Iraq said that Turkey’s new major ground and air offensive against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq is “unacceptable,” noting that Ankara did not consult Baghdad before bombing several Kurdish villages over the weekend. Turkey, however, has insisted that it is fully respectful of Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Announcing the new offensive on Monday, the Turkish Defence Ministry stated that 19 PKK militants have been “neutralised” so far in the offensive, dubbed Operation Claw Lock. The Ministry added that PKK shelters, bunkers, and headquarters were targeted by fighter jets, adding that Ankara will soon eliminate the entire PKK infrastructure from the region.
İşte bunlar bizim Al Bayraklılar...🇹🇷
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) April 18, 2022
Kahraman Mehmetçik, Pençe-Kilit Operasyonu ile teröristlerin inlerini başlarına yıkıyor! #PençeKilit pic.twitter.com/aRddyjoNoY
“Terrorists must realise that they have nowhere to run, that the end is near, and must surrender to justice,” it stated, adding that the military is “determined to save our noble nation from the scourge of terrorism.”
Daily Sabah reported that the offensive was launched as a pre-emptive action to prevent the PKK from carrying out large scale attacks against the Turkish military. The news agency said that the military used fighter jets, helicopters, and drones to target PKK bases in Iraq. As part of the offensive, Turkey deployed commandos and special forces to Iraq and supported them with artillery fire on “terrorist targets.”
Moreover, Turkish warplanes bombarded Kurdish villages in Iraq’s Duhok province on Sunday, possibly to clear the area for operations. Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported that the strikes created panic among locals.
Witnesses told Rudaw that at least six jets had targeted suspected PKK bases in the town of Shiladze in Duhok. A resident of Shiladze told the agency that “people are trying to abandon this region because they can see that bombs drop just one kilometre or two kilometres from their homes.”
Per official figures, only seven out of the 92 villages are still inhabited and the rest have been abandoned as a result of the conflict. In total, over 500 villages in the Kurdistan region have been deserted over three decades of the Turkey-PKK conflict.
Turkey and the PKK released their conflicting number of fatalities on Monday afternoon, hours after Ankara announced a new military operation targeting the mountainous regions of northern Duhok, sparking renewed fear among locals.
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) April 18, 2022
READ MORE: https://t.co/wFTdxqz8Ux pic.twitter.com/hwmeMwbJX5
Turkey reported that one of its soldiers was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion during the operation. However, the PKK claimed that 28 Turkish soldiers were killed and another nine were injured in the fighting.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar claimed that Operation Claw Lock has been a success so far. Akar said that “all planned targets have been captured” and that Turkey plans to increase the scale of the operation in the coming days. He also noted that Turkey will continue to take action against the PKK at home and beyond its borders.
In this respect, the Defence Ministry stressed that the operation is conducted by “taking into consideration Iraq’s territorial integrity” and will “only target terrorists.” However, Iraq has condemned Turkey’s offensive. On Tuesday, the Iraqi Presidency released a statement saying that it is “following with great concern the ongoing Turkish military operations within Iraqi borders.”
“The repetition of Turkish military operations inside the Iraqi borders in the Kurdistan region, without coordination with the Iraqi federal government, despite previous calls to stop them and hold talks and coordination around them, is unacceptable,” the statement read.
Iraq has also previously expressed concerns over Turkish military activity in the Kurdistan region. Almost a year ago, Akar visited Turkish troops stationed in Duhok without informing Iraqi authorities. The move infuriated Baghdad, which summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Iraq to protest the actions of Akar.
The Iraqi foreign ministry released a statement condemning the move, saying that Akar’s “presence on Iraqi territory without coordination or prior approval from the competent authorities, and with his meeting with Turkish forces that are present in the territories illegally” represents a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.
Last April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the launch of operation Claw Lightning and Claw Thunderbolt to eliminate “terrorist threats” from Iraq and Syria. Erdoğan said at the time: “We are determined to eradicate terror and rid our citizens of the terror scourge completely.”
Ankara also remains pitted against the PKK’s Syrian affiliate group, the People’s Protection Forces (YPG) in northern Syria. Turkey has occupied northern Syria since 2016 in a bid to remove Kurdish militants, including the Syrian Democratic Forces and the YPG, from the region. In 2019, Turkey, along with its Syrian allies, launched a major offensive into northeast Syria, known as Operation Peace Spring, against Kurdish militants.
Turkey and the PKK have been waging a decades-old war against each other. While the PKK claims that it is fighting for Kurdish sovereignty, Ankara insists that the group is a “terrorist” organisation and needs to be eliminated. The PKK is also labelled as a terrorist group by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) and is known for launching attacks against Turkey from its bases in Syria and Iraq.