Turkey-PKK conflict

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Turkey-PKK conflict

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

Casualties and losses

See Casualties of the Turkey-PKK conflict

v • d • e Turkish operations in Northern Iraq

Northern Iraq (1992) · Steel (1995) Hammer (1997) · Dawn (1997) · Sun (2008)

Area inhabited by Kurds in 1992

The Turkey-PKK conflict is a conflict over control of the Turkish region of Kurdistan. It involves an armed insurrection by the separatist Kurdish guerrilla group, the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK. More than 37,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK launched its armed independence campaign in 1984.

1 Background
2 Recent events
3 Human rights abuses
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Background

In the aftermath of World War I the Entente Powers dismantled the Ottoman Empire. According to the Treaty of Sèvres, an independent Kurdistan was to be created, but this treaty was never ratified and it was annulled by the Treaty of Lausanne.^[1] In the ensuing years there were several revolts for Kurdish independence such as the Koçkiri Rebellion in 1920, the Sheikh Said Rebellion in 1925, the rebellion of Shaikh Abdurrahman in 1927, the founding of the Republic of Ararat from 1927-1930, and the Dersim Revolt in 1937 which left thousands of Kurds, and a few hundred Turks dead.

Kurdish nationalism began resurgence in the 1970s when Turkey was racked with left-right clashes and the Marxist PKK led by Abdullah Öcalan was formed demanding a Kurdish state.^[2] The use of the Kurdish language was outlawed in Turkey during Kenan Evren's presidency.

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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7] As of June 2007, over 15,000 PKK fighters are believed to be in Iraqi Kurdistan.^[8]

As of 2000, the conflict had claimed lives of at least 157 Turkish teachers.^[9]

[edit] Recent events

For list of casualties, see Casualties of the Turkey-PKK conflict.

February 22, 2008: Turkey reports that the incursion into Iraq has left 5 Turkish soldiers and dozens of rebels dead.^[10]

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

February 21, 2008: Turkish Armed Forces launched a ground operation supported by air assets.[1]

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

On 24 October 2007, Turkish fighter jets bombed several PKK targets on the Iraqi side of the border.^[11]

Oct 21, 2007: 12 Turkish troops killed in PKK ambush near Turkey's border with Iraq. The soldiers died when militants attacked a Turkish Army post, less than three miles from the Iraq border. (see 21 October 2007 cross-border attack on Turkey)

Oct 17, 2007: Turkish Grand National Assembly approves a government request for their troops to cross the Iraqi border to attack Kurdish rebels.^[12]

October 7, 2007 Yüksekova incident

Jun 7, 2007: Turkey declares a 3 month martial law in Kurdish areas near the Iraq border and bans civilian flights to the area. Both Iraqi and Turkish sources are either acknowledging or denying whether Turkish forces have entered Iraq. It has been confirmed that 3 Turkish soldiers have been killed by a PKK landmine.^{[citation needed]}

Jun 5, 2007: There are reports of limited shelling and air strikes by the Turkish army attacking PKK bases in Iraqi Kurdistan^{[citation needed]}

Jun 4, 2007: A PKK suicide bomber kills 8 soldiers and wound 6 at an army checkpoint in Tunceli.^{[citation needed]}

Jun 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 boarder between Turkey and Iraq.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 22, 2007: A suicide bombing hits Ankara killing 8 and wounding over 100. PKK claims the responsibility.

[edit] 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.^[13]^[14]

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."^[15]

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.^[15]
Many who died were unarmed civilians, caught in the middle between the PKK and security forces, targeted for attacks by inevitably, PKK suicide bombers .^[16]

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.^[17]

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.^[18] 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.^[19] 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.^[20]