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Turkey-PKK conflict
File:December 2007 bombing of northern Iraq.jpg A Turkish Cobra attack helicopter on an attack mission during the December 2007 bombing of northern Iraq.
Date 1970s – present Location Turkey, North of Iraq Result Ongoing
Belligerents
Turkey	Kurdistan Workers Party
Commanders and leaders
Yasar Buyukanit İlker Başbuğ	Abdullah Öcalan
Strength
N/A	4,000-5,000 (3,000-3,500) in northern Iraq.
Casualties and losses
32,000	6,482
5,560

Area inhabited by Kurds in 1992

The Turkey–Kurdistan Workers Party conflict is between Republic of Turkey and the ethnic secessionist Kurdish guerrilla group which uses threat of force against both civilian and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal. The conflict is located in the East and Southeast Anatolia and Northen Iraq. The campaign of armed violence began in 1978, the rural-based insurgency began in 1984 with the urban terrorism through out this period.

According to official figures released by the Turkish military for the 1984-2008 period, the conflict has resulted in the capture of 14,000 PKK members, and the death of 32,000 PKK members, 6,482 soldiers, and 5,560 civilians. The current membership of the PKK is approximately 4,000 to 5,000 militants of whom 3,000 to 3,500 are located in northern Iraq.

Background

Main article: History of the Kurdistan Workers Party

The history of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) began in 1974 as a Marxist-Leninist organization under the leadership of Abdullah Öcalan. In 1978 the organization adapted the name "Kurdistan Workers Party" and waged Urban War between 1978-1980. The organization restructured itself and moved the organization structure to Syria between 1980-1984 just after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. The campaign of armed violence began in 1984. The rural-based insurgency lasted between 1984-1992. The PKK shifted it's activities to include urban terrorism between 1993-1995 and later 1996–1999. The leader of the party captured in Kenya in the early 1999. After a "self declared peace initiative of 1999," returned to active stage in February 2004. Since 1974, it had been able to evolve, adapt, gone through a metamorphosis, which became the main factor in its survival. It had gradually grown from a handful of political students to a radical organization became part of targets of War on Terrorism.

With the aftermath of the failed 1991 uprisings in Iraq against Saddam Hussein the UN established no fly zones in Kurdish areas of Iraq giving those areas de facto independence. The PKK soon found a safe haven from which they could launch attacks against Turkey and Turkey responded with operations -- the 1995 Operation Steel and the 1997 Operation Hammer -- in an attempt to crush the PKK.

In 1992, the commander of the Special Warfare Department (Turkish Gladio), General Kemal Yilmaz declared that the special department was still active in the conflict against the PKK. In its 1995 report on Human rights in Turkey, the United States State Department stated that:

Human rights groups reported the widespread and credible belief that a counterguerrilla group associated with the security forces had carried out at least some "mystery killings."

Öcalan was captured by Turkish agents in Kenya on February 15, 1999. After trial he was sentenced to death, but this sentence was commuted to life-long aggravated imprisonment when the death penalty was abolished in Turkey in August 2002.

With the invasion of Iraq in 2003 much of the arms of the former Iraqi army fell into the hands of the Kurdish Peshmerga militia. The Peshmerga became the de facto army of northern Iraq and many of its weapons found their way into the hands of other Kurdish groups such as the PKK and the PJAK (a PKK offshoot which operated in Iran). With the influx of weapons the PKK attacks have increased in both strength and frequency. On May 22, 2007 there was yet another suicide bombing in Ankara which killed 8 and wounded over 100. This attack was attributed to the PKK and the Turkish army decided to launch a military action against them. As of June 2007, over 15,000 PKK fighters are believed to be in Iraqi Kurdistan.

As of 2000, the conflict had claimed lives of at least 157 Turkish teachers.

Major events, 1984-present

May 22, 2007: A suicide bombing hits Ankara, killing eight and wounding over 100. Turkey blames the PKK.

May 27, 2007: The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gül discussed the possible outbreak of Turkish-Kurdish hostilities. Immediately after American troops and civilians begin evacuating from northern Iraq.

May 30, 2007: American and Kurdish forces sign an agreement transferring the security of Iraqi Kurdistan to the Peshmerga. American forces are evacuated from all Kurdish areas except Kirkuk.

May 31, 2007: The Turkish military announced they were prepared to launch and incursion into Iraq. Leader of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani announced that the Peshmerga will defend itself in case of a Turkish incursion.

June 2, 2007: American troops and civilians have withdrawn from all of Iraqi Kurdistan. Massoud Barzani again warns the Turkish military that any incursion will be fought against by the Peshmerga. An estimated 100,000 Turkish troops are mobilized on the border between Turkey and Iraq.

