ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he is willing to destroy “every terror camp” in Iraq and Syria “wherever they are located.” “Turkey does not need to take permission from anyone,” Erdogan said on Friday at a construction ceremony in Manisa province, according to Turkey's Anadolu Agency. “We will destroy every terror camp we identify in Iraq and Syria.” He did not specify what groups he was referring to. "It is our fundamental right to hit terrorists wherever they are located,” he said. Turkish forces are in active conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a named terrorist organization which has its headquarters in the Kurdistan Region. Turkey routinely conducts strikes against PKK camps along the mountainous Turkey-Kurdistan Region border. Eight members of Turkish armed forces and as many as 46 PKK fighters were killed in at least three separate incidents on Thursday in southeastern Turkey, according to Interior Ministry statistics. Turkey also has clashed with the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) in Syria and is currently threatening a military operation against them in Afrin. Ankara conflates the YPG and the PKK. The YPG, while following the doctrine of imprisoned PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, deny they have links with the PKK and have served as one of the main components of the US-led international coalition to defeat ISIS' partnered ground force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF announced the liberation of Raqqa in October and are now working to clear mines from the city. They were criticized after photos emerged of a banner of Ocalan at a celebration in the city. Erdogan also warned those who side with “terrorists.”
