Turkey launches third phase of military drills with Iraqi troops near border

Military drills initiated by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) near the Habur border gate on the Turkey-Iraq border have entered their ninth day. The drills are being conducted three kilometers away from the border in the southeastern Silopi region.

The third phase of the drills started on Tuesday. Tanks and other armored vehicles maneuvered out of their positions on the field at 09:00 a.m. after routine maintenance in the morning hours.

Iraqi soldiers who arrived in Turkey on Monday evening for joint military exercises landed at the Şırnak Şerafettin Elçi Airport with a cargo plane.

The Iraqi soldiers were transported with armored midibuses to the exercise area.

The arrival of Iraqi forces for joint military exercises with Turkish forces came two days after Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Gen. Othman al-Ghanimi's visit to Ankara to discuss the referendum.

The military drills were initiated in the early hours of Sept. 18, a week before the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence referendum.

The area where the military drills are being conducted sits to the north of the Syrian and Iraqi borders and contains the Habur border crossing, which provides the KRG in northern Iraq with its main access point to the outside world.

Across the Syrian frontier from Silopi lies territory controlled by the PKK/PYD. Counter-terrorism operations targeting the PKK on the Turkish side of the border are ongoing.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.