Turkish military building high-altitude base against PKK militants

The Turkish military is constructing a new military base in the mountainous area of the country’s southeastern province of Hakkari in order to better monitor the movements of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants, and prevent any possible act of terror.

Turkish security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the base is being built at an altitude of 2,400 meters in Mount Balkaya and lies close to the border with Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

PKK militants regularly clash with Turkish forces in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey attached to northern Iraq.

Turkey, along with the European Union and the United States, has declared the PKK a terrorist group and has banned it. The militant group has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984.

A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

Over the past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have been carrying out operations against the PKK positions in the country as well as in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria.

More than 40,000 people have been killed during the three-decade conflict between Turkey and the autonomy-seeking militant group.    

German man detained trying to join YPG in Syria

Meanwhile, Turkish security forces have arrested a German national in the southeastern province of Sirnak as he was trying to cross into Syria.

Security officials said 28-year-old Patrick Kraicker was detained on March 14 in the Silopi district of the province, situated some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) east of the capital Ankara.

Kraicker said during his questioning that he wanted to cross into Syria to join the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militants, against whom the Ankara government is currently carrying out a cross-border military offensive in Syria’s northwestern region of Afrin.

Ankara views the YPG as the Syrian branch of the PKK militant group that has been fighting for an autonomous region inside Turkey since 1984.

Erdogan has repeatedly said that Afrin should be cleared of “terrorists,” and demanded the deployment of Turkish troops there during a speech back in November 2016.

This is while US officials regard the YPG as the most effective fighting force against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in northern Syria, and have substantially increased their weaponry and technology support to the group.

The controversy over a possible Syria border force first started on January 14 when a report emerged on Reuters saying that the military coalition led by the United States in Syria was planning to set up a large border force of up to 30,000 personnel with the aid of its militia allies.

The Syrian government has already condemned the Turkish offensive against Afrin, rejecting Ankara’s claim about having informed Damascus of the operation.

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