As Turkey-PKK conflict escalates, new risks for KRG
Two months into Turkey's new military offensive targeting PKK positions in Iraqi Kurdistan – and following the assassination of a Turkish diplomat in Erbil – a decades-old conflict is entering a volatile new phase.
PKK fighters in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq. For decades, the PKK has been in armed conflict with the Turkish government over Kurdish rights and identity in Turkey. (DANIEL SMITH/Iraq Oil Report)
ERBIL/SULAIMANIYA - Turkey is expanding its military footprint in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq as it pursues an intensifying campaign against the insurgent Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – a conflict that has become especially combustible after the recent assassination of a Turkish diplomat in Erbil.
The situation has the potential to drive a wedge between the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Ankara. Although Turkey is a key strategic ally, facilitating all of the KRG's oil exports, its decades-long war against the PKK is broadly unpopular among Kurds, which creates a political dilemma for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of newly elected KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
This content is for registered users. Please login to continue.
If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription.
If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription.
