Summary
Type of Conflict
Parties to the Conflict
Status of the Fighting
Number of Deaths
Political Developments
Background
Arms Sources

Summary:

2008 A major offensive by the Turkish military into Northern Iraq was mounted in February in an attempt to displace Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK) militants operating in the region. The ground offensive lasted one week and claimed at least 230 PKK deaths and approximately two- dozen of its own according to the Turkish military. Turkish forces withdrew from Iraq claiming that it "achieved its initial targets". Airstrikes continued in 2008 as the Turkish military bombed suspected PKK targets inside Iraq. The military has been given a renewed year-long mandate for cross-border military action in Iraq as of October. Late 2008 and early 2009 saw an implementation of a joint committee between Turkey, the U.S., and Iraq for three-way talks on how to increase cooperation towards combating PKK militants in the border region.

2007 The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), or Kurdish Workers’ Party, waged a 1984-2001 guerilla war of independence against the Turkish government that caused some 30,000 to 40,000 deaths. The war abated when the PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan, was imprisoned in 1999 and subsequently called for a peaceful approach to achieving autonomy. The PKK declared a ceasefire at that time and in 2002 this conflict was removed from the Armed Conflicts Report. Unfortunately, no real peace process was established during this period of relative calm and the frequency of armed clashes between government forces and the Kurdish rebels began to increase in the 2003-2007 period with a corresponding increase in civilian, armed forces and rebel deaths. The conflict has again been added to the Report since the number of deaths totaled more than 1,000 by the end of 2007.

Type of Conflict:

State formation

Parties to the Conflict:

1) Government: On July 22, 2007, in parliamentary elections that were considered free and fair, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the majority of seats and formed a one-party government with Recep Tayyip Erdogan returning as Prime Minister. Adbullah Gül was elected President on August 28, 2007. He is also the chief of the military.

a) The Turkish Armed Forces. Comprised of five forces, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Gendarmerie (responsible for rural areas) and headed by General Yaşar Büyükanıt. The Armed Forces have exercised considerable political influence, staging military coups in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1987. They support taking a hard line against rebel forces.

Plus,

b) Pro-government Kurdish militia who act as village guards.

[Sources: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Turkey, 2007, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US Department of State, March 11, 2008; International Crisis Group, “Turkey and Europe: The Way Ahead”, Crisis Group Europe Report No. 184, 17 August, 2007; US Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook: Turkey (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html) ]

2) Rebels:

a) Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (Kurdish Workers Party -- PKK) led by imprisoned Abdullah Öcalan with Murat Karayilan as leader of its armed wing. The Iraqi Kurdish party has been accused of supporting the PKK by the Turkish military but the party denies the accusations.

“Turkey’s military has long accused Iraqi Kurds of supporting the PKK, which has conducted a violent separatist campaign in Turkey since 1984 that has killed more than 30,000 people.” [VOA News, February 18, 2007]

b) Kurdish Freedom Falcons (TAK), described as a PKK splinter group.

“A group calling itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) claimed responsibility for a string of bombings against civilian targets last year and threatened to continue hitting the tourism sector, which attracts millions of holidaymakers every year. Turkish officials say TAK is a front for PKK attacks on civilian targets; the PKK claims TAK is a splinter group over which it has no control.” [Agence France Presse, May 23, 2007]

Status of Fighting:

2008 Early 2008 saw a major offensive mounted by the Turkish military across its northern border with Iraq. The ground offensive lasted a week as the Turkish military pulled out of Iraq claiming that it had "achieved its initial targets". Turkey continued its cross border airstrikes in northern Iraq throughout the year in response to attacks being mounted by PKK militants within the border region. Parliamentary authorization for cross-border military action was renewed in October for an additional year.

“Turkey sent thousands of troops across the border on February 21, with the stated aim of battling fighters using the region as a base. In a statement on Friday, Ankara said troops were returning home after the Turkish military had "achieved its initial targets". [Al Jazeera, 29 February, 2008]

“The Turkish army, provided with intelligence by the United States, has been pounding PKK bases in northern Iraq under a parliamentary authorization for cross-border military action, which was first approved in 2007 and renewed for another year in October.” [Hurriyet Daily News, 18 December, 2008]

“NATO member Turkey has staged almost daily air strikes against suspected PKK bases in northern Iraq and in Turkey since a PKK attack killed 17 soldiers near the border earlier this month, the worst single attack on the military in more than a year.” [Reuters, 14 October, 2008]

2007 Following the imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan in 1999 and his subsequent call for the PKK to take a peaceful approach to achieving their objectives, the PKK declared a ceasefire. Hostilities and casualties declined markedly thereafter which allowed this conflict to be removed from the Armed Conflict Report in 2002. Unfortunately, no real peace process was established during this window of opportunity and the frequency of armed clashes between government forces and the Kurdish rebels began to increase in the 2003-2007 period with a corresponding increase in civilian, armed forces and rebel deaths which, in total, numbered more than 1,000 by the end of 2007. During 2007 there were several bombings in Turkish cities, notably Ankara, Diyarbakir and Marmaris, which were blamed on Kurdish rebels as well as number of attacks on the Turkish armed forces including an October ambush that killed 13 Turkish soldiers. In response, Turkey conducted several cross-border raids against PKK fighters based in Iraq. At the end of 2007, some 100,000 Turkish troops were reported massed near the northern Iraqi border with estimates of 3,000 PKK fighters being based inside northern Iraq.

