Türkiye’s escalating counterterrorism operations in northern Iraq in recent weeks spurred rumors that a wider summer offensive against the terrorist group is already underway. Authorities are tight-lipped, strictly adhering to their motto: “One night, suddenly.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signaled months ago that they were considering more operations against the group this summer to clear the region of the PKK. Officials often emphasize efforts to close the security loop and sever the ties between the group’s leaders in Iraq and its Syrian wing YPG.
The “terror corridor” is already targeted by the army and Turkish intelligence in Syria and Iraq.
Unconfirmed reports say the Turkish army is already advancing along a road connecting Iraq to Syria and has occasionally carried out operations since last month. Airstrikes have also targeted Mount Gara, where PKK members have a major hideout.
On Monday, the Ministry of National Defense announced that Turkish troops discovered 2,300 pieces of heavy machine gun ammo in a shelter used by the terrorist group in Iraq’s Hakurk. The ministry often shares details of operations against the PKK and over the weekend, it uploaded a video on its social media account of Turkish artillery pounding targets in northern Iraq. Like other videos published last week, it was attached to a message reading, “The loop is closing.”
Another message over the weekend posted by the ministry said Turkish commandos were in two villages occupied by the terrorist group, who had fled before the military arrived. The forces discovered a cache of weapons left behind by the terrorists. The ministry shared photos of the seized material and said terrorists had installed booby traps with explosives on the houses they seized from locals.
A video shared on July 5 by the ministry showed Turkish troops in an airborne operation in northern Iraq.
The PKK is known for using northern Iraq, near the Turkish border, as a hideout to plot terrorist attacks and launch attacks both on nearby Türkiye and locals in northern Syria.
In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
Turkish military eliminated 1,327 PKK/YPG terrorists in northern Iraq and Syria, including 57 in the past week, ministry spokesperson Zeki Aktürk said last Thursday in a weekly briefing.
Aktürk said that 37 targets, including caves, bunkers, shelters, warehouses and facilities used by the terrorist organization, were successfully destroyed in an air operation conducted on July 3 against terrorist targets in Metina, Gara, Hakurk, Qandil and Asos regions in northern Iraq.
“During the air operation, domestic and national ammunition was used to the maximum extent, and the impact assessment on the targets continues,” he added.
“Our fight against terrorism, which aims to eliminate threats starting beyond our borders, continues uninterrupted,” Aktürk said.
The PKK is not designated a terrorist organization in Iraq but is banned from launching operations against Türkiye from Iraqi territory. It nevertheless has a foothold in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous north controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), where the central Iraqi government has little influence.
Since Turkish operations have driven its domestic presence to near extinction, the PKK has moved a large chunk of its operations to northern Iraq, including a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Turkish border in Irbil.
Türkiye has, over the past 25 years, operated several dozen military bases in northern Iraq in its war against the PKK and has been conducting airstrikes as part of its “Claw” operations since 2022 to demolish terrorist lairs and prevent the formation of a terrorist corridor along its borders.
Türkiye’s cross-border operations into northern Iraq have been a source of tension with its southeastern neighbor for years. Ankara has asked Iraq for more cooperation in combating the PKK and Baghdad labeled the group a banned organization in March.
Ankara seeks assistance from Baghdad for an efficient crackdown on the PKK. Ministry sources said technical work was underway to set up a joint operations center with Iraq and discussions on the issue were proceeding well.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, launched a bloody campaign of terrorism in the 1980s, targeting Turkish security forces and civilians, primarily in the southeastern Türkiye, close to the border with Iraq. More than 40,000 people were killed in the acts of terrorism, while the PKK leadership retains a swath of territory in Iraq’s north, where they have hideouts. Türkiye has conducted years of cross-border military operations against terrorists in Iraq and Syria. The PKK, under the name of YPG, also controls parts of northern Syria, right across the Turkish border.
Türkiye and Iraq took a new step toward further counterterrorism cooperation after Erdoğan’s April visit to Iraq that took him both to Baghdad and the seat of the KRG. Erdoğan said back then that Iraq was aware that the PKK was a threat to the country’s stability and development.
