Israel Rejects Turkey’s Request to Airdrop Aid to Gaza
Israel has denied Turkey’s request to join airdrops of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and Ankara will take new measures against Israel in response, its Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday (Al Arabiya)
Turkey, which has denounced Israel for its offensive in the densely populated Gaza Strip and called for an immediate ceasefire, has sent tens of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid there since the start of the Israel-Hamas war (Reuters).
Turkey Arrests Two More Suspected Spies for Israel
Turkish authorities have arrested two people suspected of spying for Israeli intelligence, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Friday; since January, Turkish authorities have arrested and charged dozens of people suspected of having ties to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, including six people who were charged last month (Reuters)
Pro-Kurdish Candidate’s Mandate Restored
Electoral authorities reversed an earlier ruling that barred newly elected Abdullah Zeydan from holding office (AP)
Newly Elected Pro-Kurdish Mayor Denied the Right to Hold Office
Turkey’s electoral authorities revoked the mandate of Abdullah Zeydan, a member of the pro-Kurdish Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) who won the recent mayoral election in the city of Van (AP)
A letter from the city’s election board indicated the candidate who came in second in the district, a member of President Recep Tayipp Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), would replace Zeydan as mayor, sparking protests in Istanbul and cities across southeast Turkey (Reuters)
Erdogan Suffers Electoral Setback As Opposition Wins Major Cities
Turkey’s opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), swept the country’s local elections to secure thirty-five out of the eight-one municipalities including fourteen of the thirty urban centers, according to the High Electoral Council; the results dealt a major blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), which lost the popular vote for the first time since 2002 (CNN)
Turkey Says It Hit Twelve Kurdish Militants in Northern Iraq
Turkey said it had “neutralized” twelve members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq’s Metina region as part of a cross-border military campaign that it has warned could expand in coming months (Jerusalem Post).
Iraq Open to Turkey’s Proposed Anti-PKK Joint Ops Center, Says Turkish Official
Turkey proposed to set up a “joint operation center” with Iraq to fight the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and Baghdad responded “positively” in a meeting last week, a Turkish defense ministry official said (Anadolu Agency)
The official said Ankara wants the joint operation center to be included in a broader strategic document that Erdogan intends to sign during his visit to Baghdad, which is expected to occur after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends in April (Reuters).
Iraq Bans PKK Amid Push for Turkey Business Ties
Iraq’s National Security Council banned the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting an armed insurgency against Turkey for decades to establish an autonomous region in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast (Al-Monitor)
Senior officials from the two countries met in Baghdad yesterday and announced plans to increase business ties and military operations against the Kurdish group (Bloomberg)
Meanwhile, senior Turkish and Iraqi officials held high-level talks in Baghdad to discuss security issues, including potential measures against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq, an Iraqi foreign ministry statement said after the meeting (Reuters)
Ties between the neighbors have been unstable in recent years as Ankara has ramped up cross-border operations against Kurdish PKK militants based in northern Iraq’s mountainous regions (Middle East Monitor).
Counterterrorism Police Arrest an Alleged Islamic State Member
The suspect was a Russian national working under false documentation at a nuclear power plant built by a Russian state-owned energy company in Mersin province on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast (AP)
Turkish Parliamentary Committee Greenlights Sweden’s NATO Bid
Backing from Turkey’s foreign affairs committee paved the way for the full Turkish parliament to approve Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), though a vote was not immediately scheduled; Turkey has held up Sweden’s NATO bid over concerns about Sweden’s treatment of Kurdish dissidents (FT)
Turkey Strikes More Kurdish Targets in Iraq, Syria After Killings of Turkish Soldiers
Turkey’s defense ministry said it killed at least twenty-six militants in strikes on Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria following the killing of twelve Turkish troops in northern Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region; Ankara claims it is targeting militants associated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a separatist group that has a history of insurgency against the government after they allegedly attempted to infiltrate a Turkish base in the region (AP)
Turkey: Airstrikes Kill Thirteen Kurdish Militants in Northern Iraq
Turkey’s defense ministry said its “operations will continue with determination until there is not a single terrorist left in the region” (Reuters)
Suspected Turkish Airstrikes Kill Ten PKK Members in Iraq
Turkey vowed to intensify attacks on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other Kurdish armed groups following an October 1 bombing in Ankara (AFP)
Iraqi Military and Kurdish Peshmerga Forces Briefly Clash Over Bases
Three combatants died in the dispute over who would control three bases vacated by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK); the Iraqi military and Kurdish Peshmerga maintain a fragile alliance in the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region (AP)
Erdogan Vows to Intensify Strikes on Kurdish Positions in Iraq and Syria
The Turkish president said the increased air strikes are intended to show Kurdish fighters that Turkey “can destroy them anywhere and at any moment” (AFP)
Turkey’s President Says ‘First Phase’ of Air Campaign in Northern Iraq, Syria Complete
Over the past week, Turkey has struck nearly two hundred targets it says are linked to Kurdish militant bases in northern Iraq and Syria, including those of the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF); an SDF commander said Turkey has also targeted civilian sites such as schools (Al-Monitor)
The attacks were in response to a suicide bombing in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, earlier this month for which the Kurdistan Workers’ Party claimed responsibility (Al Jazeera)
Turkey Says It Killed Fifty-Eight Kurdish Militants in Northern Syria
The attacks mark a further escalation of Turkey’s cross-border retaliation against Kurdish militants following explosions in Ankara (Reuters)
Turkish Strikes Kill Eight in Kurdish-controlled Syria
The drone strikes follow a weekend bombing in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, that Turkish authorities concluded was carried out by attackers from Syria (Reuters)
Turkey Says Kurdish Attackers Came from Syria
Turkey said all “infrastructure, superstructure, and energy facilities” operated by Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria are legitimate targets following a bombing in Ankara by Kurdish attackers (Reuters)
Meanwhile, Turkish air forces struck more than a dozen Kurdish targets in Iraq (Rudaw)
Turkey Strikes Kurdish Militants in Northern Iraq
The airstrikes came hours after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party claimed responsibility for a bombing near government buildings in Turkey’s capital, Ankara (Reuters)
Turkish Drone Strikes Kill Seven in Iraq
The attack in Iraq’s autonomousKurdish region occurred during a visit by Turkey’s foreign minister to the Iraqi Kurdish capital (AFP)
Turkey Defense Ministry: Six Soldiers, Four PKK Members Killed in Clashes
The ministry said it killed the PKK fighters in northern Iraq in a counterstrike after they attacked Turkish bases; Turkey has conducted cross-border operations against the group for years (Al-Monitor)
Sweden Jails Kurdish Man After Turkey Demands Crackdown
The man is accused of financing the PKK, and the ruling comes as Turkey has been demanding Sweden toughen its stance toward PKK supporters before it approves Sweden’s bid to join NATO (BBC)
Swedish Court Issues Extortion Sentence for Turkish Supporter of PKK
A Turkish man who supported a militant Kurdish group was found guilty of attempted extortion in Sweden and sentenced to more than four years in prison; the ruling comes on the day that foreign ministers from the two countries meet over Turkey’s refusal to approve Sweden’s application to join NATO (Bloomberg)
Turkish Intelligence: PKK Commander Neutralized in Iraq
The Kurdish military commander, Celal Kaya, allegedly coordinated the assassination of a Turkish diplomat in 2019 (The National)