“Turkey’s cross-border raids to strike at the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, continued Tuesday as 300 troops entered Iraq overnight. On Sunday, at least 10 jets struck Iraqi villages in the largest attack against the separatists in years” [The Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 19, 2007]

“Turkey has stationed some 100,000 troops on the Iraq border and threatened to launch an offensive against some 3,000 rebels who use northern Iraq as a base for attacks in Turkey, if nothing is done to curb their activities.” [Reuters, Nov. 9, 2007]

“[T]he opportunity created by Öcalan’s capture and the subsequent convergence with the EU never turned into a process of peace and resolution with the Kurds. A more open-minded approach to the Kurdish issue by the AKP was never formalised, partly thanks to nationalist criticism. Despite unilateral ceasefires, the PKK did not give up the armed struggle. For the establishment, Öcalan’s capture was the template for a solution: PKK surrender. Amnesties offered have been half-hearted. A 2003 law on “social reinsertion” had little impact.” [ICG, “Turkey and Europe: The Way Ahead”, Crisis Group Europe Report No. 184, 17 August, 2007.]

Number of Deaths:

Total: The current phase of this conflict (2003 to date) has claimed over 2100 lives according to figures issued by the Turkish government. Included are 172 civilian deaths, 556 armed forces deaths, and 1380 rebel deaths. The earlier phase of the war which ran from 1984 to 2002 claimed between 30,000 and 42,000 lives. [Source: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Turkey, 2003-2008, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US Department of State]

“The PKK, blacklisted as a “terrorist” organization by Ankara and much of the international community, picked up arms for self-rule in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 44,000 lives.” [AFP, 13 March, 2009]

2008 Due to the ongoing Turkish military cross-border incursions into Northern Iraq and the airstrikes mounted in that region, government forces claim to have killed hundreds of PKK militants while taking far fewer casualties themselves. The number of deaths caused by the armed conflict with militants as provided by the government includes 49 civilians, 143 members of security forces, and 657 militants for a total of 849.

“In its statement, the Turkish military said at least 240 PKK militants had been killed since it launched its offensive just over a week ago. It added that 27 members of the Turkish security forces had also died.” [BBC, 29 February, 2008]

“Turkey claims it has killed 230 PKK fighters, with the loss of about two dozen of its own soldiers. The PKK, which is fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey, says only a handful of its guerrillas have been killed, at the cost of 80 Turkish troops. The claims cannot be confirmed as the fighting is taking place in remote mountains along the border.” [The Guardian, 28 February, 2008]

Political Developments:

2008 Turkey’s political system exists within a secular constitution and since the election of the AKP to power, tension has built with the country’s secular elite who claimed that the government was moving to create an Islamist state. During the year, Turkey’s Constitutional Court heard the case for banning the AKP party and although it did not rule that the party should be banned, it did impose financial sanctions on it. Towards the end of the year, the U.S., Iraq, and Turkey initiated a joint committee to discuss a strategy for dealing with PKK militants in the Turkey-Iraq border area.

“Turkey, Iraq and the U.S. in November formed a joint committee to combat the PKK after holding three-way talks in Baghdad as part of efforts to boost cooperation against the terrorists.” [Hurriyet Daily News, 23 January, 2009]

“Turkey's political establishment remains deeply divided over the current crisis. Government opponents claim the AK (Justice and Development Party) is creating its own deep state that seeks to "Islamize" Turkish society.” [RFE/RL, 26 March, 2008]

“Tensions between the two camps are likely to continue clouding the future of Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country with a secular constitution and where the public place of Islam is a divisive issue. Secularists accuse the AKP of seeking to ease secular restrictions on religion, but Erdogan denies this.” [Reuters, 30 March, 20009]

2007 Parliamentary elections were held in July and were judged to be free and fair. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the majority of seats and formed a one-party government with Recep Tayyip Erdogan returning as Prime Minister. Those opposed to the Islamist-rooted AKP fear that this victory could undermine Turkey’s secular traditions but Erdogan refutes this charge, pledging to work for national unity and to continue the effort to join the European Union as well as the battle against Kurdish rebels in the east of Turkey. The 2007 election was originally called after opposition parties had blocked the AKP’s nominee for president, Abdullah Gül, because of fears that Gül, a devout Muslim, would steer the country towards becoming an Islamic state. Following the AKP win, Gül’s name was again put forth and in August he won the presidency, supporting the idea that “Islam and the state should be separate” and promising to be impartial while in office. Gül also became the chief of the military which is strongly opposed to any movement away from secular governance and is a powerful political force in the country having staged four military coups in the past 50 years, the last being in 1987. Tensions between the military and the government were again evident when senior officers boycotted Gül’s presidential swearing-in ceremony. The military and the opposition have been strongly supportive of stronger action against the PKK and in October, parliament voted to allow the military to launch operations into northern Iraq.

