Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present)


In late July 2015, the third phase of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict between various Kurdish insurgent groups and the Turkish government erupted, following a failed two and a half year-long peace process aimed at resolving the long-running conflict.
The conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party broke out again in summer 2015 following two-year-long peace negotiations. These began in late 2012, but failed to progress in light of the growing tensions on the Turkish-Syrian border in late 2014, when the Turkish state prevented its Kurdish citizens from sending support to the People's Protection Units who were fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant during the Siege of Kobani. Turkey was accused of assisting the Islamic State during the siege, resulting in the widespread 2014 Kurdish riots in Turkey involving dozens of fatalities. The tensions further escalated in summer 2015 with the July 20 bombing in Suruç. On July 21, the PKK reportedly carried out a revenge attack and killed a Turkish soldier and wounded two more in Adıyaman. Some Kurdish nationalists then claimed responsibility for the July 23 killing of two Turkish police officers in Ceylanpinar, describing it as a retaliation. A week after, the Kurdistan Communities Union spokesman Demhat Agit said that the PKK was not officially involved, saying "these are the units independent from the PKK. They are local forces which organized themselves and not affiliated with us."
On 24 July 2015, the Turkish state announced an official military operation against the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan and against the YPG in Rojava, claiming to have caused dozens of fatalities. This led to the PKK withdrawing from the peace talks and announcing a full-scale insurgency against the government. The same day, there was a nationwide crackdown on alleged PKK operatives, which saw the arrest of hundreds, including Peoples' Democratic Party members. The conflict then escalated, with PKK and affiliated groups staging attacks across the country, and Turkish attacks in the form of aerial bombardments and operations in Turkish Kurdistan, including the Siege of Cizre in September 2015. In October 2015, the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire for the November general elections.
In November 2015, Turkish authorities said that a number of towns and areas in the Eastern Anatolia Region had come under the control of PKK militants and affiliated armed organizations. According to Turkish government sources, between July 2015 and May 2016, 2,583 Kurdish insurgents were killed in Turkey and 2,366 in Iraq, as well as 483 members of the Turkish security forces. The PKK said 1,557 Turkish security forces members were killed in 2015 during the clashes in Turkish and Iraqi Kurdistan, while it lost 220 fighters. According to the International Crisis Group, 4,226 people, including 465 civilians, were killed in Turkey between July 2015 and December 2018, including Kurdish lawyer Tahir Elçi. In March 2017, the United Nations voiced "concern" over the Turkish government's operations and called for an independent assessment of the "massive destruction, killings and numerous other serious human rights violations" against the ethnic Kurdish minority.
Since 2016, the Turkish military and Syrian National Army have conducted operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces, leading to the Turkish occupation of northern Syria.

Background

The Kurdish-Turkish peace process saw negotiations begin between jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party leader Abdullah Ocalan and the Turkish government in late 2012. A ceasefire was called, and the PKK agreed to withdraw from Turkish Kurdistan into Iraqi Kurdistan. In 2014, anger increased among Turkish Kurds with what they saw as the Turkish state's facilitation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's assault on Syrian Kurds during the Rojava–Islamist conflict, culminating in the 2014 Kurdish riots in Turkey during the Siege of Kobanî. The June 2015 Turkish general election saw Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party lose its majority, and gains for the Peoples' Democratic Party. Tensions increased further after the Suruç bombing and Ceylanpınar incident in July, after which the Turkish government launched the 2015 police raids in Turkey and attacked PKK positions in Iraq, prompting the PKK to call off its ceasefire.

