Greece has lodged a protest over Turkish troops’ occupation of a small patch of swampland along the land border between the two NATO member nations.
Nevertheless, dozens of Turkish soldiers and police remain planted there, defying demands that they retreat. The confrontation is the latest in escalating tension between the two age-old rivals.
Turkish airstrikes killed four members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and six others across Turkey, said Turkey’s defense and interior ministries on Thursday.
“Four PKK terrorists were neutralized in Hakurk, Zap and Haftanin regions in an air-backed operation after determined by means of reconnaissance and surveillance. Our operations continue without pausing,” said the ministry in its Twitter account.
The Turkish-backed militants in northeastern Syria were involved in a deadly firefight with one another on Sunday, resulting in several dead and wounded, Kurdistan 24 reported.
According to the publication, at least eight Turkish-backed militants were killed during the firefight, with many more reportedly wounded as a result of the violence in the Al-Hasakah Governorate town of Ras Al-‘Ain.
Turkey claimed on Saturday that its army has “neutralized” tens of fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in days of clashes in northern Syria, despite the country’s agreement to two ceasefires in the area last October.
The Turkish defense ministry said on Saturday morning it had “neutralized” 24 members of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish armed group which makes up most of the SDF.
Russia and Turkey have said they have agreed to a ceasefire in Syria’s Idlib province after clashes left scores of Turkish and Syrian soldiers dead in a dangerous escalation of violence.
Speaking at the Kremlin, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that the ceasefire would begin at midnight on Thursday evening and that they hoped it would defuse tensions in the region.