Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a meeting of his country's National Security Council that refugee camps in the Kurdistan region and Iraq have become a haven for PKK militants, threatening to attack and destroy them.

Erdogan also said Makhmour had been harboring refugee camps for more than twenty years, and had become a haven for PKK militants.

He stressed that Makhmour camp, like Qandil, poses a great threat to his country.

The Turkish president, during his speech at a meeting of his country's National Security Council, indicated that his forces had recently launched violent attacks on PKK bases in Iraq.

The villages of Dohuk Governorate, as a result of the Turkish attacks, were severely damaged, leaving a large part of them deserted. At the same time, forests were cut down on the border with the Kurdistan Region, especially in the Badinan region and the Barwari Bala region.