Ankara informs world leaders on military operations against PKK and ISIL

ANKARA

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had phone conversations with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and European Council President Jean-Claude Juncker on July 26. AFP File Photo

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held several phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iraqi President Fuad Masum on July 26 and informed them about recent cross-border military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions in Syria. 

Putin and Masum conveyed condolences to the families of the Turkish victims killed in recent terror attacks, according to presidential sources quoted by Anadolu Agency. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had phone conversations with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and European Council President Jean-Claude Juncker on July 26 and discussed the Turkish military’s strikes against the PKK and ISIL targets and the threat of attacks by jihadists against Turkish nationals. 

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also discussed the issue with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on late July 26.

Turkey has had a bitter week with dozens of citizens dying in a wave of terror attacks in the southeast of the country. At least 32 people were killed by a suspected ISIL suicide bomber in the border town of Suruç on July 20. Then, two police officers were found shot dead at their shared home in southeastern Şanlıurfa’s Ceylanpinar district, with the PKK claiming responsibility. A day later, another policeman was killed in a gun attack in Diyarbakır. 

A Turkish military officer was also killed by ISIL gunfire from Syria in Kilis, prompting Turkish forces to return fire.