling them, and Turkey wants to halt Kurdish expansionism. After securing the border area between Jarabulus and Al-Rai, the next target of the Turkish-led operation will be to control Al-Bab, a major Islamic State stronghold farther south, and well away from the border. The Kurds have also identified Al-Bab as their next target in the Islamic State fight. ---

At least 30 PKK terrorists were killed in airstrikes carried out by Turkish jets in northern Iraq Sunday September 4, 2016. Warplanes carried out airstrikes in the country's Gara region, hitting two terrorist targets.
 
Turkish warplanes destroyed 12 targets in northern Iraq on Monday September 5, 2016, striking a region where Ankara says the leadership of outlawed Kurdish militant group PKK is based. The sites hit were in the Metina and Hakurk regions of northern Iraq.

Turkish air strikes destroyed four stationary targets in northern Syria on Friday September 9, 2016.

On Sunday September 11, 2016, the Turkish Armed Forces made four airstrikes on Avashin-Basyan and Qandil regions in northern Iraq; 13 terrorists were killed. Turkish jets bombed four PKK terrorist targets in northern Iraq including a weapons cache, logistic facilities and training centres.

Turkish air strikes killed two PKK terrorists on Tuesday September 13, 2016, in the southeastern town of Hakkari near the border with Iraq. One arsenal, one dynamic target and a cave entrance were also destroyed in the air operation.

Turkish warplanes carried out an airstrike in the Avashin/Basyan region of northern Iraq and Çukurca in southeastern Hakkari province on Wednesday September 14, 2016 hitting two PKK targets and killing four terrorists.

Iraq’s foreign minister warned his Turkish counterpart on Sunday September 18, 2016, that Baghdad is against the deployment of Turkish troops in the northern Iraqi town of Bashik, and stressed that any kind of military manoeuvres on the border between the two nations without consultation with Baghdad would be rejected. He called on Turkey to withdraw its forces to bring an end to this matter which has soured political ties between Ankara and Baghdad. Turkey-Iraq relations took a turn for the worse in the wake of the deployment of some 150 Turkish soldiers to Iraq in early December last year. Turkish officials said their troops were there to train local forces near Mosul and the Kurdish Peshmerga in their fight against ISIS. Despite numerous calls by Baghdad to the international community and the UN that the presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq is "a territorial violation against the sovereignty of Iraq," no withdrawal of the Turkish troops has been seen. Rather they are still present in Nineveh province, based at Camp Bashiq, 70 kilometres west of Erbil.

Three members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group were killed by Turkish security forces in the country’s southeast near the border with Iraq. The militants were planning to attack a military base. The security forces also seized an anti-tank mine and improvised explosive devices we were told Sunday September 18, 2016.

Turkish armed forces shelled a Kurdish militant target in northern Iraq on Tuesday September 20, 2016, and killed four rebels. The Turkish army regularly conducts cross-border air operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq's mountainous north, where the rebels are based. The PKK took up arms against Turkey in 1984. Unmanned aerial vehicles determined the shelling also wounded a fifth PKK fighter and destroyed weapon depots in an area across from Turkey's Sirnak province, which borders the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. ---

Sunday October 2, 2016:

• Clashes in northern Syria have killed 15 Turkey-backed rebels fighting Islamic State. Turkish Special Forces and the air force are providing support to the rebels, who are engaged in intense fighting with Islamic State near the towns of Azaz and al-Rai.
• In 11 air strikes by the U.S.-backed coalition, 13 Islamic State militants were killed. The air operation is designed to push the hard-line Islamists back from the Turkish border.
• The army also fired on Islamic State targets from inside Turkey after the jihadists used rockets to target the Turkish border town of Kilis, damaging buildings.

 

Turkey's army clashed with Islamic State over the border in Syria, leaving one soldier and 23 militants dead. Three other Turkish soldiers were wounded in the battle near the Syrian village of Ziyara we were told Wednesday October 5, 2016.

Turkey insisted on Thursday October6, 2016, that its troops will remain in Iraq to fight against Daesh (ISIS despite Baghdad’s growing anger ahead of a planned operation to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS. Baghdad has accused Ankara of risking a regional war by keeping its forces inside Iraq. Turkey has an estimated 2,000 troops in Iraq —around 500 of them in the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq training Iraqi fighters who hope to participate in the battle to recapture Mosul. The Turkish parliament on Saturday extended a government mandate by one year, allowing its troops to remain on both Iraqi and Syrian soil.

On Friday October 7, 2016, five factions in the Kurdistan parliament have called the presence of Turkish troops in the town of Bashiqa as “illegal,” demanding that Turkey immediately withdraw its troops from Iraq. The five Kurdish parties urged Turkey to “immediately pull out its troops from the Kurdistan Region as we are committed to preserving the sovereignty of the land of Kurdistan.”

Turkish air strikes pounded a group of Kurdish fighters allied to a U.S.-backed militia in northern Syria on Wednesday October 19, 2016, highlighting the conflicting agendas of NATO members Ankara and Washington in an increasingly complex battlefield. The jets targeted positions of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in three villages, northeast of the city of Aleppo that the SDF had captured from Islamic State. The Turkish military confirmed its warplanes had carried out 26 strikes on areas recently taken by the Kurdish YPG militia, the strongest force in the SDF, and that it had killed between 160 and 200 combatants.

Turkey and Iraq have reached an agreement ‘in principle’ regarding the involvement of Turkish forces in the military offensive in Mosul, though the details remain to be agreed upon. Carter was in Ankara on Friday October 21, 2016, to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey’s assistance could also be non-military. ---

A Turkish soldier was killed and two others wounded in a bomb attack by Islamic State militants near the northern Syrian city of al-Bab. The three soldiers were evacuated alive by helicopter on Saturday November 19, 2016, and taken to the southern Turkish town of Gaziantep, but one of them died from his injuries.

Wednesday December 7, 2016:

• Turkish warplanes pounded 12 Islamic State targets in the al-Bab region of northern Syria, killing 23 militants. The air strikes were launched as Syrian rebels, backed by Turkish troops and firepower, besiege Islamic State controlled al-Bab as part of the three-month-old Euphrates Shield operation to push the jihadists and a Kurdish militia away from Turkey's border.
• Separately, one Turkish soldier was killed and six were wounded, one of them seriously, in a vehicle-borne bomb attack in the area.
• The air strikes targeted buildings used by Islamic State fighters as well as three tanks and a bomb-laded vehicle. Nine similar targets were destroyed in air raids the previous evening.

Turkey Saturday December 17, 2016:

• A car bomb killed at least 13 soldiers and wounded 56 when it ripped through a bus carrying off-duty military personnel in the central Turkish city of Kayseri.

Turkey Wednesday December 21, 2016:

• Clashes between Turkish-backed Syrian rebels and ISIL fighters have intensified around the northern Syrian town of Al-Bab, resulting in the deaths of 16 Turkish soldiers, the military's highest single-day toll of its four-month campaign inside the country. 33 Turkish soldiers were wounded and 138 ISIL members were also killed.

Turkey Sunday January 1, 2017:

• At least 39 people, including at least 15 foreigners, have been killed in an attack on a nightclub in Istanbul. A gunman opened fire in Reina nightclub at about 01:30 local time as revellers marked the New Year. At least 69 people were being treated in hospital. Four were said to be in a serious condition.

Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes against members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region on Friday January 6, 2017, destroying 11 PKK targets.

Turkey Sunday March 5, 2017:

• At least 11 PKK terrorists were killed in airstrikes carried out by Turkish jets in northern Iraq's Qandil Mountains.
• The airstrikes also destroyed 16 targets including shelters, hiding places and caves, it added.
• More than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK -listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.

Turkey Wednesday March 22, 2017:

• A sniper shot fired from across the border in Syria has killed a Turkish soldier. The soldier died while on guard duty at the military border post near the town of Reyhanli. Turkish forces retaliated to the fire.
• The sniper shot was fired from a region held by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia, which Turkey considers as an extension of outlawed Kurdish rebels that are fighting Turkey.

Turkey Friday March 24, 2017:

• Turkish Armed Forces jets hit 16 PKK targets in northern Iraq and in the southeastern Hakkari province.
• An aerial operation in the area was carried out in the Avashin-Basyan, Metina, Zap and Qandil Mountains region of Iraq, adding that the 16 targets were destroyed completely and the jets returned to their bases in safety.
• Separately, three PKK terrorists were killed during ongoing air operations in northern Iraq's Zap area. Two shelters and a weapons pit were also destroyed.

Turkey Tuesday April 4, 2017:

Kurdish militants detonated a bomb which killed three Turkish soldiers in southeast Turkey; five rebels were killed in clashes in the region. Five Turkish soldiers were also wounded.

The violence occurred as the military conducted operations against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the Uludere area of Sirnak province, near the border with Iraq. ---

Turkey Saturday April 29, 2017:

• The Iranian founder of a popular Farsi-language satellite television network has been shot dead in Istanbul alongside a Kuwaiti business partner months after reportedly being convicted of spreading “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic.
• GEM TV founder Saeed Karimian was travelling through Istanbul’s Maslak neighbourhood when the car was blocked by a Jeep and shots were fired. Karimian was found dead. His associate was taken to hospital but could not be revived.
• Both victims were of Iranian origin. Karimian was a British national and his associate was a Kuwaiti.
• A Turkish airstrike killed 14 members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. Six militants were killed around the area of Sinat-Haftan and eight in the countryside around Adiyaman in two separate air strikes.

Turkey Sunday May 14, 2017:

• Turkish fighter jets pounded outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq, killing 10 militants in the Zap and Sinat-Haftanin regions. Four shelters and three weapon establishments were also destroyed by the airstrikes. 
• On Saturday, seven PKK militants were killed in a Turkish airstrike carried out in the Çukurca district of the southeastern province of Hakkari. The militants were killed while trying to infiltrate into the Güven Mountain military base region from northern Iraq.
• The total number of militants killed in Hakkari and the region around it reached 166 since January 1, 2017.

Turkey Sunday May 28, 2017:

• Turkey’s military killed 13 members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in air strikes in northern Iraq.
• The warplanes struck seven PKK targets in the Avasin-Basyan region of northern Iraq, and killed militants believed to be preparing for an attack.
• In a separate air strike in Turkey’s southeastern province of Van late on Saturday, the military said warplanes had killed another 10 PKK militants.

Turkey Wednesday May 31, 2017:

• 13 soldiers have died in a helicopter crash near the border with Iraq. The AS532 Cougar helicopter crashed shortly after taking off from a base in the region of Senoba in Sirnak province.
• Initial information indicated that the helicopter hit a high-voltage transmission line. The helicopter crashed near the town of Uludere, three minutes after taking off.

Turkey Thursday June 1, 2017:

• Turkey's military killed six members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in air strikes in northern Iraq. Turkish warplanes hit the Avasin-Basyan region in northern Iraq, killing PKK militants believed to be in preparation of an attack.

Turkey Friday June 2, 2017:

• The Turkish president said Ankara plans to build walls along its borders with southern neighbours Iraq and Iran in addition to the wall currently being built along the Syrian border. Construction is well underway on the wall along the Turkey-Syria border with 403 miles of the wall already completed. ---

Turkey Tuesday June 13, 2017:

• Turkey’s military killed 20 militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in air strikes targeting southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq.
• In three separate air strikes, Turkish warplanes hit the southeastern province of Van bordering Iran, and northern Iraq’s Zap and Hakurk regions. Sixteen militants were killed and a gun post and a logistics hub were destroyed in two separate air bombardments in Iraq. Air strikes in Van killed four other militants, the army said.
• The PKK, which has carried out a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, has camps in the mountains of northern Iraq, near the Turkish border. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Turkey Saturday July 1, 2017:

• At least 10 PKK terrorists, including a senior member, were killed in counter-terrorism operations in northern Iraq as well as eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey.
• The air strikes in northern Iraq's Metina region were launched after the military received intelligence that the terror group is preparing for a terror attack.
• Five PKK terrorists were killed in separate airstrikes in eastern Turkey's Bingöl province, while a senior PKK member who was on Turkish security forces' grey wanted list was killed in the Lice district of the southeastern Diyarbakır province.
• Earlier, the AK Party's deputy chairman in Lice was shot dead in front of his house. Initial indications about the perpetrators point to the PKK. Founded in 1978, the PKK has waged a decades-long bloody campaign against Turkey.

Turkey Monday July 17, 2017:

• Seventeen Turkish soldiers have been injured in a bombing being blamed on the PKK. A military vehicle on patrol in the town of Esendere in Hakkari province, near Turkey’s borders with Iran and Iraq, was hit by an improvised explosive device.

Turkey Friday July 28, 2017:

• The Turkish Air Force resumed aerial bombardment of northern Iraq targeting the positions of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Duhok region.
• The Turkish jets specifically targeted the PKK’s positions in the Rashava Valley of the Deraluk parish, as well as the Nerwa and Rekan districts of Shiladze.

Turkey Sunday July 30, 2017:

• 12 PKK terrorists were killed in separate counter terror operations in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq.
• The operations in northern Iraq were conducted in the Zap and Matina regions killing three terrorists who were preparing for an attack. Turkish jets destroyed three weapon pits and two caves used by terrorists in the region.
• Turkish warplanes also conducted airstrikes in Beytüşşebap district of Turkey's southeastern Şırnak province. The airstrikes killed nine PKK terrorists including a senior member. ---

Turkey Friday August 11, 2017:

• Turkish security forces have killed at least nine fighters affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in two air strikes in southeastern Turkey and another in northern Iraq.
• The gendarmerie and police units killed three fighters in an air strike in Cevrimtepe village in Baykan district. The slain fighters were suspected of being behind the assassination attempt on Mehmet Kocabey, Baykan district head, on July 7 and the death of a gendarmerie station commander on July 24. One of the fighters killed was a former Siirt municipality employee who had been laid off by a government-appointed trustee.
• The Turkish armed forces killed three fighters in a separate air strike in Karadag in Hakkari's Semdinli district.
• Three more fighters were killed in a cross-border air operation in Avasin-Basyan region in northern Iraq.
• The air strikes also destroyed ammunition depots used by the PKK.

