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: In May, escalation continued in Turkey’s south east and northern Iraq. Turkish air raids targeting PKK militants and positions in northern Iraq intensified after PKK on 14 May reportedly attacked Turkish base in Iraq’s Dahuk province. A Turkish air raid targeted PKK positions in Sulaymaniyah province 27 May. Two civilian aid workers in Van’s Özalp district in Turkey's east were killed in PKK attributed attack on 14 May. Three out of five Turkish security force member fatalities in this period occurred in Hakkari’s Çukurca district.

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