June 4, 2007: A PKK suicide bomber kills seven soldiers and wounds six at an army base in Tunceli.

June 5, 2007: There are reports of limited shelling and air strikes by the Turkish army attacking PKK bases in Iraqi Kurdistan.

June 7, 2007: Several hundred Turkish troops cross into Iraq on a "hot pursuit" raid against Turkish rebels. Turkey declares a three month martial law in Kurdish areas near the Iraq border and bans civilian flights to the area. It has been confirmed that 3 Turkish soldiers have been killed by a PKK landmine.

October 7, 2007: Yüksekova incident

Oct 17, 2007: Turkish Grand National Assembly approves a government request for their troops to cross the Iraqi border to attack Kurdish rebels.

Oct 21, 2007: 12 Turkish troops killed in PKK ambush on their army post, less than three miles from the Iraq border.

A demonstration against the PKK in Kadıköy, İstanbul on October 22, 2007

October 24, 2007: Turkish fighter jets bombed several PKK targets on the Iraqi side of the border.

February 21, 2008: Turkey launches a ground incursion into northern Iraq, sending 10,000 troops across the border supported by air assets.

July 27, 2008: Turkey blames the PKK for two bombings in Istanbul which kill 17 and injure 154.

October 1, 2008: One Turkish security force soldier was killed, with another one wounded, in an attack staged by PKK militants in southeastern Turkey.

October 4, 2008: Fifteen Turkish soldiers were killed, with another 20 also wounded, after a PKK attack from northern Iraq with the firing of heavy weapons at a military outpost in the Semdinli region bordering Iraq and Iran. At least 23 members of the PKK were also killed.

Reaction

• A statement issued after an emergency meeting of the Counter Terrorism Higher Board, chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said: "Our struggle against terrorism will be pursued under all conditions and above all other concerns through effective cooperation between state bodies and every measure will be implemented with determination."
• The British foreign office said: "The United Kingdom utterly condemns Friday's terrorist attack in Hakari, Turkey. There can be no excuse for the use of violence to achieve one's aims. The UK stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkey in its fight against terrorism and strongly supports ongoing efforts between the Turkish and Iraqi authorities to prevent the PKK from using northern Iraq as a base from which to mount attacks against Turkey."
• The European Union also condemned the on the gendarmerie station in a statement released by the Union’s French presidency, saying: "Europe expresses its complete solidarity with the Turkish authorities and offers its condolences to the families and friends of the victims."

Human rights abuses

Eric Rouleau in the November/December 2000 edition of 'Foreign Affairs' states:

According to the Turkish Ministry of Justice, in addition to the 30,000 people killed in military campaigns, 22,500 Turkish Militants and Politicians were assassinated between 1984, when the conflict began, and 1998. An additional 1,000 people were reportedly assassinated in the first nine months of 1999.

Human Rights Watch has stated that:

• Consequently, all economic, political, military, social and cultural organizations, institutions, formations -- and those who serve in them -- have become targets. The entire country has become a battlefield.
• The PKK also promised to "liquidate" or "eliminate" political parties, "imperialist" cultural and educational institutions, legislative and representative bodies, and "all local collaborators and agents working for the Republic of Turkey in Kurdistan."

It also notes that:

• As Human Rights Watch has often reported and condemned, Turkish government forces have, in the course of the conflict with the PKK, also committed serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including torture, extrajudicial killings, and indiscriminate fire. We continue to demand that the Turkish government investigate and hold accountable those members of its security forces responsible for these violations. Nonetheless, under international law, the government abuses cannot under any circumstances be seen to justify or excuse those committed by Ocalan's PKK.
• Many who died were unarmed civilians, caught in the middle between the PKK and security forces, targeted for attacks by inevitably, PKK suicide bombers .

According to Amnesty International, the PKK killed and tortured Kurdish peasants and its own members in the 1980s. A number of Kurds have been abducted and killed because they were suspected of being "collaborators" or "informers" and it was a common practice for the PKK to kill their whole families.

According to an article printed in the November 2002 issue of the International Socialist, monthly paper of the International Socialists, during the conflict (and still [as of 2002]), the Turkish army killed and “disappeared” members of the PKK. In 1997, Amnesty International (AI) reported that, "'Disappearances' and extrajudicial executions have emerged as new and disturbing patterns of human rights violations ..." by the Turkish state. According to an earlier (1996) report of AI, "in January 1996 the [Turkish] government announced that the PKK had massacred 11 men near the remote village of Güçlükonak. Seven of the victims were members of the local village guard force.

See also

• List of terrorist incidents, 2008
• Effects of the Kurdistan Workers Party
• Iran–Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan conflict

External links

• Victims of the conflict
• PKK - Targets and activities, Federation of American Scientists