Shafaq News/ On Sunday, the Turkish Ministry of NationalDefense 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 armyneutralized 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 “tenPKK 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 aPKK member has been killed, injured, or captured.
The PKK, which has its stronghold in the Qandil Mountains ofnorthern Iraq, operates across various cities, regions, and valleys, launchingattacks into Turkish territory.
Turkiye conducts operations to combat the PKK, which targetsits 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 intensifiedoperations in the region, targeting PKK positions and fortifications in theMatin Mountain range with warplanes and drones. In response, PKK fighters havestayed entrenched in caves and mountain shelters, complicating the success ofTurkish operations.
The conflict between Turkiye and the PKK has its origins inthe early 1980s when the PKK began its armed struggle for an independentKurdish state within Turkiye. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, this conflictescalated into a full-scale insurgency, with the PKK employing guerrillatactics and the Turkish military responding with major operations targeting PKKstrongholds, both within Turkiye and across the border in northern Iraq.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, theUnited States, and the European Union, has been engaged in an armed struggleagainst the Turkish state since the 1980s, seeking greater autonomy for theKurdish population in Turkiye. This decades-long conflict has led to tens ofthousands of deaths, with Turkiye conducting cross-border military operationsto target PKK strongholds in Iraq and YPG positions in Syria, both of whichAnkara views as extensions of the PKK.