FILE PHOTO: Turkish soldiers seen at the border town of Akcakale © Reuters / Murad Sezer
On September 1, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense announced that one of its service member was killed in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
In a statement, the ministry said the service member, Sergeant Okan Meteoz, was killed by an improvised explosive device that was planted by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The attack took place in the area of the counter-insurgency Operation Claw-Lock.
The Turkish military kicked off Operation Claw-Lock on April 17 with the aim of neutralizing PKK cells in the areas of Metina, Zap and Avashin Basyan in the northern part of the Kurdistan Region.
The new causality brings to 48 the number of Turkish troops killed in the Kurdistan Region since the beginning of Operation Claw-Lock.
Click to see full-size image. Source: the Turkish Ministry of National Defense.
So far, the operation has failed to crop the activities of the PKK. The Kurdish guerilla group escalated its attacks in the last few weeks. Very recently, the group released footage documenting an attack with an anti-tank guided missile on a base of the Turkish military in Duhok province of the Kurdistan Region. A bulldozer was destroyed as a result of the attack, which took part on August 16.
Turkey has been facing pressure from Iraq over Operation Claw-Lock. The Iraqi pressure reached its peak in July following a series of Turkish strikes that targeted resorts in Duhok. The strikes claimed the lives of nine civilians, including a one-year-old child. Back then, Baghdad demanded a complete Turkish withdrawal from the Kurdistan Region.
Despite facing much political pressure and sustaining some serious losses, Ankara appears to be determined to go on with Operation Claw-Lock.