Erdogan announces further steps - Kurdish militias "eradicate all"

The Turkish President has announced further military strikes against Kurdish militias in Iraq and Syria. “For a few days we have been breathing down the terrorists' necks with our planes, guns and armed drones. As soon as possible, God willing, we will exterminate everyone together with our tanks, soldiers and companions," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

Turkey has shown patience and kept all agreements, President Erdogan continued. The times when his country was "stalled" are now over. “From now on there is only one measure for us, one single limit. And that is the security of our own country, our own citizens. It is our most legitimate right to go as far as where that security begins” where it is needed.

Erdogan had already considered a ground offensive against Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Monday.

The Turkish army had previously announced that it had "neutralized" 184 terrorists since the renewed military offensive in Syria and Iraq began on Sunday. The Turkish government and armed forces also commonly use the term for Kurdish groups that have recently been attacked in both neighboring countries. The Turkish Ministry of Defense spoke of attacks from the air and with land-based guns on Tuesday night. The number of victims mentioned could not be independently verified.

Since Sunday, the armed forces have been shelling the positions of Kurdish militias, who the Turkish leadership blamed for an attack on November 13 in the center of Istanbul. Both the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG and the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK deny any responsibility for the explosion, which killed six people.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had reported at least 35 deaths as a result of the new military offensive, including civilians. According to the Ministry of the Interior, three people died on Monday as a result of shelling from Syria in the southeastern Turkish province of Gaziantep. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also hinted at a possible ground offensive.

In Germany, the Turkish offensive met with criticism. After various calls on the Internet, demonstrators who demanded a stop to the attacks gathered in several major German cities, for example in Frankfurt/Main.

The latest wave of attacks is Turkey's fifth in northern Syria. As a result of the military operations, the Turkish army is occupying areas near the border in the civil war country and is cooperating with rebel groups.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on the other hand, is backed by Russia. The ties between the two countries have been particularly close since Moscow intervened militarily alongside Assad in the war in Syria in 2015.

The Russian Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev reacted to the renewed Turkish offensive with warning words: Ankara should "exercise restraint in order to prevent an escalation of tensions not only in the north and north-east of Syria, but in the entire country", Lavrentiev was told by the quoted by state news agency Tass. Russia hopes that Turkey will be persuaded to refrain from the "use of excessive force on Syrian soil".

A separate offensive has also been underway in northern Iraq since the beginning of the year. Turkey has maintained several military posts there since 2016.