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).

Battleground: Between 20 January-22 February, the Turkish military intensified its operations against the PKK in northern Iraq, while it carried out limited operations in Turkey’s south east. On 10 February, Turkish security forces commenced a military operation supported both by air and ground forces with the stated aim of ending the PKK’s presence in northern Iraq’s Gara area. The plan included the rescue of 13 Turkish hostages from a cave the PKK held them in. On 13 February, officials announced the deaths of 13 Turkish hostages, including 2 civilians. How the hostages died remains unclear amid conflicting reports. The security situation in northern Iraq, especially around Sinjar, remains volatile.

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.