YPG/PKK makes 12 attempts to target Turkey with drones

ANKARA

YPG/PKK terror group made 12 attempts to attack Turkey with drones over the past two weeks, according to security sources.

The drones were used from east of the Euphrates River in northern Syria, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

All of the attempts were foiled by the Turkish military and there were no casualties, the sources added.

The attempts by YPG/PKK were made to target Turkish military bases in the country’s southeastern part, including that in Silopi district of Sirnak province, Islahiye district of Gaziantep, Suruc and Birecik districts of Sanliurfa.

Murat Aslan, a researcher at the security studies directorate of the Ankara-based SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research and a faculty member at Hasan Kalyoncu University in Gaziantep, told Anadolu Agency that the attacks by YPG/PKK give Turkey the right of self-defense.

Aslan said the attacks demonstrate a power vacuum in the region and also show that the U.S. military in the region failed to prevent the attacks.

"Therefore, Turkey can take any kind of measure to stop such attacks," Aslan stressed.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian branch.

The U.S. currently has more than 2,000 troops deployed in Syria.

Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet