Timeline of the Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency (2015–present)
Latest phase of the conflict which started after the escalation in 2015 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In late July 2015, the third phase of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict between various Kurdish insurgent groups and the Turkish government erupted, following a failed two and a half year-long peace process aimed at resolving the long-running conflict.
Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict and the Spillover of the Syrian civil war | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Turkey |
Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) PURMKurdistan Freedom Hawks | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Yaşar Güler (since 10 July 2018) Hulusi Akar (from 18 August 2015 to 10 July 2018) Necdet Özel (until 18 August 2015) |
Mirad Qarayîlan Bahoz Erdal Cemil Bayık Hülya Eroğlu[1] † (senior council member) Ayfer Kordu[2] † (senior council member) | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Other forces: Grey Wolves[3] |
PKK HBDH | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Around 10,000 Turkish police and military personnel[4] 360,000 active military personnel[5] 244,000 Police forces[6][7] (2015 figures, of which not all are directly involved) 233,000 Security Guards[6] 54,000 Village Guards[8] |
4,000–33,000[9][10] Less than 180 left inside Turkey (per Turkey's Ministry of the Internal Affairs)[11] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1,479 security forces killed (per the Crisis Group)[12] 1,129 security forces killed (per Turkey; as of Sept. 2020)[13] 7,000-9,000 security forces killed (per PKK; as of Jan. 2017)[14][15][16][17] |
4,612 only HPG/PKK killed militants killed (per the Crisis Group)[12]27,584+ militants killed or captured (per Turkey, includes Syrian civil war and North Iraq Turkey-Pkk conflict)[18] 1,181 militants killed (per PKK; as of Jan. 2017)[14][15][17] | ||||||
622 Kurdish civilians killed (per the Crisis Group)[12] 226 unidentified killed (civilians or militants; per the Crisis Group)[12] 6,535 civilians killed (per Turkey)[19] 500–1,000 civilians killed (per HDP)[20] 2,000 killed in total (per UN; as of March 2017)[21] 500,000 displaced (per the Crisis Group)[22] |
The conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) broke out again in summer 2015 following two-year-long peace negotiations. These began in late 2012, but failed to progress in light of the growing tensions on the Turkish-Syrian border in late 2014, when the Turkish state prevented its Kurdish citizens from sending support to the People's Protection Units (YPG) who were fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the Siege of Kobani. Turkey was accused of assisting the Islamic State during the siege,[23][better source needed] resulting in the widespread 2014 Kurdish riots in Turkey involving dozens of fatalities.
In November 2015, Turkish authorities said that a number of towns and areas in the Eastern Anatolia Region had come under the control of PKK militants and affiliated armed organizations. According to Turkish government sources, between July 2015 and May 2016, 2,583 Kurdish insurgents were killed in Turkey and 2,366 in Iraq, as well as 483 members of the Turkish security forces.[24] The PKK said 1,557 Turkish security forces members were killed in 2015 during the clashes in Turkish and Iraqi Kurdistan, while it lost 220 fighters.[25] According to the International Crisis Group, 4,310 people, including 465 civilians, were killed in Turkey between July 2015 and December 2018,[12] including Kurdish lawyer Tahir Elçi.[26] In March 2017, the United Nations voiced "concern" over the Turkish government's operations and called for an independent assessment of the "massive destruction, killings and numerous other serious human rights violations" against the ethnic Kurdish minority.[27]
Since 2016, the Turkish military and Syrian National Army have conducted operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces, leading to the Turkish occupation of northern Syria.[28][29][30][31]
In May 2022, the conflict gained global geopolitical significance as Turkey opposed the accession of Finland and Sweden into NATO, accusing them of supporting the PKK.[32]