2015 timeline

July

Suruç bombing and suspected Turkish ISIL retaliations

On 20 July 2015, a bombing in the predominantly Kurdish district of Suruç, reportedly perpetrated by the Dokumacılar group linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, killed 32 young activists and injured over 100. Most victims were members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed Youth Wing and the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, university-aged students who were giving a press statement on their planned trip to reconstruct the Syrian border town of Kobanî in the de facto autonomous Federation of Northern Syria - Rojava.
The July 21 and 22 attacks were proclaimed a casus belli by the Turkish government, which resulted in Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu taking the decision to begin active air operations against PKK positions in Iraq. This was internationally perceived as the end of the ceasefire period in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. The New York Times assessed that "the Iraq raids, which began late Friday and continued into Saturday, effectively ended an unstable two-year cease-fire between the Turkish government and the Kurdish militants, also known by the initials of their Kurdish name, PKK".
Turkish Forces on 26 July reportedly again attacked the same village west of Kobani targeting Kurdish People's Protection Units fighters, and fired on a YPG vehicle west of Tell Abyad.
The Turkish police used "Armenian" as an insult to refer to the Kurdish people in Cizre and Burhan Kuzu, a senior adviser to the President of Turkey, said that PKK members were uncircumcised implying that they were Armenians.

October

January

A Police officer was killed in Sur. A Soldier and one civilian was killed in Silopi A Turkish tank malfunctioned and was damaged in Cizre. A total of 18 were killed that day.
The government held both the YPG and PKK responsible for the attack, even after the TAK claimed responsibility. It was later confirmed by DNA reports that the perpetrator was a TAK militant.
Crisis group puts overall casualties at 30 people killed, including 16 PKK militants, 11 security personnel and 3 civilians for the month of January.

February

Overall, 31 people died, including 27 PKK militants and 4 civilians.

March

Overall, 92 people died, including 82 PKK militants 8 security forces personnel and 2 civilians.

April

Overall, 108 people died, including 84 PKK militants 23 security forces personnel and one civilian.

May

Overall, 64 people died, including 41 PKK militants 21 security forces personnel and two civilians.

June

Overall, 90 people died, including 61 PKK militants 28 security forces personnel and one civilian.

July

Overall, 96 people died, including 74 PKK militants 12 security forces personnel and 10 civilians.

August

Overall, 67 people died, including 44 PKK militants 14 security forces personnel and 9 civilians.

September

Overall, 102 people died, including 79 PKK militants 12 security forces personnel and 11 civilians.

October

Overall, 48 people died, including 25 PKK militants 17 security forces personnel and 6 civilians.

November

Overall, 77 people died, including 61 PKK militants 14 security forces personnel and 2 civilians.

December

Overall, 26 people died, including 22 PKK militants 4 security forces personnel.

January

On 20 January 2018, the Turkish military began an attack in the Afrin region of Syria, code-named by Turkey as Operation Olive Branch. The offensive is against the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party in Syria, its armed wing People's Protection Units, and Syrian Democratic Forces positions surrounding the Syrian city of Afrin. Turkey also says it is fighting ISIL, though ISIL does not exist in Afrin. Afrin and the surrounding area is claimed by the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria as the Afrin Region. It is the first major military operation by Turkey in Syria since Operation Euphrates Shield.

February

Overall, 17 people were killed, including 10 PKK militants and 7 security personnel.

March

Overall, 81 people were killed, including 61 PKK militants, 18 security personnel and two civilians.

April

Overall, 63 people were killed, including 46 PKK militants, 16 security personnel and one civilian.

May

Overall, 40 people were killed, including 27 PKK militants, 11 security personnel and two civilians.

June

Overall, 95 people were killed, including 71 PKK militants, 23 security personnel and one civilian.

July

Overall, 93 people were killed, including 82 PKK militants, 7 security personnel and four civilians.

August

Overall, 72 people were killed, including 58 PKK militants, 12 security personnel and two civilians.

September

Overall, 56 people were killed, including 50 PKK militants, 4 security personnel and two civilians.

October

Overall, 30 people were killed, including 15 PKK militants, 13 security personnel and two civilians.

November

On November 1, US officials confirmed that US and Turkish military forces had conducted two joint patrols on the outskirts of Manbij, Syria, which is held by the Manbij Military Council. MMC says that YPG-aligned militants have left the city.
Overall, 45 people were killed, including 34 PKK militants, 10 security personnel and one civilians.

