Turkish military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan (Başûr) have intensified sharply, with bombardments and air attacks rising by 78% in April despite a unilateral Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ceasefire declared in early March, according to a new report from the international organisation Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT).
Since 1 April, the CPT has recorded at least 210 separate bombardments and helicopter assaults, signalling a return to pre-ceasefire levels of military activity. The breakdown includes 42 airstrikes, 153 artillery shellings, 14 helicopter attacks and one incident involving small arms fire that damaged a civilian home. In total, three homes were destroyed and two others damaged by Turkish military operations last month.
The Duhok (Dihok) governorate bore the brunt of these attacks, accounting for approximately 92% of incidents. Erbil (Hewlêr) governorate saw 12 attacks (8%), while the CPT also noted Turkish drone activity in Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) without recorded strikes. No attacks were documented in the neighbouring Nineveh governorate.
Within Duhok, the Amedi (Amêdî) district emerged as the primary target zone, accounting for 92% of all strikes in April. The highest single-day total of the year—53 bombardments—was recorded near villages surrounding Gara Mountain, a known site of clashes between the Turkish Armed Forces and the PKK.
Although the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire in early March following an appeal for peace by its jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan, its armed wing, the People’s Defence Forces (HPG), has continued to carry out actions it frames as acts of self-defence. These include retaliatory strikes against Turkish military positions, which the HPG claims to be in response to intensified Turkish operations and incursions into guerrilla-controlled areas.
Since the beginning of 2025, the CPT has documented at least 616 Turkish bombardments and helicopter assaults in the region. These have resulted in nine recorded civilian casualties: three killed and six injured.
The organisation has also reported at least five PKK attacks on Turkish bases on Matina Mountain, so far this year, though it does not specify whether these occurred before or after the ceasefire. It also reported two separate attacks on Peshmerga positions, which left four Peshmerga soldiers wounded. These incidents followed the construction of a new Peshmerga position on Girê Dava hill, near Belava (Belavê) village.
Civilians remain at high risk due to military activity and unexploded ordnance. On 12 April, an explosion on Chiadel Mountain killed one civilian and injured two others. The CPT attributed the blast to an earlier Turkish bombardment.
In a separate incident, villagers from Bermiza (Bermizê), a settlement in the Sidakan subdistrict of Erbil governorate, were denied access to farmland and foraging areas on 2 and 7 April. Turkish soldiers blocked their entry at a checkpoint, warning that they could enter only once and must not cross a specific boundary. On a second attempt, villagers were turned back again.
The CPT notes that the Turkish Armed Forces first established a base in Bermiza in December 2017 and have since constructed at least five more outposts in the area.
In a separate statement released on 4 May, the People’s Defence Forces (HPG)—the armed wing of the PKK—published their war balance sheet for April, accusing the Turkish military of escalating attacks in spite of the ongoing ceasefire. According to HPG, four guerrilla fighters were killed in the Medya Defence Zones, a PKK-controlled area along the Turkish-Iraqi border.
The group alleged that Turkish forces violated international warfare norms by deploying chemical weapons, banned explosives and phosphorus bombs in at least seven attacks. The HPG also reported 88 airstrikes and nearly 10,000 artillery shells launched during April, along with 17 defensive actions by guerrilla units.
The CPT, formerly known as Christian Peacemaker Teams, has maintained a presence in Iraqi Kurdistan for over 15 years, documenting the impact of regional conflict on civilian populations.
