"Turkey plans to soon complete the operation Claw-Castle, which has been ongoing since 2019 in Northern Iraq against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters based there, designated as terrorist and banned by Ankara, as well as the creation of a security belt in areas of northern Syria. This is what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Istanbul at the graduation ceremony for officers from the National Defense University.
„We are dealing serious blows to the terrorist organization. In the near future we will close the castle in northern Iraq in the area of Operation Claw - Castle. We will also fill in the missing units in the protection belt in Syria. The terrorist organization in Iraq and Syria is completely trapped”, Erdogan noted.
Earlier, the Turkish president announced plans to complete the creation of a 30-kilometer security zone in northern Syria to ensure control over a 600-kilometer stretch of border with the neighboring country and minimize terrorists threats coming from its territory from the PKK. Ankara is considering a similar strategy for northern Iraq. Erdogan visited Iraq at the end of April, where he discussed issues of joint countermeasures against the PKK.