CHP lawmakers voted against the motion on Tuesday © Adem ALTAN / AFP
Oct 17, 2023. Posted by Balkan
Periscope - Hellas
Turkey's parliament on Tuesday extended the military's authorisation to
launch cross-border operations in neighbouring Syria and Iraq by two more
years.
They were first approved in 2013 to support the international campaign against the Islamic State (IS) group, and has since been renewed annually.
In 2021, it
was renewed for the first time for two years, giving President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan a longer window in which to pursue campaigns against Kurdish militias
in the restive region.
"It's
essential to Turkey's national security to take necessary measures in line with
the rights arising from international law against all kinds of risks, threats
and actions that may pose a danger to Turkey's national security," the
motion signed by Erdogan says.
It also
says Turkey would welcome the deployment of foreign troops on its soil with the
ultimate goal of fighting terror groups as per circumstances set by the
president.
CHP lawmakers voted against the motion on Tuesday
That clause
drew strong criticism from the main opposition CHP party which has campaigned
for "no foreign boots" on Turkish soil.
"As a
nationalist, I don't want any foreign troops to set foot on Turkish soil,"
the party's leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said last week.
The PKK,
which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey, is considered a
terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies.
Turkish
officials said the two assailants who died in the Ankara attack came from
Syria.
Turkey's
operation in Syria primarily targeted oil and other energy facilities
controlled by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
The group
comprises an integral part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) --
the Kurds' de facto army in the area -- that spearheaded the battle to dislodge
Islamic State group jihadists from the region in 2019.
Ankara
considers the YPG a terror group with links to the PKK.
AFP
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