ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s military has intensified its operations against alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the Kurdistan Region, with over 200 bombardments and assaults recorded in April alone, despite the PKK signaling it is considering a shift away from armed struggle, according to a conflict monitor.
Turkish forces are carrying out aerial and ground bombardment of the Medya area of Duhok province, the PKK-affiliated ANF news outlet reported on Saturday.
The escalation comes as Ankara awaits a formal decision from the PKK on whether it will disarm and dissolve itself. On Friday, the PKK said it had held a congress to consider a call from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan to lay down arms, dissolve the party, and pursue a political struggle. The group said it would announce its decision soon.
The PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire at the start of March while it considered Ocalan’s call for peace.
The US-based Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), which monitors Turkish operations in the Kurdistan Region, said in a post on X on Saturday that Turkish attacks rose by 78 percent in April compared to previous months, reaching levels “similar to those seen prior to the ceasefire.”
According to CPT, at least 210 military actions have been recorded across the Kurdistan Region since April, including 42 airstrikes, 153 artillery shellings, 14 helicopter attacks, and one incident of small arms fire that damaged a civilian home. In total, three civilian houses have been destroyed and two damaged. The vast majority of these incidents occurred in Duhok province.
Turkish officials have publicly continued their hardline stance on the PKK. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that disarmament alone is “not enough” and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey is determined to rid itself of the “scourge of terror.”
The PKK was founded in 1978 in response to oppression of the Kurdish population in Turkey. It initially struggled for an independent Kurdistan but now calls for greater political and cultural rights within Turkey. Ankara and its Western allies consider the group a terrorist organization.
A similar peace process begun between the PKK and the Turkish state in 2013 collapsed two and a half years later.
