Turkey’s PKK Conflict: A Visual Explainer

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Context: Turkey’s conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – recognised as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – continues in south-eastern Turkey and northern Iraq. In northern Syria, Ankara and the PKK’s Syrian affiliate, the People’s Protection Forces (YPG), remain pitted against each other. On the home front, the government is pursuing crackdown on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) against which a party closure case is ongoing.

Battleground: In July and early August escalation between the PKK and Turkish security forces continued particularly in northern Iraq fuelling tensions between the PKK and KDP. The Turkish military has targeted more higher-ranking PKK members in this period especially via drone strikes. More than one-third of PKK militants killed in June and July were higher ranking members. Tensions also remained high between the YPG and Turkish security units in northern Syria.

Analysis: Prospects for non-violent ways forward look bleak amid uncertainty in Syria, Iraq and the Turkish political leadership’s reliance on support from nationalists at home.