December

Turkey has amassed troops and tanks on the outskirts of Manbij, announcing an intention to drive out the PKK from that city. On December 24, US President Donald Trump announced that he would order the withdrawal of the approximately 2,000 US service members on the ground in Syria in support of the YPG campaign against ISIS. On December 28, YPG tweeted an invitation to Syrian Arab Army to enter SDF-held territory around Manbij, for the purpose of countering an anticipated invasion by Turkish-backed forces, in the absence of US support. The SAA has moved into the SDF front lines facing Turkish-held areas to the east of Manbij. US, French and British forces are still present in the front lines to the north of the city.

2019 timeline

January

On 4 January 2019, one Turkish soldier was killed, and one PKK militant was 'neutralized', and two others were injured in an attack which took place near Emince village of Aralik district, located in Igdir province bordering Iran, according to Hurriyet Daily News and Anadolu Agency.
On 23 January 2019, the PKK reportedly kidnapped four people, who crossed the Sarzeri border crossing in Duhok province. Because of this, Turkey decided to close the border gate. 13 days later, the border gate was reopened.
On 24 January 2019, the Turkish Armed Forces conducted airstrikes against the PKK in the region of Sheladiz village, Dohuk province. According to Kurdistan24, four civilians were killed in the strikes, whereas Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister said that the strikes were 'successful', and PKK got disturbed. Locals protested against both the Turkish military and the PKK, demanding to move their fight elsewhere, and attacked a Turkish military base, which resulted in the death of two, and in the injury of several more, as well as partial damage to some equipment and vehicles in the base. Cavusoglu said, "They are disturbed by these. They started provoking local people. We know that there is PKK behind this". He stated he had a telephone conversation with Nechirvan Barzani Nechirvan Barzani late Saturday.
The KRG expressed concerns over the protests. They stated there is 'a disruptive hand' behind the events.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry condemned the Turkish forces 'opening fire' on the protesters, and summoned Turkey's ambassador to Baghdad. However, the Foreign Ministry also condemned "the use of its territory to threaten the security and safety of any neighboring country."
The Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar said: 'Since they realized that they cannot fight against Turkish soldiers, they try to provoke the innocent locals'. He also stated 'Our effective operations will continue without interruption. All these provocations will be defeated and we will clear the area off terrorists'.
An NRT News team was arrested by KRG authorities, when they were filming in front of the Dohuk Emergency Hospital to report on the condition of the injured protesters, and several other NRT staff was arrested as well. They were all released later.

March

On 16 March 2019, two Turkish soldiers were killed and eight more were wounded after an assault. Turkey stated that six PKK fighters were neutralized during the incident. On 20 March 2019, one Turkish soldier was killed in the southeastern part of Sirnak province by an IED while carrying out a search operation. Another soldier was wounded because of the explosion.

April

On 19 April 2019, four Turkish soldiers were killed, and six were wounded near Iraqi Kurdistan's border. The Turkish Defense Ministry said they were working 'to determine' whether there were Kurdish casualties.
On the same day, and on 20 April 2019, Turkish police used violence against Kurdish mothers protesting in solidarity with political prisoners in Kocaeli and in Turkey's Mardin province. Lawmakers in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Sezgin Tanrıkulu and Gursel Tekin expressed their concerns about the event in Kocaeli.
On 26 April 2019, five PKK militants were neutralized in Diyarbakir's Lice region.
On 29 April 2019, Turkish jets bombarded the Kurdistan Region's Chamanke district in Duhok province. No human casualties were reported.
On 30 April 2019, five PKK militants were neutralized in Siirt.

May

On 1 May 2019, five PKK militans were neutralized in the Amanos mountains in Hatay province.
On 4 May 2019, three Turkish soldiers were killed after a PKK mortar attack in the Sherwan Mazin region in Erbil Province. After the attack, gunfire was heard in the area, and Turkish gunships began to target suspected elements of PKK. The heaviest clashes occurred around Chama village. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said 23 PKK militants were killed in the pursuit.
On 20 May 2019, it was reported that the Turkish forces have been locked in days of clashes in the Sidekan area of Erbil Governorate. Neither side has disclosed casualty figures yet.
On 27 May 2019, Turkish Armed Forces launched a counter-terrorism operation in northern Iraq to destroy caves and shelters used by PKK militants.
Overall, 69 people died in the month of May; 49 PKK militants, 17 security forces and 3 civilians.