Turkey Monday September 4, 2017:

• Turkish warplanes attacked border areas in the province of Duhok; the attack caused panic among local residents.
• Turkish warplanes carried out an air strike on Naheel area in al-Amadiyah District, north of Duhok Province; the aerial attack lasted for an hour. The attack burned several forests and gardens in the area, and also caused panic among local residents.

Turkey Tuesday September 19, 2017:

• Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq killing three militants. The air strikes targeted the Zap region.
• The air strike was the second on Tuesday and the third in the past two days since Turkish soldiers started a military drill along the Iraqi border.

Turkey Monday September 25, 2017:

• President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has threatened to invade Iraq, after the country's Kurds voted for independence in a non-binding referendum.
• Mr Erdoğan said fighting the Iraqi Kurdish bid for independence was "a matter of survival".
• The Turkish leader also suggested he could cut off a pipeline that carries oil out of Iraq, to increase pressure on an autonomous Kurdish region.

Turkey Sunday October 1, 2017:

• Turkish jets destroyed hideouts, weapons and ammunition depots, as well as weapon pits belonging to PKK terrorists in counter-terror operations carried out in northern Iraq. The airstrikes targeted PKK terrorist camps in northern Iraq's Metina region.

Turkey Thursday October 12, 2017:

• Turkish troops travelling in a convoy of 12 armoured vehicles have entered northern Syria in a new military operation. The vehicles crossed into Idlib province. The convoy included about 80 soldiers. The troops were headed towards the western part of Aleppo province.
• Turkey said it was sending troops into Syria to enforce a de-escalation zone in Idlib, which is largely controlled by the Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance.

Turkey Sunday October 15, 2017:

• The Turkish army is expanding its deployment in northwest Syria with the goal of encircling a Kurdish enclave and reining in Russian strikes in the Idlib border province under a deal to reduce clashes.
• A convoy of Turkish army troops entered Syria near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing on Thursday in the first such deployment since last year when Ankara launched a major ground and air offensive to clear Islamic State militants from its last stretch of border with Turkey.
• At least four convoys carrying scores of armoured vehicles and equipment have been stationed in several locations in the first phase of a deployment that is expected to deepen inside rebel-held Idlib.
• Nearly 200 troops are now stationed in areas that separate territory under control of Kurdish groups and opposition groups. Turkish bulldozers were working around the clock, digging fortifications and setting up observation posts.
• A new deployment of Turkish armoured vehicles and personnel arrived along the Syrian border on Saturday. ---

Thursday November 16, 2017:

• Two Turkish soldiers were killed and one was wounded in northern Iraq’s Avasin Basyan region by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.
• Separately, four militants were killed in the southeastern Turkish province of Tunceli.
• More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been killed in the conflict. The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Turkey Wednesday November 28, 2017:

• Turkish Air Forces carried out airstrikes on PKK locations north of Iraq, killing over 80 militants. The air raids were carried out Monday in the Asos region north of Iraq.
• On Friday, the Turkish military said security forces killed 26 PKK militants during operations in Turkey and northern Iraq in one week.

Turkey Monday December 11, 2017:

• Turkish warplanes hit Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq and killed 29 of the group's militants.
• The PKK fighters were believed to be preparing an attack on Turkish border posts from the Hakurk and Metina regions of northern Iraq. Several caves and shelters used by the militants were destroyed in the air strikes.

Turkey Tuesday December 27, 2017:

• The Turkish Air Force killed seven members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the northern countryside of Iraq. They were killed in Iraq’s Basyan, Gara, Metina, and Avasin regions

Turkey Saturday December 30, 2017:

• Turkish Air Force has killed four PKK terrorists during raids in northern Iraq.
• On Friday, the terrorists wounded three soldiers in a separate attack.

Turkey Tuesday January 2, 2018:

• Two artillery shells from Syria hit Turkey’s southeastern province of Hata and Turkish border troops fired back.
• The shells came from an area of Syria controlled by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties after the shells hit a rural area of the border district of Yayladagi.
• Last week, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called Syrian President Assad a terrorist and said it was impossible for peace efforts in Syria to continue if he did not leave power. ---

Turkey Sunday January 7, 2018:

• Six members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in airstrikes by Turkish jets in northern Iraq. The operation was carried out by Turkish Air Force in Kani Rash town in Iraq.
• The militants were planning an attack on Turkish military posts and bases.

Turkey Saturday January 20, 2018:

• Turkish airstrikes pounded the Kurdish-held region of Afrin in northern Syria killing at least eight people. The airstrikes targeted at least 100 locations; six civilians were killed and 13 people were wounded.
• The military offensive is likely to sharpen tensions between Turkey and the United States, which supports and openly arms Kurdish militias fighting ISIS. The SDF is made up of a number of local rebel groups but mainly from Kurdish militia of the People's Protection Units (YPG).
• Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to target "terrorist organizations" including YPG forces.

Turkey Sunday January 21, 2018:

• Turkish troops crossed the Syrian border into a Kurdish enclave, beginning a ground assault against American-allied militias there, in a clash of interests between the two NATO allies.

Turkey Tuesday January 23, 2018:

• Turkey has urged the US to stop backing the Kurdish YPG in Syria, as it steps up an offensive against the militia. YPG fighters are using US-supplied weapons against troops trying to clear the Afrin region.
• Turkey says the YPG is an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey, and is a terrorist group. The YPG denies any direct organisational links with the PKK.
• The militia, which controls much of north-eastern Syria, has been a key US ally in the fight against Islamic State (IS) fighters there. The UN Security Council discussed Turkey's growing offensive in a meeting on Monday, but did not condemn it.

Turkey Thursday January 25, 2018:

• Turkey is prepared to take its fight against Kurdish forces in northern Syria as far east as Iraq. Mr Erdogan reiterated that his forces will move against Kurdish-controlled Manbij, which risks confrontation with the US.
• US troops are based in the city, which was taken from the Islamic State group (IS) by Kurdish-led forces in 2016.
• Backed by pro-Turkish Syrian rebels, Turkish forces attacked the Kurdish enclave of Afrin with the declared aim of driving out the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). ---

Turkey Monday January 29, 2018:

• Turkish warplanes destroyed eight terror targets belonging to the terrorist PKK organization in northern Iraq.
• The Turkish warplanes carried out airstrikes in the northern Iraqi regions of Avashin-Basyan, Zap, and Hakurk when terrorists were preparing to launch an attack against military posts and bases located along the border.

Turkey Tuesday January 30, 2018:

• Pro-Syrian government forces attacked a Turkish military convoy in the Aleppo province. The Turkish military convoy was moving toward the town of Eis in southern Aleppo when the pro-government forces hit the convoy.
• The Syrian government has warned that it would respond to the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish-held Afrin region in the northern countryside of Aleppo. The Turkish convoy of 55 vehicles is stuck in the western countryside of Aleppo by the pro-Syrian government forces.

Turkey Thursday February 1, 2018:

• Militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attacked troops positioned in northern Iraq, killing two soldiers and wounding two. A third soldier was killed and five wounded in the Cukurca district of Hakkari when militants attacked a military base.
• Another two soldiers were killed and two wounded in the Semdinli district of Hakkari, in what appeared to be a separate incident.
• The military have killed 49 militants in air strikes in northern Iraq on Monday. The strikes were carried out in six regions of northern Iraq and targeted shelters, hideouts and weapons stocks.

Turkey Friday February 2, 2018:

• A barrage of rockets fired at two Turkish border villages from a Kurdish enclave in Syria killed two people and wounded 19 others.
• At least six rockets targeted the town of Reyhanli damaging a home, a workplace and a road close to the marketplace. Eighteen people were wounded, including two who later died in a hospital.
• Three more rockets hit the town of Kilis, northeast of Reyhanli, where at least three people were wounded.

Turkey Saturday February 3, 2018:

• Turkey's Prime Minister warned that Kurdish YPG forces will pay "twice as much" following the deaths of seven Turkish soldiers in Syria's Afrin province.
• Five Turkish soldiers were killed when a tank was destroyed by a missile in Sheikh Haruz, northeast of Afrin, Turkish state media reported.
• A sixth soldier was killed near the border town of Kilis, and another died in an undisclosed location fighting militia forces. ---

Turkey Sunday February 11, 2018:

• Another Turkish soldier died in the operation against the Syrian Kurdish militia in northern Syria. This announcement brings to 31 the number of Turkish soldiers killed since the operation against the Syrian Kurdish militia started on January 20 with Ankara's cross-border incursion into the enclave of Afrin.
• The soldier died in clashes with the Syrian Kurdish group known as the People's Protection Units (YPG) that Turkey consider to be "terrorists".
• Turkey targeted YPG areas with air and artillery strikes. Some 148 YPG fighters and 157 Syrian opposition fighters have been killed in three weeks of fighting.
• Saturday was the deadliest single day for Turkey, with 11 Turkish soldiers killed. Two of them were aboard a Turkish attack helicopter that crashed while on a mission over Afrin. The YPG claimed they brought down the helicopter, but Turkish officials did not confirm that account.

Turkey Friday March 2, 2018:

• Turkey’s air force hit two positions of pro-government Syrian fighters deployed last week in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, killing and wounding a number of fighters.

Turkey Saturday March 3, 2018:

• Dozens of pro-Syrian government fighters were killed in an assault by Turkish warplanes on the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin. A day earlier, eight Turkish soldiers were killed and more were wounded. The airstrike hit a camp in Kafr Jina.
• Soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria had entered Afrin, a Kurdish stronghold, last week to support the Kurdish militia known as the Y.P.G.

Turkey Sunday March 11, 2018:

• Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets in northern Iraq over the weekend as its forces in Syria neared the city of Afrin. At least 18 targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq were hit on over the weekend.
• The strikes targeted the Hakurk, Zap, Metina, Gara and Avasin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq.

Turkey Sunday March 18, 2018:

• The Syrian Kurdish dream of creating an autonomous state stretching across the country's north suffered a crushing blow when Turkish-backed rebel forces routed a militia from the city of Afrin after a nearly two-month offensive.
• The enclave along the Syria-Turkey border had been controlled by the People's Protection Units, a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia also known as YPG whose forces Turkey considers terrorists.
• The Turkish military and Syrian allies had taken control of the town's centre. Turkey would take "the necessary steps to rebuild Afrin" and "wipe out traces of terrorists."

Turkey Tuesday March 20, 2018:

• An air strike by Turkish warplanes “neutralized” at least 12 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
• The air strike targeted the Hakurk region of northern Iraq; the militants were believed to be in preparations for an attack. ---

Turkey Thursday March 22, 2018:

• Turkish jets have attacked suspected Kurdish rebel camps across the border in northern Iraq, in an operation that reportedly "neutralized" nine militants.
• The attack occurred after drones detected a group of militants allegedly preparing to launch an attack against Turkey.

Turkey Saturday March 24, 2018:

• The Turkish army and Syrian opposition fighters it backs have “total control” of the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria, nearly a week after they captured the main town that carries the same name.

Turkey Sunday March 25, 2018:

• President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey had begun operations in Iraq's Sinjar region, an area where it has threatened a military incursion, two days after sources said Kurdish PKK militants would withdraw from the area.
• However Iraq's Joint Operations Command denied that any foreign forces had crossed the border into Iraq.
• At least three PKK terrorists were killed during an air operation in northern Iraq.
• Four PKK terrorists and their shelters at their so-called “training camp” in the Haftanin region were initially identified by drones.

Turkey Saturday April 7, 2018:

• Turkish jets killed six PKK terrorists in northern Iraq.

Turkey Wednesday May 2, 2018:

• Turkish jets killed two outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants as part of a counterterrorism operation in northern Iraq. The warplanes had targeted the PKK in the Avaşin-Basyan region.

Turkey Saturday May 26, 2018:

• The army killed two PKK terrorists in response to harassment fire on a check post under construction in southeastern Turkey. The terrorists, including a woman were killed in the Semdinli district of the southeastern Hakkari province after the terrorists fired three rockets on the post.
• Also, two more PKK terrorists were killed in an operation in Hakurk region. In the operation, four AT-4 anti-tank weapons and eight bazookas were also confiscated.
• Also, a PKK terrorist, who was trying to cross the border illegally, was held while three other armed terrorists surrendered to security forces in Nusaybin, a district of southeastern Mardin province.
• In southeastern Hakkari province, two explosive devices, an improvised explosive, radio equipment, six electronic detonators and ammunition were seized during a search conducted by security forces. ---

Turkey Thursday May 31, 2018:

• Three Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with fighters from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
• Turkish warplanes have often bombed PKK hideouts in the mountainous northern Iraq while the security forces have sporadically launched cross-border incursions in pursuit of rebel fighters.
• On Tuesday, the army said another soldier was killed in an attack blamed on the PKK, and responded with airstrikes against the group.

Turkey Tuesday June 5, 2018:

• Turkish warplanes killed at least six Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq. The airstrike hit the Hakurk, Gara, Metina, Zap, Qandil, and Avasin regions of northern Iraq, destroying 16 targets across them.

Turkey Monday June 11, 2018:

• Turkish jets have struck Iraq's Qandil Mountains, where outlawed Kurdish rebels maintain their headquarters.
• Some 20 warplanes had hit Qandil, destroying 14 "important targets" of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. 

Turkey Friday June 15, 2018:

• The Turkish military said air strikes killed 26 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq's Qandil mountain region on June 12.
• The PKK, which has fought a decades-old insurgency against the state in southeastern Turkey, has bases in the Qandil region.

Turkey Saturday June 16, 2018:

• Turkish warplanes struck a meeting of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Qandil Mountains; high-profile militants had probably been hit.
• The Turkish military has ramped up air strikes in northern Iraq, targeting PKK bases in Qandil, close to the Iraq-Iran border, where Ankara suspects high-ranking members of the militant group are located.
• Turkish troops have deployed about 30 kilometres inside northern Iraq, not far from Qandil.

Turkey Tuesday June 19, 2018:

• Turkish air strikes killed 26 militants and destroyed their gun positions, shelters and ammunition stores in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq this week.
• The strikes were carried out on Sunday and Monday in Diyarbakir and Sirnak provinces and an area of northern Iraq where the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has bases.
• The Turkish military has ramped up air strikes in northern Iraq, targeting PKK bases in Qandil, close to the Iraq-Iran border, where Ankara suspects high-ranking members of the outlawed group are located.
• Ankara has also recently stepped up warnings of a potential ground offensive into the Qandil region, with President Tayyip Erdogan vowing to “drain the terror swamp” there.

