Turkish Defense Ministry announces new PKK defection

Shafaq News/ On Friday, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced the defection of a new member from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq.

The Ministry stated, “Defections persist among the besieged PKK members due to the ongoing Claw-Lock operation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).”

“A member fled the PKK camps and surrendered himself to a border station in the Khabur region (northeastern Syria),” the Ministry added in its statement, pointing out that “the members have no choice but to surrender themselves to Turkish justice.”

Turkiye's Operation Claw-Lock, launched on April 17, 2022, targets the PKK, a Kurdish militant group labeled a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, and the EU. The operation, focusing on the Zap region (a mountainous area in northern Iraq, near the border with Turkiye), aims to prevent cross-border attacks and address regional instability.

The conflict between Turkiye and the PKK, which began in the early 1980s with the PKK's push for an independent Kurdish state, has seen significant escalation over the decades.

The PKK engaged in guerrilla warfare while Turkiye launched large-scale operations against them, especially in southeastern Turkiye and northern Iraq.