June

Overall, 91 people died, including 70 PKK militants, 15 security forces and 6 civilians.

July

Overall, 97 people died, including 80 PKK militants, 13 security forces and 4 civilians.

August

Overall, 53 people died, including 38 PKK militants, 13 security forces and 2 civilians.
On 19 August, the mayors of the cities Mardin, Diyarbakir and Van, Ahmet Türk, Adnan Selçuk Mizrakli and Bedia Özgökçe Ertan, all thee from the HDP where dismissed by the Turkish Government. The same day also hundreds of HDP politicians and members where detained.

September

Overall, 70 people died, including 51 PKK militants, 9 security forces and 10 civilians.

October

On 9 October, the Operation Peace Spring began.
Overall, 33 people died, including 28 PKK militants and 5 security forces.

November

21 PKK militants were killed in November.

December

Overall, 8 people died, including 3 PKK militants, 4 security forces and 1 civilian.

Parties

Turkish military and affiliates

Turkish Forces consisting of Turkish Land Forces troops, Gendarmerie operatives and Police Special Operations teams are backed by the rest of the Turkish Armed Forces. They are supported by a system of "village guards" which represent a feudal part of Turkey. There have been recurring reports of the resurfacing Jitem "military police intelligence and anti-terrorist service" which had been responsible for massacres in the 1990s, and of irregular foreign jihadists, being employed.
The Turkish government of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party are increasingly portraying the party they oppose as an enemy of an "islamic order", referring to the PKK and its affiliates and supporters as "atheists and Zoroastrians".

PKK and affiliates

In 2008, according to information provided by the Intelligence Resource Program of the Federation of American Scientists the strength of the organization in terms of human resources consists of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 militants of whom 3,000 to 3,500 are located in northern Iraq. With the new wave of fighting from 2015 onward, observers said that active support for the PKK had become a "mass phenomenon" in majority ethnic Kurdish cities in the Southeast of the Republic of Turkey, with large numbers of local youth joining PKK-affiliated local militant groups.
According to Turkish estimates the PKK has a much larger size than the previously stated size standing at over 32,800 active fighters spanning across north-western Syria, south-eastern Turkey, northern Iraq and north-western Iran concentrated on the Qandil mountain range.
PKK bases remain active in Northern Iraq and its leadership suspected in the Qandil Mountains in Iraq and Iran. From the traditional preceding Turkish-PKK conflicts the PKK insurgency has transitioned into urban warfare in the country's densely populated south east.

Impact

Civilian impact

According to Turkish Human Rights Foundation, there have been 52 intermittent curfews in seven predominantly Kurdish towns where 1.3 million people live, sometimes lasting as long as 14 days. The organization puts the civilian death toll since the summer of 2015 at 124. The situation in the South-East has little coverage in the Turkish media. The authorities have enforced a blockade over the region and have shut down both cell phone coverage and the internet. Hundreds of houses, dozens of schools and official buildings have been damaged by artillery and gun fire from militants, and civilians have been reportedly fired at. Turkish Forces have used measures like tank fire to clear out bomb-trapped barricades which lead to damage of residential buildings. It is estimated that more than 200,000 people have been displaced. According to the HRW, civilian death toll is around 100. Diyarbakir branch of the Human Rights Association said Turkish Armed Forces and Gendarmerie was targeting civilians under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Many residents in the southeastern cities have been trapped without food or electricity as clashes between Kurdish militants and Turkish security forces have intensified. In December 2015, town of Cizre, was under curfew for more than two weeks, with mounting civilian casualties. According to a teacher from the district of Silopi, some residential buildings were damaged by tank shells.