[Sources: BBC News, July 22, 2007; International Herald Tribune, August 28, 2007; Turkish Daily News, August 29, 2007; BBC News, December 17, 2007]

“A leader of Turkey’s Islamic-oriented government won the presidency Tuesday after months of confrontation with the secular establishment, but he praised the idea that Islam and the state should be separate and promised to be impartial while in office. Still, in a sign that tension could lie ahead, top generals did not attend the swearing-in ceremony in parliament of Abdullah Gül, their new president and commander in chief. Local media interpreted the absence of the military brass as a protest against Gül, the former foreign minister whose earlier bid for the post was blocked by the secular opposition, which included the military and the top court.” [International Herald Tribune, August 28, 2007]

Background:

The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), or Kurdish Workers’ Party, has been waging a guerrilla war for Kurdish independence or autonomy in southeastern Turkey since 1984. A government campaign to depopulate pro-PKK villages in Turkey has created at least 500,000 internal refugees (some estimates run higher than 2 million). While most of the war has taken place in southeastern Turkey, since 1992 the Turkish government has also launched periodic air strikes and ground assaults on PKK camps in northern Iraq. Following the imprisonment of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in 1999 and his subsequent call for the PKK to take a peaceful approach to achieving their objectives, the PKK declared a ceasefire. Hostilities and casualties declined markedly thereafter which allowed this conflict to be removed from the Armed Conflict Report in 2002. Unfortunately, no real peace process was established during this window of opportunity and the frequency of armed clashes between government forces and the Kurdish rebels began to increase in the 2003-2007 period with a corresponding increase in civilian, armed forces and rebel deaths which, in total, numbered more than 1,000 by the end of 2007.

“Turkey has seen four military coups in the last half-century with the most recent one in 1997, when the first Islamist-led government was ejected after it began investigating links between the army and organized crime.” [RFE/RL, 26 March, 2008]

“[T]he opportunity created by Öcalan’s capture and the subsequent convergence with the EU never turned into a process of peace and resolution with the Kurds. A more open-minded approach to the Kurdish issue by the AKP was never formalised, partly thanks to nationalist criticism. Despite unilateral ceasefires, the PKK did not give up the armed struggle. For the establishment, Öcalan’s capture was the template for a solution: PKK surrender. Amnesties offered have been half-hearted. A 2003 law on “social reinsertion” had little impact.” [ICG, “Turkey and Europe: The Way Ahead”, Crisis Group Europe Report No. 184, 17 August, 2007.]

Arms Sources:

Large weapons suppliers to Turkey include the US, Germany, France and Spain. Italy, Israel, the Republic of Korea, and the Turkish domestic armaments industry have also provided weapons recently.
[Source: The International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2005-2008]

The PKK has been supported at various times in the past by Syria, Iraq, and Iran. In the current phase of this conflict, however, it has been reported that the PKK lacks a large supply of armaments and is moving to a strategy of using Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) rather than direct armed attacks against the Turkish military. IED components are readily available in Iraq and, as has been demonstrated in Iraq and Afghanistan, IEDs can be an effective weapon for a small force to use against a much larger and better equipped adversary. For conventional arms, the PKK is said to frequent Eastern and Western European markets as well as obtaining weapons from developing countries in Africa and Asia.

During 2007 it was also reported that lax controls over the distribution of American weapons in Iraq during 2004 and 2005 allowed some of these arms to find their way to Kurdish rebels

“Already there is evidence that some American-supplied weapons fell into the hands of guerrillas responsible for attacks against Turkey, an important United States ally. Some investigators said that because military suppliers to the war zone were not required to record serial numbers, it was unlikely that the authorities would ever be able to tell where the weapons went.” [The New York Times, November 11, 2007]

“Fadi Hakura, from the Chatham House foreign affairs think-tank in London, agreed that the PKK was a weakened force militarily, compared with Turkey, which has F16 fighter jets, Cobra, Black Hawk and Eurocopter helicopters at its disposal. But he said PKK tactics had evolved as Iraq descended into sectarian conflict after the 2003 US-led invasion. “Their tactics are similar to Sunni insurgents in Iraq, for instance improvised explosive devices, mines, attacking military units using for example small cells of five to perhaps 10 fighters,” he told AFP.” [Agence France Presse, October 22, 2008]

“The PKK is said to also be active in international arms-procurement markets, primarily Easter and Western European, through its representatives in those locations. Forensic examination by Turkish authorities in 2005 and 2006 revealed that the PKK obtained most of its weapons from Russia and its affiliated former republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States. A growing portion of the weapons, though, was found to have originated in Turkey’s Western European NATO allies – landmines from Italy and A4 explosives from Portugal are two prime examples. Neither Italy nor Portugal intentionally ships such materials to the PKK; however, PKK representatives reportedly monitor sales to developing countries in African and Asia, intervening in those locales to obtain needed munitions. (Today’s Zaman, June 12).” [The Jamestown Foundation, Terrorism Focus, Vol. 4, Issue 20, June 26, 2007]