A cross-border operation into northern Iraq will be a last resort, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, according to the Turkish Daily News.
The premier met with the country’s top military brass on Tuesday to discuss future measures in the fight against terrorism in Turkey and North Iraq.
Turkey has been building up its forces along the border with Iraq and threatening to attack Kurdish rebel bases in Iraq.
The Turkish army has said that following recent terror incidents, the armed forces had an “unshakeable determination” to fight terror and they would react to all types of attacks.
Officials from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey and the United States designate a terror organization, declared a cease-fire with the Turkish government on Tuesday and said they were prepared to enter into peace negotiations.
An official with a Kurdish rebel group said the group was halting attacks against the Turkish army.
“We want peace and we are ready for negotiations,” rebel spokesman Abdul Rahman Chaderchi told AP.
“But if Turkey decides to attack our bases inside Turkey or inside Iraqi Kurdistan, then this unilateral cease-fire will be meaningless. If we are attacked, we will fight back,” Chaderchi said.
A previous unilateral cease-fire ended on May 18.
The statement came as the Turkish army was intensifying its operations against the PKK in the country’s southeast.
More than 34,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984, demanding self-rule in the mainly Kurdish parts of Turkey.