Turkey Wednesday June 20, 2018:

• The Turkish military carried out air strikes in northern Iraq's Avasin-Basyan and Sinat Haftanin areas killing 10 Kurdish militants. Weapons storages and shelters were destroyed as a result of the air strikes.

Turkey Thursday June 21, 2018:

• Turkey has 11 temporary military bases in northern Iraq.400 square-kilometres of the region has been cleared of terrorists.
• Turkey also said that they are shelling Mt. Qandil through air operations at times. Usually PKK terrorists are crossing into Iran when they are on the back foot. Turkey cleared the area in northwestern Syria's Afrin during Operation Olive Branch. They will do the same thing in Mt. Qandil area.

Turkey Friday June 22, 2018:

• The Turkish military carried out air strikes in northern Iraq killing 15 Kurdish militants. The strikes were carried out on the Gara region.
• Turkey has recently stepped up strikes on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq, especially its stronghold in the Qandil Mountains.
• Turkish military neutralized 87 PKK terrorists during counter-terrorism operations in southeastern Turkey's Şırnak province and northern Iraq over the past week.
• Six Turkish soldiers were also martyred and 12 others wounded during the operations carried out between June 15 and June 21.
• During the operations, 127 improvised explosives were also defused while 12 weapon emplacements and shelters were destroyed.
• Nine PKK terrorists were killed in counter-terror operations carried out in northern Iraq's Hakurk and Kani Rash regions.

Turkey Wednesday June 27, 2018:

• The invading Turkish army has bombed villages in Heftanin region of Zakho city in South Kurdistan. The bombardment with howitzer and mortar fire targeted the surroundings of Keşan, Orê and Kumrê villages, starting a fire in the forested land in the mentioned region.

Turkey Saturday June 30, 2018:

• The Turkish military carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq's Avasin Basyan region killing four Kurdish militants.
• Turkey has recently stepped up strikes on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq, especially its stronghold in the Qandil Mountains. Ankara has said it may launch a ground offensive into Qandil, where high-ranking PKK members are believed to be based.

Turkey Sunday July 1, 2018:

• The Turkish military killed eight Kurdish militants in air strikes in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. The air strikes were carried out on northern Iraq’s Zap region and Turkey’s southeastern provinces of Sirnak and Van.

Turkey Wednesday July 4, 2018:

• Airstrikes have killed 11 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq and the rural regions of Turkey’s southern Şırnak province. Shelters, weapon emplacements, and ammunition depots were also destroyed in the airstrikes.
• Fighter jets had conducted airstrikes in northern Iraq’s Qandil, Zap-Avasin Basyan, and Gara regions as well as in rural areas of Turkey’s Şırnak, which borders both Syria and Iraq.
• Many militants were killed, wounded, captured during anti-terror operations across Turkey between June 25 and July. Turkish Armed Forces carried out a total of 1,363 counter-terror operations over the said period. Twenty-one militants were killed, four others were captured and 11 surrendered to authorities. ---

Turkey Saturday July 7, 2018:

• At least 8 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were killed during airstrikes in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq.
• Fighter jets conducted airstrikes between July 6 and July 7 in northern Iraq’s Sinat-Haftanin regions as well as in Ömerli district of southeastern Mardin province, Turkey, which is near the Syria and Iraq border.

Turkey Friday July 13, 2018:

• Six militants were killed during Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq.         The airstrikes were carried out in Zap and Gara regions. The terrorists were planning an attack on security forces. 

Turkey Wednesday July 18, 2018:

• Six militants were killed or captured during Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey.
• Fighter jets had conducted airstrikes against outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants located in northern Iraq’s Hakurk region as well as in Eruh in Turkey’s southeastern province of Siirt, which lies near the Syrian and Iraqi borders.

Turkey Thursday July 19, 2018:

• The head of logistics for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group has been killed as Turkish military aircraft conducted a series of airstrikes against terrorist hideouts in Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
• Hasan Cakmak, better known by the nom de guerre Delil Karakocan, was killed on July 13 when Turkish fighter jets targeted a group of three PKK members in the mountainous Qandil region of northern Iraq. The trio were completing a deal for weapons, assault rifles and drugs.
• Moreover Turkish airstrikes have killed nine PKK terrorists in Turkey's southeastern provinces of Sirnak and Siirt as well as northern Iraq.
• High-ranking PKK terrorist Sefer Acar, better known by the nom de guerre Welat Gever, had been killed during an offensive in the Kocyigit village of the eastern province of Bitlis on June 28.

Turkey Saturday July 21, 2018:

• The Turkish Air Force killed 8 terrorists in operation in the Avashin Baysan and Zap districts in northern Iraq.

Turkey Sunday July 29, 2018:

• A total of 10 PKK terrorists were “neutralized” (killed, surrendered or captured) during anti-terror operations in northern Iraq’s Metina region.

Turkey Monday July 30, 2018:

• Turkish military forces have “neutralized” (killed, captured or surrendered) nearly four dozen members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group when they carried out a string of counter-terrorism operations in the country’s southeastern provinces as well as Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
• 36 PKK terrorists were “neutralized” in counter-terrorism ground operation and airstrikes between July 23 and 30. 18 Kurdish terrorists were killed while six others were captured. The remaining 12 surrendered themselves to Turkish authorities. ---

Turkey Wednesday August 15, 2018:

• A senior figure of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), İsmail Özden —codenamed Mam “Uncle” Zaki Shingali— was killed in a joint operation by the Turkish military and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) backed by unmanned aerial vehicles in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar.
• He was responsible for the group’s activities in the Sinjar town and was also a member of the group’s so-called “executive council.” Özden was reported to have been in charge of the PKK’s illegal drug and arms trafficking in the region.
• Turkish intelligence spotted the whereabouts of Özden with the help of local intelligence along with other intelligence instruments following months of long research.
• Firstly, it was Özden’s camp the Turkish military targeted. But once the PKK figure fled the scene, his vehicle was spotted by drones and resultantly bombed by military warplanes. The killing of Özden has now created “fear” among other senior PKK figures.
• Özden, 66, was actively operating in Europe from 1992 to 1996. Arrested in Germany for “being a PKK member” and “attacking workplaces of Turkish people” in 1996, Özden was released in 1998. In 2018, he began spearheading PKK activities in Sinjar. Özden is the first PKK militant in the “red-category” of Turkey’s “most wanted terrorists,” who was killed by the military in an operation abroad.

Turkey Sunday August 26, 2018:

• At least nine outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants have been neutralized (killed).
• According to an Interior Ministry statement, six militants were neutralized in the eastern provinces of Bingöl, Ağrı, and Tunceli. One of the militants, identified as Mehmet Şirin, codenamed Poyraz Agir, had been on Turkey’s “most wanted terrorists list.”
• During operations in Bingöl’s Karlıova district, one soldier was also killed and two were injured.
• Separately, three more militants were neutralized in Avaşin-Basyan.
• Meanwhile, on August 25a Turkish soldier succumbed to his wounds from a PKK attack in the eastern province of Ağrı. The soldier was wounded in a counter-terror operation on August 21.

Turkey Friday August 31, 2018:

• The Turkish military killed 19Kurdish militants during air strikes in the northern Iraqi regions of Zap, Gara and Hakurk.
• Turkey has in recent months carried out strikes on bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, especially its stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, where Ankarahas also threatened to carry out a ground offensive.

Turkey Sunday September 10, 2018:

• At least 14 PKK terrorists were "neutralized" in airstrikes in southeastern Turkey and in northern Iraq.
• Two PKK terrorists were neutralized in southeastern Siirt province. An air-supported operation had been conducted against the PKK terrorists in Eruh district. The terrorists were plotting attacks on Turkish military bases.
• Five PKK terrorists were neutralized in southeastern Sirnak province. The operation in Iraq was carried out the northern regions of Zap and Avasin-Basyan.
• Also, a Turkish soldier was killed when a military vehicle rolled over in Yuksekova district in southeastern Hakkari province.
• In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK —listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU— has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women and children.

Turkey Wednesday September 12, 2018:

• A Turkish intelligence agency -the National Intelligence Organisation- has captured in Syria the chief suspect in the 2013 twin bomb attack in the border town of Reyhanli.
• Yusuf Nazik, a Turkish citizen, was captured in the port city of Latakia. He had confessed to "acting on orders from Syrian intelligence". ---

Turkey Saturday September 22, 2018:

• At least four PKK terrorists were “neutralized” in an airstrike in the Gara region of northern Iraq. The terrorists were plotting attacks on Turkish military bases.

Turkey Saturday September 29, 2018:

• Six armed PKK terrorists in northern Iraq who were plotting terror attacks have been “neutralized” in airstrikes. The airstrikes were conducted in the Gara region of northern Iraq. The terrorists were preparing to attack Turkey's military bases in the region.
• Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in statements to imply the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.
• Separately, Turkish airstrikes "neutralized" eight PKK terrorists in Avasin-Basyan and Metina regions.
• Moreover, a Turkish soldier lost his life and four others suffered injuries when Kurdish PKK militants detonated an improvised explosive device as the former were conducting a counter-terrorism operation in northern Iraq.

Turkey Wednesday October 31, 2018:

• Turkish forces shelled a Kurdish-controlled area of northern Syria, killing four Kurdish militants; Kurdish-led forces said they responded to Turkish attacks by hitting a Turkish army vehicle.
• The Turkish attacks had led to a temporary halt in the U.S.-backed campaign it is waging against Islamic State (IS) near the Iraqi border.
• The SDF, including the YPG, is the main U.S. partner in the fight against IS in Syria and controls a swathe of the north and east, the biggest chunk of the country after the area held by the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.
• Turkey’s military carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq killing 23 militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
• The airstrikes targeted several regions in the neighbouring northern Iraq, including the Qandil Mountains, a PKK stronghold.
• More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched its insurgency in Turkey in 1984.

Turkey Saturday November 10, 2018:

• Turkey's military have "neutralized" 15 militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after striking the group's hideouts and armoires in Iraq.
• The airstrikes targeted Gara, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions of northeastern Iraq, near the Turkish border. The Zap area, along with other locations in the mountainous Qandil area, is known to be Kurdish separatist strongholds.

Turkey Tuesday November 13, 2018:

• Turkish warplanes have killed 19 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group in a string of airstrikes against terrorist hideouts in northern Iraq.
• The airstrikes had been conducted on a number of localities, including the Qandil Mountains, a PKK stronghold in the Arab country.

Turkey Sunay January 6, 2019:

• Turkish jets "neutralized" seven militants as part of an anti-terror operation in northern Iraq.
• Turkish jets also destroyed shelters and depots of the militants during the operation. The airstrikes in this region generally target PKK militants.
• The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.

Turkey Saturday March 16, 2019:

• Two Turkish soldiers have been killed following clashes with suspected Kurdish militants in Iraq. Eight more troops were injured during the Turkish operation in northern Iraq, where Ankara keeps a military force to combat Kurdish militants. Six suspected Kurdish militants - including a woman - were "neutralised" in the operation, meaning they were killed, injured or detained.
• Turkey has carried out a number of air strikes against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq, a militant group which has fought a decades long insurgency against Ankara.
• The war between the PKK and Turkey has cost the lives of some 40,000 people with fighting erupting again during the Syrian civil war. Turkey launched a major operation against the PKK in Iraq in 2008, with hundreds of Kurdish militants killed and injured in combat.

Turkey Monday March 19, 2019:

• Turkey and Iran have launched a joint military operation against Kurdish rebels along Turkey's eastern border. The offensive targeted the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
• Iranian forces were not involved in the offensive.
• The PKK, considered a "terrorist organisation" by Ankara and many Western countries, has fought the Turkish state for more than three decades seeking autonomy for the country's Kurdish minority. Tens of thousands have been killed in the conflict.
• The group operates in Turkey and northern Iraq under its own banner, and as the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria.

Turkey Saturday March 23, 2019:

• Turkish Ministry of National Defence has said it “neutralized” more than 3,000 ISIL militants and destroyed more than 21,000 ISIL targets.
• “As the only army that carried out hand-to-hand fight with DAESH, Turkish Armed Forces neutralized over 3,000 radical terrorists of DAESH and enabled 320,000 Syrians to return to their homes with the Operation Euphrates Shield launched on August 2016”.
• Turkish Armed Forces started Operation Euphrates Shield on August 24, 2016 in an attempt to ensure border security and the return of Syrian refugees and prevent ISIL terrorism. Operation Euphrates Shield reached its goal after the control of al-Bab settlement was gained on February 24, 2017.

Turkey March 28, 2019:

• Riza Altun, the top aide to PKK leader Cemil Bayik, was critically wounded in a March 21 joint operation between Turkey's military and intelligence agency that targeted the terrorist group in the Qandil Mountains, near Iraq's border with Iran.
• In a joint operation, Turkish army and intelligence units last week hit several senior targets at the terrorist PKK’s base near Mt Qandil, northern Iraq, security sources said on Wednesday.
• The operation last Thursday was ordered in light of intelligence that Riza Altun, top aide to PKK co-leader Cemil Bayik, and other senior terrorists were set to hold a meeting on Qandil, near the Iranian border, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Turkey Saturday March 30, 2019:

• Turkey pounded shelters of PKK’s ringleaders in northern Iraq's Mount Qandil in an air operation.    
• Turkish fighter jets also hit “PKK terrorists in Hakurk and Avaşin-Basyan areas, who were in preparation of attacking Turkey's border troops.    

Turkey Sunday Mach 31, 2019:

•  One Turkish soldier was killed in an attack carried out by PKK terrorist group's Syrian affiliate People's Protection Units (YPG) near the area of Operation Olive branch in northern Syria.
• The soldier was killed as a result of a mortar attack by the YPG while another soldier was also injured. The Defence Ministry offered condolences to the family of the fallen soldier.

Turkey Monday April 1, 2019:

• Turkish airstrikes hit PKK terrorist targets in northern Iraq. Air operations in the regions of Avaşin-Basyan, and Hakurk destroyed weapon positions, shelters and ammunition depots used by the PKK. ---

Turkey Friday April 19, 2019:

• Four Turkish soldiers were killed during operations against militants in the Turkey-Iraq border area. Six soldiers were also wounded during the operations.        
• The militants came under heavy fire from Turkish air operations and fire support.   

