Turkish Armed Forces, occupying parts of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), have been seen in convoys moving through several areas controlled by Erbil’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Roj news reported, according to ANHA. The movements are regarded as part of Turkey’s preparation for a full-scale attack to “eradicate” Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters from the region.
In early March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan outlined plans for an imminent military campaign against the PKK, an armed Kurdish freedom movement operating in the mountainous border areas of the KRI. Erdoğan vowed to permanently end the PKK “by summer”, part of a larger campaign to quash the Kurdish opposition and drive the creation of a security corridor extending across Turkey’s southern border with Iraq and Syria.
At the time, the pro-government Daily Sabah reported the Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler as saying, “Our job will not be done unless we close this security loophole and clear northern Iraq of terrorists.” In 2022, Belgium’s top court ruled against the PKK terror designation, recognising it instead as a legitimate resistance movement in a civil war.
In April, shortly after announcing the cross-border plans, President Erdoğan visited Iraq’s capital Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of the KRI, and made an extensive pact with the authorities of the city’s dominant party, the KDP, garnering support for the anti-Kurdish cross-border operation.
The KDP has been widely criticised among Kurdish factions for betrayal, aligning with the Turkish state and enabling operations against the PKK, viewed as anti-Kurdish in nature. The reports of Turkish convoys moving through KDP-controlled areas appear to confirm such allegiances.
Internal strife between the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the ruling party in the Kurdistan Region’s Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî), has added to tensions, as local elections loom having been marred with long delays. The PUK has accused the KDP of inciting Turkey to attack Sulaymaniyah by spreading false information about PKK activities.
Meanwhile, Turkey has continued efforts to impose a ‘security corridor’ along its border with Syria, extending 30-40 km deep into Syrian territory, an operation which has included forced displacement of the local ethnically diverse communities, and replacing them with Erdoğan-supporting Arabic residents. Bombardments of northern Syria escalated late last year, wiping out the region’s fragile infrastructure and targeting civilians.
On Friday, Turkish forces carried out drone attacks in the Cizir Canton of northeast Syria, killing four fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and injuring at least 11 civilians.
