Europe

Europe

Turkey can stage cross-border operation when necessary: spokesman

19 July 2011 00:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesperson Bulent Arinc said on Monday that Turkey could stage a cross-border operation in fight against the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) when necessary, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The Turkish government could instruct the armed forces to stage a cross-border operation if necessary, Arinc told reporters after the cabinet meeting in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

"In such a case, a cross-border operation can be staged, however, we have not talked about such an operation or such a need in our today’s meeting," said Arinc.

Arinc said the cabinet asked the Interior Ministry to launch an investigation into the PKK attack that killed 13 soldiers in Silvan town of the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

On Thursday, PKK militants killed 13 Turkish soldiers and wounded seven others in an ambush in Silvan town. Turkish Armed Forces said seven PKK rebels were killed in the clash.

Arinc said the General Staff had also launched an administrative investigation into the attack, and the result of this investigation would be presented to the prime minister.

Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, the banned PKK took up arms in 1984 to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the PKK for the past over two decades.