The Turkish Parliament has approved a motion for the one-year extension of the mandate to conduct military operations against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) forces in northern Iraq, southern Kurdistan.

The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) was the only party voting against the mandate which was approved by the majority of deputies on Tuesday.

The motion which had been submitted to Parliament at the beginning of the new legislative year was delayed when the government put forward another motion for Syria after the Akçakale incident in which five civilians were killed and around ten others were injured on October 3.

The Turkish Parliament approved the mandate for cross-border military operations in Syria last week, with the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) government defending that the motion was intended to serve as a deterrent. The BDP and CHP (Republican People’s Party) voted against the mandate which was however approved by majority of votes by the AKP and the MHP (Nationalist Movement Party).

In the midst of debates on the mandate and probability of an operation against Syria, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan and his ministers defended the mandate, saying that it would be necessary in defending the Turkish state against any action targeting the country.