Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considered the American statements about the Turkish forces that were killed in Iraq a “joke.”
He accused the United States of supporting “terrorists” after the killing of 13 Turks in Iraq, he said in Statements today, Monday: “America must stop its support for the PKK organization.”
Accusation and warning
He also added: “The United States has sent thousands of trucks. The weapons and military equipment of terrorist organizations in northern Syria and Iraq. ”
In addition, he threatened:“ We will take all measures against everyone who supports terrorism, even in secret, and we will do everything necessary to combat Kurdistan inside and outside Turkey. ”
This escalating situation came after the United States condemned, on Sunday evening, the killing of 13 Turks who were in northern Iraq, and were kidnapped by the PKK, according to what the Turkish authorities previously announced.
American condemnation
“The United States condemns the killing of Turkish citizens in Iraqi Kurdistan,” Ned Price, a spokesman for the US State Department, said in a statement.
He also added that if the reports that indicate the responsibility of the PKK are true, “F. We condemn this act in the strongest possible terms. ”
The Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar also announced yesterday that the executions, which included members of the army and the police, took place during a Turkish military operation against the party that began on the tenth of February and was killed It also contains 48 Kurdish fighters.
13 bodies in a cave.
It was also reported that Turkish soldiers found 13 bodies in a cave that was controlled in the Gara region north of Iraq, adding that the victims were executed by bullets shortly after launching an attack on the cave, according to what was reported by two Kurdish fighters who were arrested by Turkish forces.
While the governor of Malatya Province (eastern Turkey), to which the bodies were transferred, said that he had been identified. According to the identity of 10 of the victims, most of them “policemen” who were kidnapped by the Kurdistani in 2015 and 2016.
The Kurdistani clarifies
On the other hand, the Kurdistan Party confirmed the killing of a group of The prisoners, presented as being from the Turkish security forces, but indicated that they were killed in air strikes carried out by Ankara.
It is mentioned that this heavy Turkish loss threatens to stir up tension with the Iraqi government, which Ankara accuses of being soft in the face of the Kurds, And with the United States alike A, especially after Erdogan renewed today his accusation against Washington of supporting those groups that his country classifies as terrorist.
