Ankara, Turkey – Tensions continued to escalate across the Middle East this weekend as Turkey carried out a series of retaliatory airstrikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq and Syria on Saturday. The Turkish strikes came just a day after 9 Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack on their base in northern Iraq, which Turkish authorities blamed on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
According to a statement from the Turkish Defense Ministry, Turkish fighter jets conducted precision strikes on over 100 targets affiliated with the banned Kurdish militant group, including shelters, caves, bunkers, and oil facilities. The operations were concentrated in the Metina, Hakurk, Gara and Qandil mountain regions of Iraq near the Turkish border.
The ministry said the comprehensive air campaign had “neutralized” numerous PKK militants and destroyed critical infrastructure used by the insurgent group to coordinate attacks inside Turkey. Authorities said the strikes were intended to “eliminate terrorist attacks against our people and security forces” and secure the lengthy border region.
Local Kurdish media reported the targeted areas were more than 100 miles from the location of the deadly attack on Friday, which took place at a Turkish military base nestled in the Zap region of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish territory. Kurdish officials said at least 15 Turkish soldiers were killed when PKK insurgents stormed the base under the cover of darkness.
Turkish President Erdogan vowed to escalate operations against the PKK in response to the brazen assault, which represented one of the deadliest single attacks against Turkish forces in recent memory. Erdogan said Turkey would no longer tolerate terrorist camps across the border in Iraq and Syria, long a point of contention with both governments.
The Turkish airstrikes come amid heightened tensions between Ankara and the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in pursuit of greater Kurdish autonomy. Experts say the militant group has utilized its mountain sanctuaries in northern Iraq to plan and launch attacks into southeastern Turkey with impunity.
Over the last month, Turkish security forces have been engaged in intense clashes with PKK fighters across the region following the breakdown of a tenuous ceasefire agreement. Earlier this month, the PKK claimed responsibility for ambushing a Turkish military convoy, killing 8 soldiers. Turkey has responded to the uptick in violence by deploying thousands of additional troops to its southern border provinces.
Analysts warn the latest bout of airstrikes and retaliatory attacks between Turkey and the PKK threaten to break out into a full-blown regional conflict. The escalating bloodshed has put further strain on the already frayed relations between Turkey and the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq.
The uneasy peace between Ankara and the PKK had held for over two years before rupturing last fall. Kirkuk University professor Dr. Deniz Serin said a return to open warfare would represent a foreign policy failure for Erdogan ahead of presidential elections this May.
“The Turkish government knows there is no military solution to the conflict, but in an election season there is pressure to respond forcefully,” said Serin. “These strikes may satisfy nationalist demands for retaliation, but risk triggering a dangerous cycle of violence that causes things to spin out of control.”
However, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler insisted the military would continue aggressive operations against PKK militants sheltering in Iraq for as long as necessary to safeguard Turkish security. “We will fight to the end against the PKK terrorist organization within and outside our borders,” Guler remarked on social media on Saturday. “No attack against our heroic soldiers will go unanswered.”
The Turkish airstrikes coincided with separate U.S. military strikes targeting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Friday and Saturday. The U.S. operations were in response to repeated Houthi drone and missile attacks on targets inside Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
On Sunday, Chinese officials criticized the American strikes as contradictory and unhelpful to easing simmering tensions in the war-torn country. However, U.S. officials maintained the precision strikes were warranted to degrade the Houthis’ capabilities to carry out future cross-border attacks on civilian infrastructure and energy facilities.
The concurrent Turkish and American military actions underscore the precarious security situation confronting the Middle East amidst competing centers of power. Experts say the risk of miscalculation sparking a wider regional conflagration remains dangerously high as long as underlying conflicts like the one between Turkey and the PKK remain unresolved.