Turkey Saturday April 27, 2019:

• Turkish airstrikes hit PKK terrorist targets in northern Iraq. The Turkish jets destroyed weapon positions, shelters, and ammunition depots used by PKK terrorists in the Zap, Avasin-Basyan and Sinat-Haftanin regions.
• 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 nearly 40,000 people, including women and children.

Turkey Sunday April 28, 2019:

• Operation in the Zap region neutralized militants who were hiding out in a cave.     
• Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the militants in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.    
• A total of 154 militants have been neutralized since April 4 in operations against PKK militants in both Turkey and northern Iraq. PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.

Turkey Tuesday April 30, 2019:

• A soldier has been killed and three others were wounded in an attack by Syrian Kurdish militants in a Turkish-controlled region in northern Syria.
• The attack by the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, occurred in the so-called "Euphrates Shield region," which Turkey and Turkish-allied Syrian opposition forces cleared of Islamic State militants in a cross-border operation in 2016.
• Turkey's military responded to the attack by striking at YPG targets in the area. Pro-Kurdish media said Turkish troops retaliated by shelling. It was not immediately known if the retaliatory strikes resulted in casualties.

Turkey, Saturday May 4, 2019:

• Three Turkish soldiers died in a mortar attack by Kurdish militants launched from Iraqi territory. A fourth soldier was wounded. The army had retaliated with artillery fire.
• The attack took place in a region where Turkey carried out a cross-border operation dubbed Euphrates Shield in 2016, aiming to drive Daesh militants and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) from its border with Syria.
• One lieutenant was killed and a major was severely injured in clashes between the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and the PKK-linked People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria's Tel Rifaat.
• Artillery units are currently retaliating to the fire on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Turkey Sundau May 26, 2019:

• Sustaining injuries in a PKK/YPG terror group attack in northwestern Syria, a Turkish soldier succumbed to his injuries.
• The soldier was under intensive care before dying due to his wounds sustained on April 30 in a terrorist attack in the area of Turkey’s Euphrates Shield anti-terror operation.

Turkey Tuesday May 28, 2019:

• Turkey's military has launched an operation in northern Iraq's Hakurk region in a bid to destroy the PKK terror group's bases. The presence of PKK terror elements the area has been posing a national security threat to Ankara for decades with frequent attacks in southeastern Turkey.
• Dubbed Operation Claw, the military offensive is aimed at neutralising terrorists and destroying the caves and shelters they are using in the mountainous Iraqi region. It began on Monday with artillery shelling and continued with air strikes and commando operations, officials said.

Turkey Thursday May 30, 2019:

• Turkish warplanes and attack helicopters struck targets in the mountains of northern Iraq; the military had killed 19 Kurdish militants as its operation there entered a fourth day.
• Two Turkish soldiers died on Wednesday from wounds sustained in a bomb blast during what it dubbed “Operation Claw”, targeting Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the Hakurk region, near Turkey’s southeastern tip.
• Warplanes also carried out strikes in border regions of northern Iraq west of Hakurk, destroying PKK gun positions, shelters and ammunition stores.
• The cross-border push began with artillery and air strikes on Monday before helicopters landed commandos in the region. The PKK is based in Iraq’s Qandil area, south of Hakurk.

Turkey Sunday June 2, 2019:

• Turkish security forces neutralized five PKK militants in northern Iraq's Hakurk region as part of Operation Claw. So far 27 militants have been neutralized in Hakurk region since the operation began on May 27.
• The Turkish Armed Forces launched Operation Claw against the PKK on May 27. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.

Turkey Monday June 3, 2019:

• Turkish security forces neutralized at least six PKK terrorists in northern Iraq as part of Operation Claw. Five terrorists were neutralized in Turkish airstrikes on the Zap region and one terrorist was neutralized in the Hakurk region.
• So far 28 terrorists have been neutralized in Hakurk region since the operation began against the PKK terror group on May 27.
• Separately, security forces neutralized five PKK terrorists in an operation in southeastern Diyarbakır's Lice district.
• In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including many women and children.

Turkey Thursday June 6, 2019:

• At least five PKK terrorists were killed during Turkey's counterterrorism operations in northern Iraq.
• Three PKK terrorists were killed as part of the ongoing Operation Claw in northern Iraq, bringing the total number of terrorists killed since the beginning of the operation to 43. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) launched Operation Claw against the PKK terror group on May 27.
• Separately two terrorists were also killed during operations in the Zap region.
• Operation Claw aims to prevent the infiltration of PKK terrorists into Turkish soil from Hakurk and spoil settlement plans of militants in the area. The Hakurk area facilitates terrorist crossings between Qandil and Iraq's Salahaddin province bordering Syria, where the PKK's Syrian offshoot, the People's Protection Units (YPG), controls the northeastern one-third of the country.

Turkey Saturday June 8, 2019:

• A total of 43 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had been “neutralized” as part of an operation Ankara launched in northern Iraq 13 days ago.
• The Turkish military launched what it dubbed “Operation Claw” in northern Iraq’s Hakurk region with artillery and air strikes followed by operations by commando brigades.
• The PKK militant group is based in northern Iraq, notably in the Qandil region to the south of Hakurk. The operation aimed to destroy shelters and caves used by the PKK and “neutralize” its members - a term it commonly uses to refer to deaths, but also to those wounded or captured.
• 53 mines and improvised explosive devices had been destroyed and 74 caves and shelters used by the PKK made unusable, adding that it had also seized weapons and ammunition belonging to the militants.

Turkey Sunday June 9, 2019:

• A Turkish soldier was killed and five others injured in an attack in northern Syria. Terrorists launched an anti-tank attack in Tel Rıfat district.    
• Turkish forces responded with retaliatory fire.    
• Turkey killed 10 Kurdish militants in Syria's Tel Rifaat region in retaliation for an attack that killed a Turkish soldier.

Turkey Sunday June 16, 2019:

• Turkey has neutralized at least 25 more PKK terrorists in its counter-terrorism operation in northern Iraq, adding to a grand total of 76 neutralized under the ongoing operation.
• As part of the ongoing Operation Claw -- which was launched on May 27 by the Turkish Armed Forces against the PKK terror group -- a total of 76 terrorists have been neutralized in the Hakurk region over the last three weeks.
• Authorities often use the word "neutralized" in statements to imply terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.
• In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including many women and children. ---

Turkey Monday June 23, 2019:

• Turkish security forces neutralized two PKK terrorists in northern Iraq as part of Operation Claw.
• So far 28 terrorists have been neutralized in Hakurk region since the operation began against the PKK terror group on May 27.
• Separately, Turkish security forces neutralized seven terrorists in eastern and southeastern Turkey.
• In an air-supported operation, two terrorists were neutralized by the provincial gendarmerie command in the Hani area in the southeastern Diyarbakır province.
• Also, in Hakkari's Semdinli district, four terrorists were killed in an operation carried out by the provincial gendarmerie command and the provincial security directorate.
• Separately, in an operation by the provincial gendarmerie command, one terrorist was neutralized in a rural area of the eastern Tunceli province.
• In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU, has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including many women and children.

Turkey Thursday June 27, 2019:

• One Turkish soldier was killed and three others were wounded when their observation post in Syria’s Idlib region was attacked by shelling and mortar fire.
• The attacks were launched from territory controlled by Syrian government forces and were judged to have been carried out deliberately.
• Russia’s Ankara attache was summoned to military headquarters in connection with the attacks and was told that the attacks will be “punished in the strongest way”.
• The Turkish military subsequently opened fire on the Syrian government forces’ positions from where the attacks were launched.

Turkey Friday June 28, 2019:

• Turkey’s security forces have neutralized two more PKK terrorists during an ongoing security operation in northern Iraq.
• Fresh airstrikes raised the toll from 58 to 60 during Operation Claw, which was launched on May 27 to clear the region of PKK terrorists.
• A total of 112 terrorists, including those in Operation Claw, were neutralized in northern Iraq during the same period.

Turkey July 1, 2019:

• Turkish fighter jets "neutralized" two PKK terrorists in northern Iraq in the Avasin-Basyan region.
• The airstrikes destroyed weapon emplacements, shelters and arms depots used by the PKK terrorists.
• On May 27, Turkey launched Operation Claw against the PKK in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq. Operation Claw aims to prevent the infiltration of PKK terrorists onto Turkish soil from Hakurk and to spoil the settlement plans of militants in the area. The ongoing offensive has neutralized 62 terrorists so far.

Turkey Friday July 5, 2019:

• A car exploded in southeast Turkey near the border with Syria killing three Syrian people. The initial findings showed the blast may be terrorism-related.
• The explosion took place in the town of Reyhanli, where officials are carrying out inspections to determine its cause. He said it was clear the explosion was the result of a bomb inside the vehicle detonating.
• One of the Syrian passengers in the car was a suicide bomber whose explosive device detonated early, causing the blast. The passengers in the car were being investigated for potential links to Islamic State; one person was also wounded in the blast.

Turkey Saturday July 6, 019:

• Turkey has "neutralized" at least 61 PKK terrorists during an ongoing counter-terrorism operation in northern Iraq.
• As part of the Operation Claw -which was launched on May 27 by the Turkish Armed Forces against the PKK terror group in the Hakurk region- a total of 110 mines and improvised explosives were annihilated so far.
• A total of 151 shelters and ammunition depots used by the terror group were also destroyed.

Turkey Sunday July 7, 2019:

• A joint operation conducted by the Turkish army and intelligence units last week, targeted the PKK’s northern Iraq base at Mount Qandil killing out a key member of the terror group.
• Diyar Garip Muhammad, a member of the terrorist group’s so-called presidential and executive council, was killed in the operation.
• The operation is apparently the first time a senior PKK terrorist has been killed at the PKK’s Qandil headquarters.
• Diyar Garip Muhammad, codenamed Halmat Diyar, joined the terrorist group in 1992 and was one of seven members of its so-called presidential council.

Turkey Monday July 8, 2019:

• Turkish fighter jets “neutralized” four more PKK militants in northern Iraq. The militants were “neutralized” in the Zap and Metina regions as part of the airstrikes carried out in coordination with the Operation Claw.
• The airstrikes also destroyed weapon emplacements and shelters used by PKK militants.
• On May 27, Turkey launched Operation Claw against the PKK in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq.
• Separately, Turkish security forces “neutralized” three PKK militants in the country’s southeastern Hakkari province. The militants were “neutralized” by provincial Gendarmerie Command in rural Hakkari -bordering Iraq- amid internal security operations.

Turkey Monday July 15, 2019:

• Turkish fighter jets neutralized eight more PKK terrorists during a counter-terrorism operation carried out in northern Iraq. The terrorists were neutralized in Metina region during the airstrikes conducted in coordination with Operation Claw.
• The airstrikes also destroyed weapon emplacements and shelters used by PKK terrorists. A total of 174 terrorists have been "neutralized" in northern Iraq since May 27.

Turkey Wednesday July 17, 2019:

• A Turkish diplomat was killed after gunmen entered an upscale restaurant where he was dining and opened fire in Erbil, capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq. Another individual was killed in the shooting, while one person was wounded.
• The attackers escaped the HuQ Qabaz restaurant through the back door and security forces were searching for them.
• The attack on the restaurant was carried out by three people. The assailants also fired at Iraqi nationals sitting at a table next to Turkish consulate employees, killing one and seriously wounding another.

Turkey Friday July 19, 2019:

• A Turkish soldier was killed and six wounded in an operation in northern Iraq during clashes with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Turkey Saturday July 20, 2019:

• Four Turkish construction workers were seized by gunmen in a bar as they relaxed over drinks in a remote village in Nigeria's middle belt.
• The men were taken by a gang of six armed men in a raid on a bar in Gbale village in the Edu area of Kwara state.
• Security operatives including Nigeria's special anti-kidnapping squad have been deployed in the search for the men. No ransom has been demanded as yet and the kidnappers have not made contact with police.
• Saturday's abduction comes more than a week after 10 Turkish nationals were abducted from their ship by armed men off the coast of Nigeria on July 15. Police and the Nigerian Navy told CNN that investigations were still ongoing.
• In recent months, several high profile Nigerians, foreign nationals and others have fallen prey to gangs orchestrating a wave of kidnappings in the West African nation.

Turkey Monday July 22, 2019:

• Five people were lightly wounded after one of two rockets thought to be fired from within Syria landed on a house in a Turkish border town.
• Turkish forces had responded to the rocket fire and had hit seven targets on the Syrian side of the border. The precise origin of the rockets or who fired them was not immediately clear.
• Extensive security measures had been taken in the Ceylanpinar district in southern Sanliurfa province where the rocket landed and an investigation had begun.

Turkey Thursday July 25, 2018:

• Turkish fighter jets “neutralized” four more PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. The terrorists were “neutralized” in the Zap and Metina regions as part of the airstrikes carried out in coordination with the Operation Claw.
• The airstrikes also destroyed weapon emplacements and shelters used by PKK terrorists.
• The Turkish military and the National Intelligence Organization killed two organizers of the assassination attempt against Turkish diplomats in Iraq's northern city of Erbil.
• The two masterminds allegedly belonging to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were neutralized in two separate operations on July 18 and July 24.
• During the second operation, Turkish security forces hit a vehicle carrying the mastermind and his guards.

Turkey Friday July 26, 2019:

• Four Turkish citizens kidnapped in Nigeria's Kwara state have been rescued. The police had earlier confirmed the kidnapping of Seyit Keklik (25), Yasin Çolak (33), Ergun Yurdakul (35), and Şener Apal (40), who are reportedly construction workers.
• The four men were rescued by Turkish security forces. They were reportedly kidnapped as they returned from a local market where they had gone to buy drinks.

Turkey Saturday July 27, 2019:

• The Turkish military has 'neutralized' 255 terrorists in anti-terror operations carried out in northern Iraq as part of Operation Claw since May 27.
• In operations conducted between July 17 and 19 alone, 34 terrorists were neutralized in airstrikes carried out in the Qandil and Karacak regions of northern Iraq. Over 20 aircraft took off from the air combat command for the strikes, while UAV's, Airborne Early Warning and Control (HIK) aircraft as well as tanker aircraft participated in the mission.
• On July 13, Turkey launched Operation Claw-2 as a follow-up to the successfully ongoing Claw-1, which was launched on May 27.
• In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU, has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children.
• Four Turkish citizens have been freed a week after they were kidnapped at gunpoint in Nigeria. 
• The gunmen snatched the four men after storming a bar in a village in the western Kwara state last Saturday.
• The Turks were working for a construction firm in the state.

