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: Between mid-August and mid-October escalation between the PKK and Turkish security forces remained concentrated in northern Iraq. The Turkish military intensified its air operations increasingly targeting higher ranking PKK members. On 16 August, three Turkish soldiers were killed and two soldiers were injured in an IED explosion in northern Iraq, while Turkey carried out airstrikes in the Sinjar region 16-17 August. Meanwhile, tensions between the the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PKK increased. On 29 August, six PKK militants were killed in clashes with the KDP. Clashes between the PKK's Syrian affiliate the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Turkish military in northern Syria also intensified in September/October. On 11 October, two Turkish police officers were killed in a missile attack near Azaz in northern Syria. Turkey responded with strikes targeting militants in the area and top Turkish officials signalled a possible new operation.  

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.