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ISTANBUL Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that his country had begun operations in Iraq's Sinjar region, an area where it had threatened cross-border military action.

The announcement came two days after sources said Kurdish PKK militants would withdraw from Sinjar. The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for decades.

"We said we would go into Sinjar. Now operations have begun there. The fight is internal and external," Erdogan told a crowd in the Black Sea province of Trabzon, without elaborating on what operations he was referring to.

Iraq's Joint Operations Command denied that any foreign forces had crossed the border into Iraq.

"The operations command confirmed that the situation in Nineveh, Sinjar and the border areas was under the control of Iraqi security forces and there is no reason for troops to cross the Iraqi border into those areas," it said in a statement.

But Erdogan said last week the PKK was creating a new base in Sinjar about 75 miles west of Mosul and that Turkish forces would attack if necessary.

Sources in northern Iraq said Friday the PKK would withdraw from Sinjar, where it gained a foothold in 2014 after coming to the aid of the Yazidi minority community, who were under attack by Islamic State militants.

In October, Iraqi government forces launched an offensive to retake the area in response to a Sept. 25 referendum on Kurdish independence, which Baghdad opposed.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. For decades, it has been based in Iraq's Qandil mountain range, near the border with Iran.

Turkish troops and their rebel allies swept into northwest Syria's Afrin town this month, the culmination of an eight-week campaign to drive Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters from the region. Turkey sees the YPG as terrorists and an extension of the outlawed PKK.

Erdogan has vowed to extend the military operation along the Syrian border and on Sunday said the Turkish-led forces would take control of the town of Tel Rifaat.

Many civilians and YPG fighters have gathered in and around Tel Rifaat after Turkey seized control of Afrin. The Kurdish-controlled enclave is cut off from a larger expanse of Kurdish territory in the northeast of Syria.

The United Nations said last week that around 75,000 people had been displaced to Tel Rifaat and surrounding areas from Afrin, and more were expected to come.

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Erdogan says 'operations' start against Kurdish PKK in Iraq

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey had begun operations in Iraqs Sinjar region, an area where it has threatened a military incursion, two days after sources said Kurdish PKK militants would withdraw from the area.

We said we would go into Sinjar. Now operations have begun there. The fight is internal and external, Erdogan told a crowd in the Black Sea province of Trabzon, without elaborating on what operations he was referring to.

Iraqs Joint Operations Command denied that any foreign forces had crossed the border into Iraq.

The operations command confirmed that the situation in Nineveh, Sinjar and the border areas was under the control of Iraqi security forces and there is no reason for troops to cross the Iraqi border into those areas, it said in a statement.

Sources in Sinjar said there was no unusual military activity in the area on Sunday.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for decades. President Tayyip Erdogan said last week they were creating a new base in Sinjar, and that Turkish forces would attack if necessary.

Sources in northern Iraq said on Friday the PKK would withdraw from Sinjar, where it gained a foothold in 2014 after coming to the aid of the Yazidi minority community, who were under attack by Islamic State militants.

The PKK, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, has for decades been based in Iraqs Qandil mountain range, near the border with Iran.

Turkish troops and their rebel allies swept into northwest Syrias Afrin town this month, the culmination of an eight-week campaign to drive Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters from the region. Turkey sees the YPG as terrorists and an extension of the outlawed PKK.

Erdogan has vowed to extend the military operation along the Syrian border and on Sunday said the Turkish-led forces would take control of the town of Tel Rifaat.

Many civilians and YPG have gathered in and around Tel Rifaat after Turkey seized control of Afrin. It is a Kurdish-controlled enclave, cut off from a larger expanse of Kurdish territory in the northeast of Syria.

The United Nations said last week that around 75,000 people had been displaced to Tel Rifaat and surrounding areas from Afrin, and more were expected to come.

Additional reporting by Lisa Barrington in Beirut and Raya Jalabi in Baghdad.; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Kevin Liffey

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Turkey's Erdogan says operations begin in Iraq's Sinjar ...

VARNA, Bulgaria (Reuters) - The European Union holds an uneasy summit with Turkey on Monday, when it is likely to provide Ankara with fresh cash to extend a deal on Syrian refugees but deflect Turkish demands for deeper trade ties and visa-free travel to Europe.

With the bloc critical of what it considers to be Turkish President Tayyip Erdogans growing authoritarianism at home and his intervention in Syrias war, Brussels had hesitated to agree to the summit.

But host Bulgaria viewed the meeting at the Black Sea port of Varna as a rare chance for dialogue with the country that remains a candidate for EU membership despite years of stalled talks.

EU leaders also cited Turkeys importance as a NATO ally on Europes southern flank and in curbing immigration to Europe from the Middle East and Africa.