Turkey Tuesday July 30, 2019:

• Turkish fighter jets neutralized eight PKK terrorists during counter-terrorism operations in northern Iraq.
• Airstrikes were carried out in coordination with Turkey's ongoing military offensive Operation Claw.
• The ministry later tweeted that four more terrorists were neutralized in Gara region of northern Iraq.
• The airstrikes also destroyed weapon emplacements and shelters used by PKK terrorists.

Turkey Sunday August 4, 2019:

• Turkish fighter jets neutralized three PKK terrorists during a counter-terrorism operation in northern Iraq.
• Airstrikes were carried out in the Gara region in coordination with the ongoing Operation Claw.

Turkey Tuesday August 6, 2019:

• Turkish fighter jets neutralised 14 PKK terrorists during counter-terrorism operations in northern Iraq.
• Air strikes were carried out in the Metina and Gara regions as part of the ongoing Operation Claw.

Turkey Wednesday August 7, 2019:

• The Turkish army "neutralized" four PKK terrorists in northern Iraq in coordination with Operation Claw.
• The operation was carried out in the Hakurk region as part of the ongoing Operation Claw.
• A total of 80 terrorists have been "neutralized" since the launch of Operation Claw. ---

Turkey Friday August 9, 2019:

• Ten Turkish sailors who were kidnapped by gunmen, were released.
• On July 16, at least 10 Turkish sailors traveling aboard the Ivory Coast-bound Turkish ship Paksoy-1 were abducted off Nigeria.
• The ship is operated by Kadıoğlu Maritime and had 18 crew on board when it was attacked by pirates suspected to be from Nigeria's volatile delta region.
• Kurdish fighters have attacked a Turkish base in a Turkish-controlled area in northern Syria, wounding two of its soldiers.
• Fighters of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, attacked the base in Afrin with an anti-tank missile. Turkey's military fired back at YPG targets with fire support vehicles.
• The attack came days after Turkey and the United States reached a deal to set up a coordination centre to establish a so-called safe zone in northeast Syria. Ankara seeks to push U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters out of the region as it considers them terrorists allied with a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

Turkey Saturday August 10, 2019:

• Turkey has neutralized two PKK terrorists in northern Iraq during an anti-terror operation.    
• The terrorists were neutralized in airstrikes on Gara region in coordination with Turkey's ongoing Operation Claw. 

Turkey Monday August 19, 2019:

• A Turkish military convoy was attacked en route to one of its observation posts in northwest Syria; three civilians were killed and 12 others wounded in the air strike.
• The attack violated Ankara’s agreements and cooperation with Russia, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally. Russia had been told in advance about the convoy.
• Turkish fighter jets neutralized five PKK terrorists during a counter-terrorism operation in northern Iraq.
• Airstrikes were carried out in Qandil region in coordination with the ongoing Operation Claw.
• The operation also destroyed weapon emplacements and shelters used by PKK terrorists.

Turkey Sunday August 25, 2019:

• Three Turkish soldiers were killed in northern Iraq in clashes with Kurdish militants and another seven soldiers were wounded and admitted to hospital.
• On Monday, Turkey removed three pro-Kurdish party mayors in cities in the country’s southeast over alleged links to the PKK.
• The elected mayors of Diyarbakir, Van and Mardin, all in the predominantly Kurdish part of Turkey, were relieved of their duties, with state-appointed governors temporarily taking over their posts.

Turkey Sunday September 1, 2019:

• Turkish fighter jets neutralized five PKK terrorists in northern Iraq in an air operation. The airstrike was carried out in coordination with Turkey's National Intelligence Organization in the Hakurk region.         
• PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq as a base to plan cross-border terror attacks in Turkey.

Turkey Wednesday September 4, 2019:

• Turkish fighter jets neutralized two PKK terrorists in northern Iraq in an air operation.
• The two PKK terrorists were neutralized by air operations in Hakurk region in northern Iraq in coordination with the Operation Claw.

Turkey Sunday September 8, 2019:

• Armed Turkish military vehicles crossed into Syria to begin joint patrols with U.S. counterparts to establish a high-stakes “safe zone” along a border region controlled by Kurdish forces.
• Vehicles with Turkish flags joined those in Syria with U.S. flags some 15 kilometers east of the Turkish border town of Akcakale, near Syria’s Tel Abyad. With two military helicopters briefly overhead, they headed south for several hours before returning to Turkey.
• The land patrol, which Damascus condemned, marks the latest sign of cooperation between the NATO allies east of the Euphrates even while thorny questions remain over the size and oversight of the safe zone.

Turkey Tuesday September 17, 2019:

• Counterterrorism operations in northern Iraq and eastern Turkey neutralized seven PKK terrorists.
• Three terrorists were "neutralized" in the Gara region as part of the ongoing Operation Claw, while another two were "neutralized" in the Haftanin region during Operation Claw-3.
• The airstrikes also destroyed weapons emplacements and shelters used by the PKK.

Turkey Thursday September 19, 2019:

• In airstrikes on terrorist elements in northern Iraq, Turkish fighter jets "neutralized" three PKK terroristst. The airstrikes in Avasin were done in coordination with Turkey’s ongoing counter-terror operations in northern Iraq.
• The counter-terrorism operations were supported by the Turkish Armed Forces, police, gendarmerie, and the National Intelligence service (MIT).
• PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey

Turkey Monday September 23, 2019:

• Turkish security forces neutralized 12 terrorists in counter terrorism operations at home and abroad.
• Turkish security forces neutralized nine terrorists in southeastern Şırnak province.
• Police and the Gendarmerie-a paramilitary police in Turkey carried out a counter-terrorism operation in Şırnak's rural areas.
• Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralized" in statements to imply the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.
• Meanwhile, Turkish fighter jets "neutralized" three PKK terrorists in airstrikes on terrorist elements in northern Iraq.

Turkey Monday September 23, 2019:

• Two Turkish soldiers were killed in northern Iraq by a roadside bomb that Turkey’s defence ministry blamed on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
• The soldiers died after an improvised explosive device “placed by PKK separatist terrorists exploded as a supply convoy was passing.

Turkey Saturday October 12, 2019:

• Turkish-backed Syrian Arab fighters killed at least two Kurdish prisoners, one of them lying on the ground with his hands bound behind his back, in a powerful illustration of the forces unleashed by President Trump’s decision to pull back American troops shielding former Kurdish allies in northern Syria.
• A video that captured one of the killings shows two of the Turkish-backed group’s fighters firing bullets at close range into the man with his hands tied while their colleagues shout “God is great!” The second prisoner who was killed appears in the video alive and wearing a military uniform, but he is missing from the group’s later social media post about its captives.

Turkey Friday October 18, 2019:

• A Turkish soldier has been killed on its border after gunfire from Iran.
• The soldier was killed and two other soldiers were lightly wounded. The incident took place in the eastern Van province near border town of Caldiran. ---

Turkey Wednesday October 23, 2019:

• President Donald Trump said he will lift sanctions on Turkey after the NATO ally agreed to permanently stop fighting Kurdish forces in Syria and he defended his decision to withdraw American troops.
• “We’re getting out,” Trump said at the White House, asserting that tens of thousands of Kurdish lives were saved as the result of his actions.
• “Let someone else fight over this long, blood-stained sand,” he said.
• The president, who campaigned on a promise to cease American involvement in “endless wars,” took a victory lap as he lopped the American presence inside Syria in less than a year from about 2,000 troops to a contingency force in southern Syria of 200 to 300.
• Lawmakers on both sides of aisle chastised the president for turning on the Syrian Kurds, whose fighters battled side by side with American troops to beat back the Islamic State group They also questioned whether the move has opened up the region to a resurgence of IS.
• “I am worried that a full withdrawal will create space for ISIS to regroup, grow and gain more strength,” said Michael McCaul of Texas, the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “We learned from President Obama’s reckless retreat from Iraq that power vacuums are exploited by America’s worst enemies. We do not want to repeat the same mistake. We must learn from history.”

Turkey Thursday October 24, 2019:

• The Turkish military said it would advance no further into Syria, after reaching an agreement with Russia on forcing Kurdish fighters from the border region.

Turkey Sunday October 27, 2019:

• Turkey's army says an attack by Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria has killed one of its personnel and wounded five others, bringing Turkey's military death toll to 11 since the launch of its operation.
• The military said the attack occurred near the border town of Ras al-Ayn where its forces were conducting reconnaissance. The area falls within a 19-mile deep border zone Kurdish forces are withdrawing from, under a U.S.-backed cease-fire.

Turkey Thursday October 31, 2019:

• Turkish military forces captured 18 Syrian government soldiers in northeastern Syria in one of the most dramatic examples of an increasingly muddled battleground following the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the area.
• The soldiers were captured during Turkish reconnaissance operations southeast of Ras al-Ayn. Ankara was already in talks with Russia to hand over the Syrian soldiers. The soldiers were captured Tuesday during an intense battle between Syrian government forces and Turkey-backed fighters. Kurdish fighters were fighting alongside the Syrian troops.
• Later Turkey handed over the 18 soldiers in an operation mediated by Moscow. A couple of the soldiers were in civilian clothes and seemed injured.
• Turkey agreed to a cease-fire brokered by Russia in which Kurdish fighters would withdraw 30 kilometres away from the Turkish border. As part of the deal, Syrian government forces would take positions along the frontier.

Turkey Sunday November 3, 2019:

• Shelling by Turkey-backed opposition fighters killed a Burmese medic and wounded another Iraqi member of the humanitarian team in northeastern Syria where fighting between Kurdish fighters and Turkey-backed gunmen continued.
• The attack occurred about 4 kilometers from the northern town of Tal Tamr. The medic, Zau Seng, was hit in the head by shrapnel from a mortar shell that struck nearby as he was filming a video of the fighting.
• He died right away and we brought him here to Tal Tamr. A video showed one of the aid group's armored vehicles hit by shrapnel. An Iraqi team member was also wounded in the mortar attack, which he blamed on the "Free Syrian Army and Turks.
• Turkey's defense ministry denied that Turkish troops attacked the aid convoy, saying that the reports "are not true."

Turkey Monday November 4, 2019:

• Turkey captured the elder sister of the slain leader of the Islamic State group in northwestern Syria according to a senior Turkish official, who called the arrest an intelligence “gold mine.”
• Little is known about the sister of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The 65-year-old known as Rasmiya Awad is suspected of being affiliated with the extremist group.
• Awad was captured in a raid on a trailer container she was living in with her family near the town of Azaz in Aleppo province. The area is part of the region administered by Turkey after it carried out a military incursion to chase away IS militants and Kurdish fighters starting 2016. Allied Syrian groups manage the area known as the Euphrates Shield zone.
• The sister was with her husband, daughter-in-law and five children. The adults are being interrogated.
• This kind of thing is an intelligence gold mine. What she knows about (IS) can significantly expand our understanding of the group and help us catch more bad guys.

Turkey Tuesday November5, 2019:

• Turkish security forces “neutralized” two PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. The 2 PKK terrorists were neutralized in the air-supported operation carried out in Haftanin region within the scope of the ongoing Operation Claw-3 in northern Iraq.
• PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq as a base to plan cross-border terror attacks in Turkey.

ey Thursday November 14:

• Turkish security forces “neutralized” eight PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. "With the coordinated work of the Turkish Armed Forces and National Intelligence Organization, eight PKK terrorists were neutralized in an air-backed operation in the Metina region of northern Iraq," the ministry said in a statement.
• PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey.

Turkey Wednesday November27,2019:

• Two Turkish soldiers were killed in southern Turkey in a mortar attack near a military base in the town of Akcakale on the Syrian border.
• The attack targeted a base across from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, which Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies seized in a military operation against the Kurdish fighters last month.
• Turkish forces had immediately opened retaliatory fire towards the source of the attack and operations in the region continued. ---

Turkey Thursday December 19, 2019

• Two more PKK terrorists, who escaped from shelter areas in northern Iraq, surrendered to the Turkish border outpost in Silopi, Şırnak [southeastern Turkey].
• It added that a total of 10 terrorists escaping the PKK outside Turkey have surrendered to Turkish forces over the last week.
• PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq as a base to plan cross-border terrorist attacks on Turkey.

Turkey Saturday December 21, 2019:

• Three PKK terrorists preparing for an attack were neutralized in an air-backed operation held in northern Iraq's Zap and Sinat-Haftanin regions.
• More than 400 YPG/PKK terrorists were “neutralized” in northern Iraq over the past four months.
• The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.

Turkey Wednesday January 8, 2020:

• Four Turkish soldiers were killed in a bomb attack by the YPG terrorists in Syria. The soldiers were killed by a vehicle bomb attack during a road control in the Operation Peace Spring zone.
• Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terrorist operations across its border into northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terrorist corridor there: Operations Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (October 2019).

Turkey Wednesday January 1, 2020:

• Turkish airstrikes targeting members of an outlawed Kurdish rebel group have killed at least four minority Yazidi fighters allied with the rebels. The strikes hit a military pickup truck in the northern town of Sinjar in Nineveh province.
• The pickup was carrying members of the Iraqi Yazidi militia known as the Shingal Resistance Units, affiliated with the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK, which is fighting an insurgency in Turkey and has been outlawed by Ankara.
• Kurdish television channels in northern Iraq reported that Yazidi commander Zardasht Shingali was among the dead and that another five fighters were wounded in the strikes. In Baghdad, Iraq’s joint operations command said five people were killed in the attack in Sinjar. The different casualty tolls could not immediately be reconciled.

Turkey Thursday January 16, 2020:

• Three Turkish soldiers were killed in a vehicle bombing in the Operation Peace Spring area in northern Syria.
• The Defense Ministry condemned the attack and offered condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and the Turkish people.
• President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey would not let the deadly terrorist car bombing in northern Syria "go unanswered."

