“The areas that have been evacuated due to the Turkey-PKK war are mostly tourist areas, so with the withdrawal of PKK guerrillas and the Turkish army, the tourism sector in Duhok province will further revive,” Shamal Hirori, spokesperson for Duhok’s tourism board, told Rudaw on Monday.
The PKK announced its dissolution and an end to its armed struggle against Turkey on Monday, marking what it described as a step toward a peaceful resolution to the decades-long conflict with Ankara. The announcement followed a party congress held from May 5 to 7 to consider the late February call from jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan to disarm, dissolve the group, and pursue a political struggle.
Hirori explained that stability along the Turkish border after the withdrawal of the PKK and Turkey, along with repopulating evacuated villages, “will lead to attracting more tourists.”
More than 400 villages in Duhok province have been evacuated or are at risk, and 118 villages in Erbil province’s Sidakan district have been evacuated, according to the Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a US-based human rights organization monitoring Ankara’s operations in the Kurdistan Region.
CPT member Kamaran Osman told Rudaw on Monday that 185 villages have been completely evacuated, 400 villages have not been able to be repopulated, and some are inhabited during the day and evacuated at night.
Kurdistan Region’s Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed reaffirmed Erbil’s support for the peace process.
“The leadership of the Kurdistan Region has always expressed its support and backing for the [peace] process, and we will do whatever we can to facilitate this process. It's still too early to decide how and where the PKK will lay down its weapons,” Ahmed said.
“What's important is that the areas of the Kurdistan Region are freed from armed conflict, and citizens can return to their villages and areas, benefit from their vineyards and orchards again, and peace and stability return,” he added.
Turkey has launched repeated large-scale operations and carried out military strikes across the border since the 1980s under the pretext of targeting the PKK.
These operations have killed and injured hundreds of civilians, caused large-scale damage to the environment and civilian infrastructure, and displaced villagers from their homes as Turkey exerts control over the border area.
Hirori also indicated that after the potential withdrawal of the PKK and Turkey, a phase of renovating roads and electricity and providing services to these villages and areas will begin, after which doors will be opened to tourists.
“The border situation in Sidakan has been very calm for a long time, with no war or bombardment,” Sidakan district mayor Ihsan Chalabi told Rudaw.
“Currently, more than half of Sidakan's border territory has been evacuated due to wars and conflicts, which includes 118 villages,” he added.
Sidakan covers 1,617 square kilometers. According to the mayor, if the PKK's disarmament process succeeds, more than 810 square kilometers will be returned to the district administration's control.
A 2022 report by the Iraqi defense ministry showed that over 4,000 Turkish soldiers are present inside Iraqi territory, having advanced up to 105 kilometers, with the deepest incursion at the Zilkan military base in Nineveh province.
Jabar Yawar, a military expert and former secretary-general of the Peshmerga ministry, told Rudaw that per a security agreement between Baghdad and Ankara, “if the Kurdistan Workers’ Party lays down arms, Turkey will withdraw from Iraqi territory.”
Data provided to Rudaw by CPT shows that more than 850 people have been killed in the Kurdistan Region since 1990 as a result of border bombardments by Turkey and Iran, with the majority of casualties caused by Turkish airstrikes and attacks.
The PKK was founded in 1978 in response to the 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.
The International Crisis Group has a detailed visual explainer on the repercussions of the clashes since 2015.
