Roj Bash Kurdistan

Turkey starts third phase of
anti-PKK operation in Kurdistan

Turkey announced the third phase of its anti-Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) operations in the Kurdistan Region on Saturday

The newest phase of Operation Claw, which began yesterday, will focus on places the Kurdish militants are hiding in the Sinat-Haftanin part of the Kurdistan Region near the Turkish border, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry.

“The operation is to ensure the security of the borders in the future and to destroy the terrorists in Sinat-Haftanin region [in Kurdistan Region] and their caves and shelters,” said the ministry in a statement.

The PKK has long based itself in the Qandil Mountains in the Kurdistan Region along the border with Turkey and Iran. Fighting resumed between the PKK in Turkey after peace talks in 2015 failed following a two-and-a-half year peace process. Turkey regularly bombs apparent PKK targets in the Kurdistan Region. Hundreds of villages near the border have been abandoned as a result.

The first phase of Operation Claw began on May 27, followed by a second phase described as a “follow-up” operation on July 12. The first two phases were in the Khakurk region northeast of Erbil near the Turkish and Iranian borders.

Turkey has not announced the end of any of Operation Claw’s phases

Turkey regularly uses fighter jets to hit the PKK in the Kurdistan Region, but Operation Claw utilizes ground forces as well. The latest phase is supported by Turkey’s air force, army aviation forces, tanks and armed drones, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

The Turkish Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu, claimed on Thursday that their forces have “neutralized” 635 PKK fighters only in 2019 in over 80,000 operations. Ankara uses the word “neutralized” to refer to those killed, wounded, or otherwise removed from the battlefield.

Anadolu Agency also reported today that Turkish army and intelligence forces "neutralized" four PKK fighters in Gara region.

Turkey, as well as the US and EU, consider the PKK a terrorist organization

The Turkish military is also involved in heavy clashes with the PKK in some Kurdish provinces in east and southeast Turkey. It launched Operation Kiran on Wednesday in the Van, Hakkari and Sirnak provinces against the PKK.

Turkey has intensified attacks on the group recently, leading to the deaths of some senior commanders. It has utilized sophisticated, modern technology to track PKK positions in Kurdistan Region, making one of the PKK’s goals to work for “modernization” of its fighters.

“We want to fully modernize, reinvigorate and professionalize guerrillas who should be capable of prevailing over the enemy’s intelligence and techniques,” Murat Karayilan, a member of PKK’s executive body, told the party-affiliated Sterk TV a week ago.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/240820191

Thinking:

Over the past 100 years

In the conflict between Kurds and Turks:

Which side has imprisoned the most people

Which side has tortured the most people

Which side has destroyed the most villages

Which side has used deforestation

Which side has killed the most people

The answer is TURKEY

Surely that being the case

TURKEY

Is the terrorist organization

14 PKK fighters neutralized in Turkey-Kurdistan Region border areas

Turkish security forces claimed Sunday to have neutralized 14 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters in domestic and cross-border operations against the Kurdish group, who on the same day claimed the deaths of eight Turkish soldiers in recent clashes

Turkey is currently conducting the third phase of Operation Claw in the Kurdistan Region’s Haftanin and Sinat regions.

“In the framework of [Operation] Claw 3 - which continues successfully - in Haftanin region, our air forces targeted the PKK separatist terrorist organization’s members and neutralized seven,” read a statement on the Turkish defense ministry’s Twitter account.

Turkey uses the term “neutralized” to denote adversaries captured, wounded, or killed in combat.

The PKK claimed the death of three Turkish soldiers in the same clash, reported the PKK-affiliated ANF.

Clashes between the two sides within the Kurdistan Region, where the PKK are currently headquartered, have intensified with the launch of Operation Claw by Turkey in late May.

Turkish forces have employed an extensive range of weaponry including warplanes and drones to target PKK fighters in the rugged mountainous terrain.

As part of Operation Kiran, being conducted by Turkish forces in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of Turkey, seven PKK guerrillas were “neutralized” in Siirt province, the Turkish interior ministry said on Sunday.

There was no immediate PKK statement on the incident in Siirt. However, the group claimed the death of five Turkish soldiers in a clash in Hakkari province on Friday.

“As part of the Martyr Medya Mawa and Martyr Rızgar Vengeance Campaign, our forces hit Turkish soldiers stationed around a watch tower of Zerine outpost in Hakkari’s Esendere district at 12:40 on September 20. One soldier was killed here,” it said on Sunday via ANF, adding that two more soldiers were killed when they arrived at the scene.

Regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies, the PKK have been locked in a nearly four-decade, sometimes-armed conflict with Turkish state, resulting in the death of about 40,000 people, including civilians.

According to data gathered by the state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA) and published on Thursday, 396 PKK fighters have been “neutralized” in the last three months, while 28 Turkish security forces members and eight civilians have been killed.

While fighting between the two sides occurs almost daily, the intensity of clashes often varies according to the political atmosphere in Turkey, particularly with regards to the Kurdish question.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/220920192