The U.S. Department of State announced that Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, discussing several important topics.
The U.S. State Department's statement indicated that the conversation between the two ministers included the deaths of Turkish citizens in Iraq, counter-terrorism efforts, the situation in Syria, and Turkey's possession of Russian "S-400" missiles. According to the U.S. Department's statement, Blinken held the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) responsible for the deaths of 13 Turks in northern Iraq and expressed his condolences to his Turkish counterpart for the incident. Blinken emphasized the depth of bilateral relations between the United States and Turkey and their mutual interest in combating terrorism. He reaffirmed support for a political solution to the conflict in Syria and urged Turkey not to retain its Russian "S-400" missile system.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry stated today that U.S. Ambassador David Satterfield was summoned to the ministry and was informed in strong terms of Turkey's stance regarding the U.S. statement. The U.S. Department of State announced yesterday that it regretted the deaths of Turkish nationals, noting that it awaited further confirmation of Ankara's declaration regarding the circumstances of their deaths. The U.S. added in its statement that if reports confirm that the Turkish civilians were killed by the PKK, an organization that Turkey considers terrorist, it would condemn this act in the strongest possible terms.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced the discovery of the bodies of 13 Turkish citizens in the Gara mountainous area of northern Iraq, where the Turkish army is conducting a military operation against PKK elements in the region. Akar explained that the bodies were found in a cave that had been subjected to heavy bombardment by the Turkish military and belonged to civilians who had been kidnapped by the PKK. He added that forty-eight militants were killed during the four-day operation.
For his part, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin criticized the world's silence regarding what he termed PKK terrorist attacks against civilians, considering this embarrassing silence to be complicit in the crime and threatening that Turkey would not remain silent. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also condemned the deaths of Turkish citizens in a tweet, stating: "I mourn the souls of our 13 civilian citizens who were martyred by PKK elements."