Turkey Monday February 10, 2020:

• Turkey said it retaliated after “intense” shelling by Syrian forces killed five of its soldiers and wounded five others in the northern Idlib province, a marked escalation a week after a similarly deadly clash between the two sides.
• The exchange of fire came as a Russian delegation held a second round of talks in the Turkish capital of Ankara to discuss the fighting in Idlib province.
• The fighting led to the collapse of a fragile cease-fire brokered by Turkey and Russia in 2018. Turkey supports the Syrian rebels, while Russia heavily backs the Syrian government’s campaign to retake the area, which is the last rebel stronghold in Syria.
• A U.N. official said the number of people displaced by the violence since Dec. 1 reached nearly 700,000.

Turkey Tuesday February 11,2020:

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has put NATO’s second-largest army on a collision course with Russian-backed forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to try to prevent the fall of Idlib province, Syria’s last rebel stronghold.
• The Turkish military ordered hundreds of tanks and armoured cars dispatched to Idlib and struck about 170 targets in Syria in retaliation for attacks by Syrian forces that killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers in the northwestern province this month.
• Russia demanded a halt to attacks on Russian forces and their allies in the northwestern province, who’ve been conducting a months-long advance on the opposition bastion.
• Retaking Idlib would give Assad a major strategic victory, but it could give Turkey less of a say in postwar Syria, where it’s been backing rebels since the conflict began in 2011. The fighting there is straining the uneasy contract between Turkey and Russia in Syria, where the two regional powers have carved out areas of control.
• An agreement by Turkey, Russia and Iran three years ago choked off a planned offensive on Idlib and allowed for the stationing of Turkish troops there. But Syria and its foreign backers have come close to Idlib’s centre as they take control of strategic highways, and are now poised to vanquish an opposition force made up of onetime al-Qaeda affiliates and Turkey-backed rebels. The Turkish president needs to review ties with Russia after the deaths of the Turkish soldiers by Moscow-backed Syrian troops.

Turkey Sunday February 16, 2020:

• Turkish jets have killed eight PKK terrorists in an operation in northern Iraq.
• The terrorists were killed in the Hakurk region, with a senior member of the terror group among them. PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey.
• Turkish security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey, where the PKK has attempted to establish a strong presence and base. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) also carries out cross-border operations in northern Iraq where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases that they use to carry out attacks on Turkey.

Turkey, Thursday February 20, 2020:

• Two Turkish soldiers were killed and another five wounded in Syrian government air raids near the northwest region of Idlib. More than 50 Syrian forces were killed in retaliation.
• The attacks came a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned of an imminent Turkish military offensive in Idlib, where Syrian forces, backed by Russia airpower, mounted an operation to capture the region.

Turkey Saturday February 22,2020:

• At least nine people including three children are dead in eastern Turkey after an earthquake with its epicentre in neighbouring Iran
• At least 37 people were injured after houses collapse. The magnitude-5.7 quake centre on the Iranian border village of Habash-e Olya.
• At least 75 were injured and houses damaged in 43 villages in Iran's West Azerbaijan province. The quake struck at 09:23 in Iran and had a 6km depth.

Turkey Monday February 24, 2020:

• Turkey-backed opposition fighters have recaptured a town in northwestern Syria after clashes with government-allied fighters.
• Rebels seized the town of Nairab, considered a gateway to the strategic town of Saraqeb, which lies close to a junction between two major highways.

Turkey Thursday February 27, 2020:

• At least 34 Turkish soldiers were killed in air strikes in Syria’s Idlib.
• Turkey has sent thousands of troops and heavy military hardware into northwest Syria’s Idlib province to back rebels looking to hold back an offensive by Syrian government and Russian forces aimed at taking back the rebel stronghold.

Turkey Friday February 28, 2020:

• It has been confirmed that more than two dozen Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike by Syrian government forces in northeast Syria.
• The deaths mark a serious escalation in the direct conflict between Turkish and Russia-backed Syrian forces that has been waged since early February.
• Rahmi Dogan, the governor of Turkey’s Hatay province bordering Syria’s Idlib region, said 29 troops were killed and others were seriously wounded in the attack late Thursday.
• In addition to three Turkish soldiers killed in Idlib earlier Thursday, the casualties mark the largest death toll for Turkey in a single day since Ankara first intervened in Syria in 2016. At least 50 have now been killed in Idlib since the start of February.

Turkey Tuesday March 3, 2020:

• One Turkish soldier has been killed and nine wounded in an attack by Syrian government forces in northwest Syria’s Idlib region.
• With the latest death, 57 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the conflict in the region since Turkey sent thousands of troops and military hardware there last month to support rebels fighting Syrian government forces.
• The defence ministry said that 82 Syrian army targets were struck after the attack on Turkish forces and continued to be under fire. It did not specify exactly where or when the attack occurred.

Turkey Wednesday March 4,2020:

• Turkish security forces “neutralized” nine PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. Four terrorists in Avasin and five in Hakurk regions were neutralized in an air-backed operation.
• PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey.
• In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU - has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.
• Two more Turkish soldiers were killed in a Syrian government attack in northwestern Syria, as steady clashes between the two national armies continued to rack up casualties.
• Turkey has sent thousands of troops into the area to support Syrian insurgents holed up there, but hasn't been able to stop the Russian-backed Syrian government offensive to retake the Idlib province.
• Near the Turkish border, the Idlib area is the last rebel stronghold after nine years of war in Syria. The latest Syrian attack on its troops also wounded six soldiers. It did not provide further details.
• The assault came as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to depart for Moscow where he says he aims to broker a cease-fire in Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• Clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces in northwestern Syria have killed more than 50 Turkish troops in the past month, including 33 soldiers killed Thursday in a single airstrike. Moscow has laid the blame for the escalation on Ankara, ahead of the summit between the two main power brokers in Syria.

Turkey Thursday March 5, 2020:

• Two Turkish soldiers died and three others were wounded after Syrian government forces opened fire in Syria’s Idlib.
• Turkish forces responded with fire to Syrian government targets.
• An airstrike on a rebel-held village in northwest Syria hit a poultry farm where several displaced families were sheltering killing at least 15 people including children while wounding several others.
• The activists blamed Russian warplanes for the strike on Maaret Musreen village, which is home to thousands of internally displaced people.
• The strike came hours ahead of a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the escalation in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, which comes amid a month long Russian-backed Syrian government offensive there.
• As the meeting got underway, Turkey announced that another Turkish soldier was killed in an attack in Idlib raising the number of Turkish soldiers killed in the past 36 hours to three.
• Nearly a million people have been displaced by the fighting in Idlib —Syria's last remaining rebel stronghold— and hundreds have been killed. Many of the displaced have fled north toward the sealed border with Turkey.

Turkey Friday March 6, 2020:

• After six hours of talks with Vladimir Putin, a somber Erdogan announced an accord which cements territorial gains by Russian-backed Syrian forces over Turkish-backed rebels.
• Returning from Russia, Erdogan said his deal with Putin will lay the ground for stability in Idlib and protect civilians who could otherwise become refugees in Turkey, after months of fighting that has displaced nearly a million people. “The ceasefire brings about important gains,” he said.
• The agreement, if it holds, does stem the advances of forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, easing Ankara’s greatest fear - an influx of Syrians fleeing bombardment in Idlib and clamoring to cross its border and join 3.6 million Syrian refugees already in Turkey.

Turkey Monday March 9, 2020:

• Turkish army "neutralized" 13 YPG/PKK terrorists in northwestern Syria.
• 13 YPG/PKK terrorists plotting an attack on the Turkish elements in the area of Operation Euphrates Shield from Tel Rifaat [northwestern Syria] were neutralized in a successful operation.
• Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terrorist operations across its border into northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable peaceful settlement by locals: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

Turkey Tuesday March 10, 2020:

• Turkish security forces "neutralized" five so-called senior PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. Five terrorists "in the so-called executive position" in the Qandil region were neutralized in an air-backed operation carried out in cooperation with the National Intelligence Organization (MIT).
• PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey.

Turkey Wednesday March 11, 2020:

• Four PKK terrorists were neutralized in airstrikes in northern Iraq’s Hakurk region.
• The airstrikes were carried out after terrorists were discovered using reconnaissance and surveillance devices; the counterterrorism operations will continue with determination.

Turkey Thursday March 12, 2020:

• A car bomb exploded at a checkpoint manned by Turkey-backed opposition fighters in northeast Syria killing at least four people.
• The governor’s office of Turkey’s southern Sanliurfa region said that one gendarmerie corporal and three local security personnel were killed in the attack. It blamed Kurdish militants for the blast on the road leading to the Syrian town of Ras al-Ayn.
• The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast killed five, including three Turkey-backed opposition fighters and two members of Turkey’s paramilitary force. 10 others were wounded, including seven civilians.
• Turkey has blamed explosions that killed and wounded dozens of people in northeast Syria in recent months on Kurdish fighters.

Turkey Monday March 16, 2020:

• The Turkish army "neutralized" 11 YPG/PKK terrorists attempting to infiltrate northern Syrian territories.

Turkey Tuesday March 18, 2020:

• 12 civilians, including 4 children, were killed by Syrian regime forces and Syrian Democratic forces as documented by SNHR. Death toll is distributed as follows:
• Syrian Regime forces: 7 civilians, including 2 children
• Syrian Democratic forces: 5 civilians, including 2 children

Turkey Thursday March 19, 2020:

• The Turkish army "neutralized" three YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria attempting to infiltrate into the area of the [Operation] Peace Spring region.
• Russian forces, not the Syrian regime as previously claimed, were responsible for killing 34 Turkish soldiers in Syria earlier this month, US secretary of statMike Pompeo has said.
• "We believe Russia has killed dozens of Turkish military personnel in the course of their military operation," he said. "We stand with our Nato ally Turkey and will consider additional measures that support Turkey," Pompeo said.
• Two Turkish soldiers have been killed in a rocket attack in Syria's northwestern Idlib province. A third soldier was wounded in Thursday's attack, which it said was carried out by "radical groups".
• Turkey's artillery units immediately mounted a powerful retaliation.

Turkey Friday March 20, 2020:

• Turkey earlier this month neutralized a senior PKK terrorist operating in the Qandil region of northern Iraq. Halide Tari was neutralized in a joint operation conducted by Turkish intelligence (MIT) and armed forces (TSK) on March 9.
• PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq as a base to plan cross-border terrorist attacks on Turkey.

Turkey Monday March 23, 2020:

• Turkish security forces have killed five PKK terrorists in separate security operations in Iraq and Syria.
• Two PKK terrorists were neutralized in an air-backed operation in northern Iraq's Zap region.
• Another three YPG/PKK terrorists were killed in a Turkish operation in northwestern Syria.
• Separately, Turkish commandos eliminated three YPG/PKK terrorists in northwestern Syria. The three PKK/YPG terrorists attempting to infiltrate the Operation Peace Spring zone.

Turkey Tuesday March 24, 2020:

• Turkish security forces neutralized six YPG/PKK terrorists in northwestern Syria. Six PKK/YPG terrorists who were attempting to infiltrate the Operation Peace Spring zone were successfully neutralized in successful operations of our heroic command.

Turkey Wednesday March 25, 2020:

• Two Turkish soldiers were killed and two others wounded after a mortar attack by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq.
• In a statement late on Wednesday, the ministry said Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters mounted a "harassment attack" on Turkish troops. It said "targets identified in the region" were struck and destroyed immediately in retaliation.

Turkey Monday March 30, 2020:

• Turkey condemned the terrorist attacks in Afghanistan which reportedly claimed 60 lives of many Afghan security forces.
• "We are saddened to receive the news that terrorist attacks in Tahkar, Zabul, Helmand and Baghlan provinces of Afghanistan on 29 March, Sunday resulted in loss of lives of many Afghan security forces," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
• "We strongly condemn these terrorist attacks and wish Allah’s mercy upon those who lost their lives, a speedy recovery to the wounded, and convey our condolences to the friendly and brotherly people of Afghanistan”.
• At least 60 Afghan security forces were killed and close to 50 injured in past 48 hours in attacks blamed on Taliban.

Turkey Tuesday March 31, 2020:

• Iran's natural gas exports to Turkey have stopped after a "terrorist" attack on a pipeline inside Turkey.
• This morning, terrorists attacked a natural gas pipeline inside Turkey near Iran's Bazargan border with Turkey ... flow of gas has been halted," said Mehdi Jamshidi-Dana, director of National Iranian Gas Co on Tuesday.

Turkey Friday April 3, 2020:

• The Turkish military shelled Syrian government positions near Manbij in northern Syria, wounding two high-ranking officers in a village west of the strategic town.
• The strikes came days after Turkish-backed rebels bombarded the same areas, killing a young girl and wounding her father.
• Turkish forces and their Syrian opposition allies have come up against forces loyal to President Bashar Assad around Manbij, a key town that lies on the M4 highway west of the River Euphrates, since launching a military operation in October that drove Kurdish-led groups from much of north Syria.
• The confrontation between Turkey and the Syrian government grew heated last month in Idlib, another part of northern Syria, after the Turkish military launched an intensive drone bombardment of Syrian troops in retaliation for an attack that killed 34 Turkish soldiers on Febebruary 27.

Turkey Sunday April 5, 2020:

• Turkish security forces neutralized at least seven YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria.
• "Two YPG/PKK terrorists, who opened harassing fire in Operation Euphrates Shield area, and five YPG/PKK terrorists, who were attempting to infiltrate the Operation Peace Spring zone, were neutralized.

Turkey Monday April 6, 2020:

• Turkish jets "neutralized" five PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. The terrorists were neutralized in the Hakurk and Avasin-Basyan regions in an air operation.

Turkey Wednesday April 8, 2020:

• Turkish jets neutralized two PKK terrorists as part of a Turkish counter-terrorism operation in northern Iraq. The terrorists were neutralized in an air operation in northern Iraq's Haftanin region.

Turkey Wednesday April 15, 2020:

• Turkish fighter jets “neutralized” four PKK terrorists as part of a counter-terrorism operation in northern Iraq. The terrorists, who were detected by reconnaissance and surveillance activities, were “neutralized” in an air operation in northern Iraq's Qandil region.
• PKK terrorists often take shelter in northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey. Counter-terrorism operations in the region would continue unabated.
• A Turkish soldier was killed in a PKK terrorist attack in northern Iraq.
• On April 15, 2020, in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq, a fellow soldier was killed by the explosion of a handmade mine previously placed by terrorists from the separatist terrorist organization PKK.

