Turkey conducts air reconnaissance in northern Iraq

Turkish armed forces announced on Monday that it has performed air reconnaissance in 62 spots in northern Iraq to examine targets of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' party (PKK). The Turkish military said on its website that they have taken aerial photos of possible targets and started assessments. Also on Monday, Turkish military said that a group of PKK rebels opened fire on a gendarmerie post near the Turkish-Iraqi border, lightly injuring a soldier, adding that a helicopter returned fire to the group in line with norms of the legitimate self-defense. Since last October, Ankara has been holding peace negotiations with PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, who finally made an announcement of ceasefire and withdrawal in March. Earlier in May, the PKK fighters once stationed in Turkey started to head to their stronghold in Iraq. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and part of the international community, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Since then, some 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the group.