Internal reactions

Academics petition

On 11 January 2016, more than 1000 scholars and academics from 90 Turkish Universities and abroad signed a petition entitled "We won't be a party to this crime," calling for an end to the government's crackdown on the Kurdish activists and politicians, and a resumption of the peace process. They also criticized the use of tanks in urban centers calling it a deliberate massacre of Kurdish people. On 12 January, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sharply criticized the dissident academics which included David Harvey, Immanuel Wallerstein, Slavoj Žižek and Noam Chomsky and said they were from the fifth column of foreign powers. He also called on the Turkish judiciary to move against the "treachery". All 1,228 Turkish signatories were subsequently placed under investigation. Erdoğan invited Chomsky to visit the area in a televised speech to a conference of Turkish ambassadors in Ankara. However Chomsky rejected the offer and said: "If I decide to go to Turkey, it will not be on his invitation, but as frequently before at the invitation of the many courageous dissidents, including Kurds who have been under severe attack for many years." He also said Erdoğan was aiding ISIS and the al-Nusra Front. On 14 January, the Düzce University in northwest Turkey dismissed an associate sociology professor after she signed the declaration and on 15 January Erdoğan attacked the signatories again, said they were supporting the Kurdish militants and said " having a PhD title doesn't necessarily make you an intellectual. These are people in the dark. They are cruel and despicable." That same day, Turkish authorities arrested 14 signatories, including 12 academics from Kocaeli University, said they were spreading "terrorism propaganda" and of insulting the state. U.S. Ambassador John Bass released a statement expressing his concern regarding the arrests. He also said "Expressions of concern about violence do not equal support for terrorism. Criticism of government does not equal treason." On January 16, main opposition leader Kemal Killicdaroglu sharply criticized Erdoğan over detention of dissident academics and called him a dictator. Two days later, lawyers for Turkish President filed a lawsuit against him and a prosecutor from the Ankara prosecutors' office also launched an investigation into his comments on charges of "openly insulting the president", a crime punishable by up to four years in jail.

Resignation of UNESCO Ambassador

On 25 May 2016, Turkish author and poet Zülfü Livaneli resigned as Turkey's only UNESCO goodwill ambassador. In his post on Twitter, he said "UNESCO's silence on human rights violations and lack of fundamental freedoms." and he also refused to take part in the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul. He highlighted destruction of the historical Sur district of Diyarbakir as his main reason for resignation.

Protests in New York

On March 31, 2016, during a public speech by Erdoğan at the Brookings Institution, his supporters and opponents clashed outside the venue. His security guards assaulted Brooking's employees and ordered a well-known Turkish journalist, Amberin Zaman, to leave, calling her a "P.K.K. whore". Security staff members had to stop the guards from removing other journalists from inside the auditorium. Some Turkish guards were restrained by police officers. National Press Club released a statement and expressed alarm at the events.

U.S. State Department 2016 Human Rights Report

According to the report, in February 2016, Turkish security forces killed at least 130 people, including unarmed civilians, who had taken shelter in the basements of three buildings in the town of Cizre. A domestic NGO, The Human Rights Association, said the security forces killed more than 300 civilians in the first eight months of 2016. It also reported retrieval of 171 bodies from three basements in Cizre after February 5. The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, reported that during the 79 day curfew in Cizre, close to 200 people were killed. On 3 March 2016, HRF's president, Șebnem Korur Fincanci, found a human jawbone in the remains of a basement in the Sur district of Diyarbakir, where according to HRA seven people were killed in February 2016.

International reactions

against Turkey's military offensive on 10 October 2019
The European Parliament has been highly critical with respect to human rights abuses and denial of political dialogue with respect to the Kurdish issue under the cloak of fight against terrorism in Turkey. The institutions of the European Union have persistently criticized the broad application of anti-terror legislation as well as a criminal law against "denigrating Turkishness" in Turkey as stifling peaceful advocacy for Kurdish rights.
Conflict in Turkey's south-east has often reflected on Germany's Turkish and Kurdish minorities causing mass riots and the build up of ethnic tensions within Germany.
and Turkish minister of foreign affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, 11 October 2019
However, the Turkish foreign ministry offered an open invitation to U.N. agencies to visit the country's southeastern provinces after the reports were made and refuted those statements, saying they were "based on insufficient information". According to the UN Commissioner, unarmed civilians, including women and children, were shot by government snipers in the south-east during the clashes and Turkish forces also inflicted significant damage on the local infrastructure. Turkish sources, who's reports were confirmed by the Turkey's foreign ministry had said in late 2015 that the PKK were hiring foreign national snipers to target civilians and high ranking Military personnel in the same region.