I am looking with mixed feelings towards the Varna summit because the differences in views between the EU and Turkey are many, said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who will represent the bloc along with European Council President Donald Tusk.

It will be a frank and open debate, where we will not hide our differences but will seek to improve our cooperation, Juncker told reporters on Friday after a two-day EU summit that discussed Turkey.

At that meeting in Brussels, leaders condemned what they said were Turkeys illegal actions in a standoff over eastern Mediterranean gas reserves with bloc members Greece and Cyprus.

But in a familiar pattern of public recrimination, Turkeys minister for EU affairs, Omer Celik, said Ankara viewed the summit as an important opportunity to move our relations forward and that he expected the same positive and constructive approach from the EU.

Erdogan will seek more money for Syrian refugees, a deeper customs union and progress in talks on letting Turks visit Europe without visas, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman said.

EU money is likely to be forthcoming, but little else, EU officials and diplomats said.

The bloc is set to grant Turkey a second 3 billion euro ($3.7 billion) tranche to provide for the Syrians it hosts under a March 2016 deal to take in migrants fleeing the countrys war.

However, EU diplomats said that Erdogans invitation to Varna will come at the price of more sharp criticism from EU counterparts who say that Turkey has been backsliding on democracy and human rights since a failed coup in July 2016.

Some 50,000 people, including journalists, have been arrested while a further 150,000, including teachers, judges and soldiers, have been sacked or suspended from their jobs since the attempted coup.

The meeting in Varna is likely to be one of the last opportunities to maintain dialogue, said Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, whose nation holds the EUs rotating presidency.

Despite the need for Turkeys cooperation on security and foreign policy, the EU should maintain a tough line, said Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey, now at the Carnegie Europe think-tank.

Its quite tempting for EU politicians to go for a transactional relationship with Turkey, but Erdogan is not going to stop EU-bashing for his nationalist agenda, he Pierini.

Additional reporting by Robin Emmott; Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel @AdeCar; Editing by David Goodman

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EU leaders host Turkish President Erdogan for uneasy ...

Behind everything thats harmful to this nation, the Turkish leader said, lies an order from the West.

Thats Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, in an episode of the historical TV drama watched by millions of Turks every Friday. And if they come away drawing parallels with contemporary politics, the countrys current ruler probably wouldnt object.

Are you watching Payitaht? Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked supporters at a recent rally, as he winds up for an election campaign that could crown his career. He spelled out why they should be. Foreign powers are still seeking concessions from us, the president said. Never!

Erdogan attends a ceremony marking the centenary of the death of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II in Istanbul on Feb. 10.

Photographer: Emrah Yorulmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Abdulhamid, who was deposed in a 1909 coup, is enjoying an unlikely political moment in Turkey, where Erdogan is due to seek re-election to a newly empowered presidency in 2019, or earlier if elections are brought forward.

There are domestic and foreign reasons for the revival. Erdogan has sent his soldiers into former Ottoman lands in Syria, to fight Kurdish militants backed by the U.S., and on Sunday they took control of a key northwestern city. Hes also been quarreling over territory with European Union member Greece.

Add the failed coup of 2016, and the various conflicts are feeding into the narrative that Erdogan is besieged by enemies within and outside, like Abdulhamid, said Oner Bucukcu, a political analyst at Afyon Kocatepe University in central Turkey. The sultan was forced to cede imperial territory in eastern Europe amid a series of wars.

Of course, the countries that figure as enemies in this scenario are, on paper, Erdogans allies.

Turkey is a member of NATO and an applicant to join the EU. Lately its pursued an increasingly independent foreign policy, befriending Cold War enemy Russia and boosting trade with Iran. Still, like Abdulhamid, Erdogan is a very pragmatic leader, Bucukcu said. Hes unlikely to snap off ties.

Meanwhile, in some of the countries that formed part of Abdulhamids domain, Turkeys forays have been viewed with suspicion.

Angela Merkel and Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet at the Yildiz Palace in Istanbul on Oct. 18, 2015.

Photographer: Guido Bergmann/Bundesregierung via Getty Images

Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, talking to Egyptian newspaper editors earlier this month, accused Erdogan of trying to resurrect Ottoman claims to regional dominance -- and reportedly labeled Turkey as part of a triangle of evil. Syria is demanding that Erdogan withdraw his troops. Iraqi leaders have in the past clashed with him over a Turkish military presence there.

Admirers of Abdulhamid inside Erdogans government see a Western hand at work fomenting such splits, and the idea is striking a chord. A survey by Istanbuls Bilgi University found heightened fears that European states now want to divide and conquer Turkey.

The countrys enemies are trying to cut the bond between the Turkish Republic and the Arab world and the land of Islam, Culture Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in September. He said there are extraordinary similarities with the sultans times.