Turkey Saturday April 18, 2020:

• Turkish fighter jets “neutralized” three PKK terrorists as part of counter-terrorism operations in northern Iraq. The terrorists, who were detected by reconnaissance and surveillance activities, were neutralized in Avashin-Basyan region of northern Iraq.
• PKK terrorists often take shelter in northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot. (---)

Turkey Friday May 1, 2020:

• Turkish forces “neutralized” three PKK terrorists in a counter-terrorism operation in northern Iraq. The terrorists, who were detected in northern Iraq's Zap region during the reconnaissance and surveillance activities, were neutralized by Turkish fighter jets.
• PKK terrorists often take shelter in northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey.

Turkey Sunday May 3, 220:

• Turkish security forces killed at least a dozen YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria, near Turkey's southern border. Twelve PKK/YPG terrorists, who opened harassment fire and attempted to infiltrate the Operation Peace Spring zone to disrupt the peace and security environment, were neutralized by our heroic commandos.
• Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting terrorists affiliated with Daesh and the PKK's Syrian offshoot, the YPG, on October 9, 2019.
• A convoy of 30 Turkish military vehicles entered Syria's northern Idlib province. The military convoy carried logistic and military gears.
• 2,980 Turkish military gears entered Idlib since March 5, when Russia and Turkey established a cease-fire deal in Idlib between the rebels and the Syrian army.
• The Syrian government repeatedly called for the withdrawal of foreign forces that entered Syria without the consent of the Syrian government such as the Turkish and the U.S. forces.

Turkey Saturday May 16, 2020:

• Turkish security forces destroyed 20 mines planted by the YPG/PKK terror group in northern Iraq.
• In search and sweep activities carried out in Iraq’s northern Haftanin region, 20 VS-50 anti-personnel mines of PKK terror group were seized and destroyed by the METI [mine/IED detection&disposal] teams.

Turkey Tuesday May 26, 2020:

• Turkish forces “neutralized” 10 PKK terrorists in northern Iraq.
• Five terrorists were “neutralized” in Haftanin and Hakurk regions after they were detected through reconnaissance and surveillance activities.
• In another operation, conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces in coordination with the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, five more terrorists were "neutralized" in Asos region.
• They were also located through reconnaissance and surveillance missions.

Turkey Thursday May 28, 2020:

• Turkish security forces “neutralized” three PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. The terrorists were “neutralized” in an air-backed operation in the Hakurk region after they were detected through reconnaissance and surveillance activities.

Turkey Saturday May 30, 2020:

• Two Iraqi Kurds from the same family were killed in a Turkish airstrike in a border area inside the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
• The Turkish aircraft bombarded a village in Deralok district in the northern part of Duhok Province and killed two family members and wounded another person in the village.
• Turkish forces frequently carry out ground operations, airstrikes and artillery bombardments against the positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq, especially the Qandil Mountains, the main base of the PKK.
• Turkish security forces killed five members of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, and two members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
• Two PKK terrorists have been neutralized in Avasin region in an airstrike after they were determined by means of reconnaissance and surveillance. Our operations continue until the last terrorist is neutralized.
• Also the Turkish commandos "neutralized" five members of the YPG in northern Syria as they were trying to "infiltrate into the region of Peace Spring aiming to destroy peace and security environment."

Turkey Tuesday June 2, 2020:

• Turkish security forces “neutralized” at least six YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria, near Turkey's southern border.
• Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terrorist operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable peaceful settlement by locals: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019).
• In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and EU- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

Turkey Wednesday June 3, 2020:

• Turkish security forces destroyed a large cave where PKK terrorists were hiding out in northern Iraq.
• The den, which has three rooms and is large enough to shelter at least 20/25 PKK terrorists, in Iraq’s Hakurk region has been made unusable.
• The PKK terrorists often take shelter in northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey.

Turkey Wednesday June 3, 2020:

• Turkish anti-terror operations dealt the PKK terrorist group a heavy blow. Several high-ranking terrorists were killed and a cave was destroyed in the operations, carried out in Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi territories.
• Security forces killed two YPG/PKK terrorists in an operation in eastern Turkey. In addition to the three terrorists who were killed three days ago in the countryside of Bitlis, two more terrorists have been killed today. The operations are underway.
• Turkey has killed several high-ranking terrorists in the eastern province of Bitlis, including the three militants that Soylu mentioned. One of the terrorists killed in the operations was identified as Veysel Kaya, nom de guerre "Mazlum Garzan," who was responsible for a string of terrorist attacks against Turkish security forces. Another terrorist was identified as Ahmet Korhan, nom de guerre "Serhat," a high-ranking terrorist on Interior Ministry's Most Wanted list.
• Meanwhile, in an operation in northern Iraq, Turkish security forces destroyed a large cave that was being used as a hideout by PKK terrorists.
• Meanwhile, in Syria’s Rasulayn, a PKK terrorist, who tried to infiltrate a civilian-populated area, was killed. The Ministry of Defense said the militant tried to infiltrate into civilian areas on his motorbike. But when he tried to escape a checkpoint, the bomb he was carrying exploded, killing him on the spot.

Turkey Friday June 5, 2020:

• One Turkish soldier was killed and two were wounded in the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib in an attack on an armoured ambulance.
• Turkish forces identified targets in the area and immediately opened fire in retaliation.
• Turkey and Russia back opposing sides in Syria's war, with Ankara backing rebels fighting against President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow supports Damascus.
• Ankara and Moscow agreed on a ceasefire in Idlib on March 5 following weeks of clashes between the warring parties that brought the two countries close to direct confrontation.

 Turkey Sunday June 7, 2029:

• Turkish security forces “neutralized” at least four YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. The terrorists were “neutralized” in an air-backed operation in the Avasin region after being detected through reconnaissance and surveillance.
• Separately, it was announced that provincial gendarmerie forces had carried out an air-backed anti-terror operation in Ovacik district of Tunceli on May 31, neutralizing three PKK terrorists.
• Also in the search and sweep operation, corpses of three PKK terrorists were found. Hence, the total number of terrorists neutralized in the Ovacik operation rose to six.
• Two M-16 guns, an infantry rifle, three hand grenades, ammunition and life supplies belonging to the terror group were also found.

Turkey Wednesday June 10, 2020:

• Turkish airstrikes have killed eight PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. Eight more PKK terrorists detected through reconnaissance and surveillance activities in Zap and Haftanin regions were neutralized with instant aerial operations.
• Meanwhile, two YPG/PKK terrorists have surrendered to security forces in southeastern Turkey.
• One YPG/PKK terrorist who fled from the north of Syria surrendered to the border police station in Nusaybin district of Mardin province. Another PKK terrorist who left the shelter areas in the north of Iraq laid down arms in southeastern Silopi.

Turkey Monday June 15, 2020:

• Turkish warplanes struck more than 80 Kurdish targets in northern Iraq in response to an increase in attacks on Turkish army bases.
• Iraq's Joint Operations Command condemned the cross-border raid as a "provocative action" and accused Turkish forces of hitting a refugee camp.

Turkey Wednesday June 17, 2020:

• Turkey has launched a major joint air and ground operation against Kurdish militants over the border in northern Iraq, a move that suggests Ankara is growing bolder in its campaign against the decades-old Kurdish insurgency.
• Special forces were airlifted and deployed overland to the border region of Haftanin for Operation Claw-Tiger. The campaign targeted 150 suspected Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) positions and was supported by jets, helicopters, drones and artillery.
• The attack follows Operation Claw-Eagle overnight on Monday, a major bombing campaign on 81 suspected PKK installations across the region, including in the Yazidi homeland of Sinjar and the Qandil mountains, the traditional PKK stronghold.
• Despite the unprecedented scale and scope of the Turkish operations inside Iraqi territory, no civilian or combatant casualties have yet been reported.
• The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in the 1980s to fight for an independent Kurdish nation. While it has since revised that goal in favour of a commitment to Kurdish rights and autonomy, the group is still designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the EU and US.

Turkey Thursday June 18, 2020:

• Turkish forces have hit more than 500 targets in northern Iraq as part of an operation in the region against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
• Turkish F-16 jets, drones and howitzers hit and destroyed more than 500 PKK targets in 36 hours.

Turkey Friday June 19, 2020:

• The civilian death toll of Turkish air raids in northern Iraq rose to five as Ankara kept up a cross-border offensive against Turkish Kurdish rebels.
• Despite official protests from Baghdad, Turkey launched operation ‘Claw-Tiger’ by land and air into the mountainous terrain of northern Iraq where the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party had rear bases.
• Three civilians were killed when a Turkish air strike hit their cars in Dohuk province, which neighbours Syria and Turkey.
• Another local mayor, Serbast Sabri, said that the body of a fourth civilian was also found, two days after he had gone missing.
• A shepherd was killed when Turkish air raids hit the Bradost district.
• Turkish special forces had landed by helicopter in Iraqi Kurdistan to flush out PKK guerrillas from hideouts in the region’s remote mountains. Turkey has sporadically bombed PKK bases in the region, but its dramatic escalation has prompted scores of families in the area to flee.

Turkey Sunday June 21, 2020:

• A Turkish soldier was killed in a clash with terrorists in cross-border anti-terror operation in northern Iraq. The soldier was injured during Operation Claw-Tiger, and he succumbed to wounds at a hospital.
• Two terrorists were also “neutralized” during the operation, while their weapons were also destroyed.

Turkey Thursday June 25, 2029:

• A Turkish air strike in northern Iraq killed one person and wounded six others; Baghdad called on Turkey to end its "violation" of Iraqi sovereignty.
• On June 17, Turkey launched a cross-border ground and air operation, dubbed "Claw-Tiger," against Kurdish fighters hiding out in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. It deployed warplanes, drones and special forces against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara considers a "terrorist" group because of its decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
• A Turkish strike hit a pickup truck in a rural area north of the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah. It killed one man who was in the car but it is not known if the victim was a civilian or fighter. "The six wounded consisted of two women, two children and two men, all members of the same family."
• Baghdad issued a statement calling on Turkey to end its breach of Iraqi airspace and sovereignty, in which a number of civilians were killed.

Turkey Friday June 26, 2020:

• The Turkish security forces "neutralized" nine PKK terrorists as part of Operation Claw-Tiger in northern Iraq. The terrorists were targeted by Turkish commandos in the Haftanin region.
• Turkey's operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle were launched last week to ensure the safety of the Turkish people and borders by neutralizing the threat of the PKK and other terrorist groups, who often use northern Iraq to plan cross-border attacks.

Turkey Tuesday June 30, 2020:

• Turkish security forces seized ammunition and explosives belonging to the PKK terror group in northern Iraq. The Turkish soldiers seized lots of weapon, ammunition, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, improvised explosive devices, as well as various documents and life-sustaining materials during the intense search and sweep activities in Haftanin region as part of the Operation Claw-Tiger.
• The Operation Claw-Tiger, launched on June 16, continues successfully as planned. The ministry also shared on Twitter a footage of terrorist ammunition found by the security forces. Turkey's operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle were recently launched to ensure the safety of the Turkish people and borders by neutralizing the threat of the PKK and other terrorist groups in the region.

Turkey Friday July 3, 2020:

• Turkey attacked positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and three PKK members were killed. Weapons including rocket launchers, hand grenades, and assault rifles were destroyed.
• Two fighter jets detected and destroyed "terror targets" with ties to the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in the Avasin and Baysan regions.
• Turkey recently launched Operation Claw-Tiger and Operation Claw-Eagle, parallel offensives targeting the PKK in northern Iraq. The PKK is based in the Qandil Mountains in Iraq near the Iranian border and is considered a "terrorist" organisation by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States.
• Turkish security forces “neutralized” at least five PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. Weapons, ammunition, and explosives were also seized as part of Operation Claw-Tiger.
• Two PKK terrorists were also targeted in an air operation in northern Iraq’s Avasin region.

Turkey Sunday July 5, 2020:

• Turkish security forces “neutralized” at least two YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria, near the country's southern border.

Turkey Monday July 6, 2020:

• The Turkish military seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition during its anti-terror operation in northern Iraq. Five AK-47s, one M-16 rifle, 14 hand grenades, nine improvised explosives, two RPG-7 rocket launchers and mortars, and a huge cache of ammunition were seized during search and sweep activities by commandos as part of the Operation Claw-Tiger.

Turkey Wednesday July 8, 2020:

• Turkish jets "neutralized" at least two PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. The terrorists, detected in northern Iraq's Zap region, were neutralized via airstrike.
• PKK terrorists often take shelter in northern Iraq to plan cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey.

Turkey Thursday July 9, 2020:

• Turkish security forces neutralized a PKK terrorist, and seized a large amount of arms and ammunition as part of an anti-terror operation in northern Iraq.
• The seized items included an AK-47 rifle, RPG-7 rocket launcher, 160 5.56 mm Kalashnikov ammunition, handmade and IED explosives, anti-tank rocket ammunition, ammonium nitrate and 60mm mortars, among others. All materials seized were destroyed.
• The action was part of Operation Claw-Tiger, which was launched last month to ensure the safety of Turkish people, and the country's borders by neutralizing the threat of PKK and other terrorist groups in the region. --

Turkey Saturday July 11, 2020:

• During the operation one AK-47, 200 Docka anti-aircraft ammunition, one used missile and ammunition, and life supplies were seized.
• Separately, three terrorists hidden in the Operation Claw-Tiger zone were neutralized by armed unmanned aerial vehicles (drone). Our commandos, entering every cave and looking under each stone, found three more PKK terrorists hiding in the region, and neutralized them with the support of our drones.
• One soldier had been wounded in a clash with terrorists and later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.

Turkey Wednesday July 15, 2020:

• Turkey has deployed troops to the border areas in northern Iraq to fight against members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara deems as a terror organization.
• The new military operation dubbed Claw-Tiger is supported by the Air Force, ATAK helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs).
• Lately the PKK and other terrorists have increased attacks on the Turkish bases. The operation is carried out as part of "legitimate defense rights arising from international law.
• On June 15, Turkey launched its air operation Pence - Kartal, eliminating 81 PKK targets. The strikes were delivered in the northern Iraqi regions. The ground operation was codenamed Pence-Kaplan. Currently, the task force is operating in the region of Haftanin.

