Turkiye neutralizes 36 PKK fighters in Iraq and Syria
Shafaq News/ On Sunday, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense announced the neutralization of 36 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in operations carried out in Iraq and Syria.
In a post on X, the ministry stated that the “Turkish army neutralized 32 PKK members in northern Syria and 4 others in northern Iraq.”
No further details were provided.
Yesterday, the ministry also revealed in a post that “ten PKK militants were neutralized in the regions of Operation Claw-Lock, Hakurk, and Gara in northern Iraq.”
Notably, Turkiye uses the term “neutralize” to denote that a PKK member has been killed, injured, or captured.
The PKK, which has its stronghold in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq, operates across various cities, regions, and valleys, launching attacks into Turkish territory.
Turkiye conducts operations to combat the PKK, which targets its forces and citizens and operates in several countries in the region, including Iraq, Syria, and Iran.
Since the summer of 2024, the Turkish military has intensified operations in the region, targeting PKK positions and fortifications in the Matin Mountain range with warplanes and drones. In response, PKK fighters have stayed entrenched in caves and mountain shelters, complicating the success of Turkish operations.
The conflict between Turkiye and the PKK has its origins in the early 1980s when the PKK began its armed struggle for an independent Kurdish state within Turkiye. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, this conflict escalated into a full-scale insurgency, with the PKK employing guerrilla tactics and the Turkish military responding with major operations targeting PKK strongholds, both within Turkiye and across the border in northern Iraq.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States, and the European Union, has been engaged in an armed struggle against the Turkish state since the 1980s, seeking greater autonomy for the Kurdish population in Turkiye. This decades-long conflict has led to tens of thousands of deaths, with Turkiye conducting cross-border military operations to target PKK strongholds in Iraq and YPG positions in Syria, both of which Ankara views as extensions of the PKK.