Some of Erdogans rivals have jumped on the connection too, and sought to turn it against the president, whos maintained Turkeys so-far futile bid for EU membership. If Sultan Abdulhamid was alive today, hed be working to create an Islamic Union and not to enter the EU, said Temel Karamollaoglu, leader of the small pro-Islamic Saadet Party.

Photographer: Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images

Abdulhamid was labeled the red sultan in Europe, blamed for mass killings of rebellious Armenians around the turn of the century. He also refused to open Palestinian lands to Jewish settlers. A European Parliament report faulted the TV series about the sultan for conveying an obvious anti-Semitic message.

His reign hasnt always been celebrated in modern Turkey either. The countrys founders repudiated him as an autocrat who ran an extensive spy network and muzzled his critics through press censorship.

But Erdogans political roots are in an Islamist movement, and hes been chipping away at Turkeys secular, republican traditions during his 15 years in power. That includes a new focus on the Ottoman era. His government has laid on a series of events this year to mark the 100th anniversary of Abdulhamids death. The president spoke at one of them, a conference held in the sultans hilltop palace at Yildiz in Istanbul, overlooking the Bosporus.

Too many Turks, misled by the West, have cut the country off from its Ottoman roots, Erdogan said. History isnt just a nations past, its the compass for its future.

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Sultan Who Raged at the West Becomes a Hero in Erdogans ...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is threatening to follow up the capture of the Kurdish enclave of Afrin by launching an across-the-board military offensive against the remaining Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria and the main Yazidi population centre in the Sinjar region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

He claimed that the next target of Turkish troops would be the cities of Manbij, which the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) captured from Isis in 2016, and Kobani, which withstood a famous siege by Isis that ended in 2015. Unlike Afrin, both places are protected by the US Air Force, backed by 2,000 US specialised ground troops.

Mr Erdogan undoubtedly intends in the long term to eliminate the de facto Kurdish state that developed in northern and eastern Syria as the result of the advance of the YPG, backed by US air power, in the war against Isis. But it is unlikely that he will seek a confrontation with the US, which is sending out patrols of armoured vehicles into the front lines around Manbij, a strategically placed city between Aleppo and the Euphrates.

Speaking soon after the Turkish invasion of Afrin on 20 January, GenJoseph Votel, commander of the US Central Command, said that withdrawing US forces from Manbij was not something we are looking into.

The Turkish leader threatened that his countrys troops could cross into Iraq to drive out Kurdish militants from Sinjar, if the Iraqi government did not oust them from there itself. The area is under the strong influence of the YPG, which intervened militarily in 2014 to protect the Yazidi community who were being massacred, raped and enslaved by Isis, which was then at the peak of its power.

The threat of a widening offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces is probably a manoeuvre by Mr Erdogan to divert attention from the situation in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, which Turkish-backed forces captured on Sunday. There is a mass exodus of more than 200,000 people, according to a senior Kurdish official. The people with cars are sleeping in the cars, the people without are sleeping under the trees with their children, Hevi Mustafa, a top member of the Kurdish civil authority in the Afrin area, told a news agency.

The UN says that 98,000 recently displaced people from Afrin have registered with it at three centres outside the enclave. Another report saidthat 120,000 Kurds are not being allowed to enter Syrian government held territory and areunable to return to Afrin. The US State Department said it was deeply concerned by the humanitarian situation.

There may be less than meets the eye in a Turkish promise to leave Afrin once military operations are over. We are not permanent there [in Afrin]and we are certainly not invaders, said Bekir Bozdag, a deputy prime minister. Our goal is to hand the region back to its real owners after clearing it of terrorists. The reference to real ownersmay refer to a Turkish claim that many Arabs have been driven out of Afrin in the past and will now recover their homes, a form of enforced re-Arabisationthat would take advantage of the flight of much of the Kurdish population. A Turkish military withdrawal, even if it took place, would not mean much because Turkey and Turkish-controlled territory surrounds Afrin on three sides and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) units, which would presumably stay in Afrin, take their orders from Turkey.

Turkish-led forces are carrying out widespread looting of government offices, shops and homes in Afrin as well as stealing vehicles, such as farm machinery, tractors and trailers according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It says that the looting and arrests are fuelling growing resentment among displaced people. Pictures from the area show tractors being driven away by uniformed militiamen.

The Kurdish YPG, which did not make a final stand in Manbij, says that it will revert to guerrilla warfare, something in which its commanders have great experience. But this may not be easy to do in a place like Afrin, which is isolated from the main Kurdish-held territory east of the Euphrates river. Guerrilla attacks are likely to provoke retaliation against the remaining Kurdish civilian population who might then leave Afrin and further open the door to ethnic cleansing.

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Erdogan Threatens Wider War Against the Kurds