Turkey Saturday July 18, 2020:

• Turkish security forces "neutralized" three PKK terrorists in air-backed anti-terror operations in northern Iraq. The terrorists were neutralized in northern Iraq’s Zap region.

Turkey Friday July 31, 2020:

• The Turkish security forces “neutralized” at least six PKK terrorists in northern Iraq in the Gara region of northern Iraq.
• PKK terrorists holed up in northern Iraq are known for planning cross-border terrorist attacks in Turkey.

Turkey Saturday August 1, 2020:

• Turkish jets "neutralized" four PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. Airstrikes neutralized the terrorists in northern Iraq's Zap region.

Turkey Sunday August 2, 2020:

• At least two children have been killed in a mine blast in northern Syria. The PKK/YPG terrorist organization once again showed its treacherous face. 2 innocent children lost their lives as a result of the explosion of a mine laid by terrorists on the road used by civilians in Hafiyah village of Tal Abyad.
• Tal Abyad was cleared of terrorists last October during Turkey's Operation Peace Spring, which was launched to eliminate YPG/PKK terrorists in the region east of the Euphrates River to secure Turkey's borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees and ensure Syria's territorial integrity.
• Since then, Turkey has reached agreements with both the U.S. and Russia to force the terrorist group to withdraw from the planned terror-free zone.
• However, the YPG/PKK still carries out attacks in the districts of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain despite pulling out of areas under a deal reached by Ankara and Washington on Oct. 17.
• Turkey continues its counterterrorism operations against the PKK and its Syrian branch, the YPG. The Defense Ministry said Sunday that 10 PKK terrorists had been killed over the past 24 hours.
• Turkish jets killed four PKK terrorists in airstrikes in the Zap region of northern Iraq.

Turkey Friday August 7, 2020:

• Turkey in an air operation "neutralized" two terrorists in northern Iraq. Airstrikes neutralized the terrorists in northern Iraq's Zap region.
• We continue destroying terrorists' shelters. 2 more PKK terrorists, detected through reconnaissance and surveillance activities, have been neutralized in an air operation.

Turkey Saturday August 8, 2020:

• Turkey “neutralized” three PKK terrorists as part of an anti-terror operation in northern Iraq. The terrorists, detected by reconnaissance and surveillance activities, were neutralized in an air operation in the Avashin region of northern Iraq.
• The [anti-terror] operations will resolutely continue until the last terrorist is neutralized.

Turkey Sunday August 9, 2020:

• A total of 83 terrorists have been neutralized and a large amount of weapons and ammunition seized as part of operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle. The Claw-Eagle and Claw-Tiger operations, which started on June 16, have been successfully continuing for the last 48 days. In the operations carried out by Turkish forces, 83 terrorists have been neutralized so far. A total of 359 mines/handmade explosives and 267 shelters were detected.
• A large number of weapons were seized in these shelters and caves, including 13 AT-4 anti-tank missiles, two guided missiles, 15 Docka [anti-aircraft weapons], 88 AK-47 infantry rifles, and 299 hand grenades.
• An operation against the PKK positions in northern Iraq's Haftanin region was successfully carried out on Saturday, adding that during the operation, some top terrorists were neutralized.
• Turkey's operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle were launched in June to ensure the safety of Turkish people and the country's borders by neutralizing the threat of PKK, and other terrorist groups, who often use northern Iraq to plan cross-border attacks.
• Two members of the Turkish-backed Sultan Murad division were killed in clashes with the majority Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria’s Qamishli province. Two more Sultan Murad members were wounded in Qamishli’s Tel Tamr.
• Military reinforcements to Turkish forces and Turkey-backed Syrian groups in the area had partially withdrawn from the Abu Rasin area in Hasakah on Friday while forces that had been deployed previously remained in place.
• Syrian groups had thwarted two suicide attacks in Tel Abyad and Ras al Ayn, while earlier in July several civilians were killed and wounded in a bombing in Tel Abyad.
• Turkey took control of the area with the Operation Peace Spring that launched after the United States decided to withdraw from the Kurdish-held region in northeast Syria in October. Turkey and Russia agreed to establish a safe zone in Syria along the Turkish border, but occasional clashes have continued.
• Turkey is currently engaged in military operations in Northern Iraq, against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which it says has close ties with the SDF. PKK is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, and recognised as such by the United States and the European Union.

Turkey Monday August 10, 2020:

• The Iraq army says that a Turkish drone killed two high-ranking commanders, two border guard battalion commanders and the driver of their vehicle. The drone targeted a vehicle belonging to the Iraqi border guards in the Bradost area, north of Erbil. The strike caused the deaths of the two border guard battalion commanders and the vehicle's driver.
• The deaths announced by the military marked the first time members of the regular Iraqi forces have been killed since Turkey launched a cross-border ground and air operation in mid-June against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the mountainous terrain of northern Iraq.
• Iraq has already summoned the Turkish envoy in Baghdad twice in protest at Ankara's operations on its soil.
• Turkey has defended its operations in northern Iraq, saying neither the central government in Baghdad nor the regional Iraqi Kurdish administration have acted to remove PKK fighters who allegedly use Iraq's territory to stage attacks on Turkey.

Turkey Thursday August 13, 2020:

• Turkish bombardment killed three Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq as Baghdad seeks to rally support to end Ankara’s offensive on its soil. Turkey launched a cross-border ground and air operation in mid-June against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels in the mountainous terrain of northern Iraq.
• A Turkish bombardment targeted a car in the village of Rashanki, in Dohuk province, killing three PKK fighters, and injuring a fourth who fled. The men, who were traveling in an off-road vehicle, were killed when they stopped outside a grocery store. The attack comes as Iraq tries to drum up support from its Arab neighbors to form a united front against Ankara’s offensive.
• Earlier this week, two senior Iraqi officers and their driver were killed in a Turkish drone strike, prompting Iraq to summon the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad for the third time in two months.
• On Friday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein contacted his Bahraini and Emirati counterparts, after calling the day before the Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi and Kuwaiti foreign ministers, as well as Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Hussein pleaded for “a united position, forcing Turkey to withdraw its forces that have infiltrated Iraqi territory. Achieving that is a major challenge.
• Turkey, a major trading partner of Iraq and a regional heavyweight, has had several military posts in Iraqi Kurdistan for the past 25 years. Now it is expanding its bases.
• Since Turkey launched its offensive in mid-June, at least five civilians have been killed. Ankara says at least seven of its men have been killed, and the PKK and its allies have lost 14 fighters.

Turkey Friday August 14, 2020:

• Life in Mawat, a district of northern Iraq close to the Iranian border and about 50km north of the Kurdish city Sulaymaniyah, has largely been put on hold in recent months. 
• Unlike the rest of the country, however, this has not been due primarily to the coronavirus pandemic, but because of repeated aerial attacks carried out by Turkey, as Ankara continues to target Kurdish armed groups based in northern Iraq.
• Residents of the roughly 70 villages that comprise Mawat have said they are afraid to carry out their daily routines for fear of becoming another civilian casualty of the bombing campaign.
• People are very scared now and live in fear. Residents cannot go to their farms, pastures, and orchards without the thought that they could be hit at any moment. So, daily activities have been decreased due to fear.
• Multiple villages in Mawat have been hit in the past week as Turkey intensifies its bombing campaign against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant group based in northern Iraq that has fought with the Turkish state since 1984.

Turkey Saturday August 15, 2020:

• A wanted PKK member was among seven terrorists neutralized in northern Iraq. The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) neutralized the terrorists preparing for an attack on the anniversary of the terrorist organization's first attack against the Turkish state.
• Murat Kalko alias Agit Garzan, responsible for countless gun attacks and deaths, was neutralized on August 11 in Hakurk region of northern Iraq. He was in the red category of Interior Ministry's wanted list, which is divided into five color codes: red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and gray.
• Meanwhile, six senior "PKK special force and intelligence members" were neutralized in two different operations on August 13 and 14.

Turkey Sunday August 16, 2020:

• Kurdish militants shot down a Turkish military helicopter over northern Iraq and damaged another.
• The Kurdistan People's Defence Forces, or HPG, said one Sikorsky helicopter crashed shortly being after suffering heavy damage in militant fire, while the other managed to leave the area.
• The attack took place near the town of Haftanin about 15 kilometres for the Turkey-Iraq border. Al Hadath said the crew were killed when their helicopter crashed.
• There was no immediate confirmation of the incident from Turkish or Iraqi officials.

Turkey Monday August 17, 2020:

• A Turkish military vehicle was hit by a blast during a joint Russian-Turkish patrol in northwest Syria's Idlib region.
• No Russian soldiers were hurt in the incident.
• Turkish security officials later said there had been an attack that caused material damage but no deaths. No further information was immediately available.
• Two Syrian soldiers were killed Monday in a coalition air strike near the northeastern city of Qamishli following a checkpoint incident.
• The strike was carried out after a regime checkpoint refused passage to a US-led coalition patrol.
• The PKK's so-called head in northern Iraq's Hakurk region was killed by Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) last week
• Reported to be preparing for an attack in Turkey for Saturday's anniversary of the terrorist group's first bloody attack, Murat Kalko, code-named "Agit Garzan," was killed thanks to intelligence work conducted by the MIT in northern Iraq.

Turkey Tuesday August 24, 2020:

• Two people were killed in an airstrike by a Turkish drone near the town of Sinjar in the northern province of Nineveh.
• The Turkish aircraft also bombed a site in the village of Bara Khansour near Sinjar, but there are no reports on casualties yet.
• The Turkish drone violated the Iraqi airspace and bombed a pickup truck at a village near the town of Sinjar, some 100 km west of Nineveh's provincial capital Mosul, killing two people aboard but the driver survived the attack.
• On August 12, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad to condemn the violation of Iraq's sovereignty by the Turkish forces and aircraft under the pretext of attacking suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in several areas in northern Iraq.

Turkey Thursday August 27, 2020:

• Turkey "neutralized" two PKK terrorists in an air operation in northern Iraq. The terrorists, who were plotting an attack, were neutralized in the Zap and Hakurk regions.

Turkey Saturday August 29, 2020:

• Turkish security forces neutralized four more PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. The terrorists were neutralized in an air-backed operation in the Zap region.
• Unknown armed men opened fire on Turkish soldiers in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib wounding two soldiers.
• One of the wounded soldiers is in critical condition by the shooting that occurred in the vicinity of Ariha city in the southern countryside of Idlib.
• It is the latest attack to target Turkish soldiers in northern Syria. An armed group called Khattab al-Shishani Brigades claimed responsibility for previous attacks; details about the group are still murky with no information on its alliances with any other rebel groups in northern Syria.

Turkey Monday September 14, 2020:

• An aid worker from Turkey's Red Crescent has been killed and two others have been wounded after masked assailants attacked the group's vehicle near the northern Syrian town of Al Bab. The attack took place between Al Bab and the Turkish border town of Cobanbey.]
• This attack was committed not only against the Red Crescent but all of humanity.

Turkey Wednesday September 16, 2020:

• Turkey has neutralized 11 YPG/PKK terrorists who attempted to infiltrate into its anti-terror operation zone in northern Syria. Eleven PKK/YPG terrorists, who opened fire and attempted to infiltrate into the Operation Peace Spring and Operation Euphrates Shield regions to disrupt peace and security, were neutralized by our heroic commandos through land fire support vehicles.

Turkey Thursday September 17, 2020:

• Two Turkish soldiers were killed and another was wounded after Kurdish militants fired rockets at a military base in northern Iraq. Hharassment fire”by rocket launchers killed the two troops at one of Turkey’s bases in neighbouring Iraq.
• Turkey has regularly attacked Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, both in its mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the group is based. In June, Ankara launched a new ground offensive, dubbed Operation Claw-Tiger, that saw Turkish troops advance deeper into Iraq.
• In a separate statement, the Interior Ministry said 71 PKK militants had been killed since July 13 as part of a series of operations within Turkey, dubbed the “Lightning Operations”; 38 collaborators had also been captured.

Ukraine
- Ukraine had already 1,650 troops in Iraq and the government said, on December 25, 2004, that it intends to send 150 aviators and 6 helicopters additional in February 2004.
- On January 11, 2005, the Ukrainian Parliament voted for an immediate withdrawal of their soldiers from Iraq. However the vote is non-biding. This comes two days after eight Ukrainian soldiers died in an explosion in an ammunition dump. It is believed that it was an accident, but some military sources are also talking of terrorist actions.
- Ukraine's new defence minister said on Thursday February 24, 2005, his country would pull out all of its 1,650 troops in Iraq by the end of the year. Last week, Hrytsenko said about 700 of Ukraine's 1,650-strong contingent serving in a Polish-led multinational division would probably leave Iraq by the end of April.
- Ukraine plans to start bringing its 1,600 troops home from Iraq this month and complete the withdrawal by October 15, President Viktor Yushchenko said on Wednesday March 2, 2005. The first group would leave Iraq on March 15 and instructors and civilian specialists would gradually replace servicemen.
- Ukraine withdrew 150 service personnel from Iraq on March 13, 2005, starting a gradual pullout that will be completed by October.
- On March 18, 2005, it was known that Poland, Ukraine, and Portugal are pulling back their troops, and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced that the 3,200 Italian soldiers stationed in Iraq would begin withdrawing in September. The Italian forces are based at Nasiriyah.
- President Viktor Yushchenko has signed on March 22, 2005, a plan for withdrawing the country's troops from Iraq. The head of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, Petro Poroshenko, said the order details the phased pullout, which began last week with the return of 137 soldiers. The withdrawal will be complete by the end of the year. The withdrawal of Ukraine's more than 1,600 troops from Iraq was one of Mr. Yushchenko's campaign pledges during last year's presidential elections. Eighteen Ukrainian troops have been killed in Iraq. Many Ukrainians have opposed the mission.
- During her visit in Kiev, Ukraine, on December 7, 2005, US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, repeated that cruel and degrading interrogation methods of prisoners are forbidden for all US personal at home and abroad. The problem is that after Abu Ghraib and knowing what goes on still at Guantanamo Bay, nobody outside the US believes her.
- Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko visited his troops in Iraq on December 26, 2005. The 867 remaining Ukrainian soldiers are due to be brought home this week.

United Arab Emirate
- On November 16, 2005, former president Clinton told an audience in the United Arab Emirates that the invasion of Iraq had been a mistake.