ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish security forces on Saturday launched an operation targeting suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern Kurdish province of Batman involving hundreds of personnel, state media reported. The operation aims to expel the small amount of PKK fighters in Batman and involves the participation of 650 security personnel, state-owned Anadolu Agency reported, adding that the campaign is an extension of the ongoing “Eren Blockade” autumn winter operations which aim to expel the PKK from the country’s rural areas. The PKK is a Kurdish armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, which has launched successive operations southward across the border with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to target the group’s positions. Previous phases of the domestic operation have taken place in Dersim, Sirnak, and Siirt provinces. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu on Tuesday announced that the number of PKK members in Turkey fell to below 120 after “at least 125” members surrendered in 2022, but the PKK has not confirmed the numbers. The conflict between Turkey and the PKK spans several countries, including Turkey itself. On Wednesday, the Turkish interior ministry claimed that its forces inflicted 1,220 casualties, including 87 senior officials, on a number of “terror” groups including the PKK, two days after the PKK’s armed wing – the People’s Defense Forces (HPG) – claimed that 2,942 Turkish soldiers were killed during their attacks against the Turkish army last year. Turkey in November accused the PKK of carrying out an attack on a famous street in Istanbul which killed at least six and injured a further 81. The PKK later denied responsibility for the attack, saying "we have nothing to do with this incident and it is well-known by the public that we would not target civilians directly or approve of actions directed at civilians."
