Just as counterterrorism operations dramatically reduced its clout in Türkiye, the terrorist group PKK finds its footing in Iraq, thanks to an Iraqi Kurdish party.
Collaboration between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the PKK in semi-autonomous Northern Iraq risks spillover of the terrorist group's violent campaigns to the wider region. PUK, based in Northern Iraq's Sulaymaniyah, stands accused of giving more freedom of movement both in the city and rural parts of Sulaymaniyah to PKK.
PKK, not recognized as a terrorist group in Iraq, seeks to legitimize its presence through political parties and nongovernmental organizations in Türkiye's southern neighbor. In rural Sulaymaniyah, it intimidates the local population by setting up "checkpoints" and through extortions and kidnappings.
The terrorist group's activities hindered efforts for infrastructure improvements in some 800 villages in Northern Iraq and disrupted local farmers' access to their lands, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Further east of Sulaymaniyah, PKK is also involved in drug smuggling and smuggling of goods on the Iran-Iraq border.
In central Sulaymaniyah, the terrorist group is affiliated with several organizations, from Tevgera Azadi, a political association, to the Kurdish Women's Research Library and Academy.
PUK issues IDs exclusive to its counterterrorism units to PKK members, helping them to move easily around the city and beyond. PUK's assistance to PKK also helps the latter to build a strategic "bridge" with YPG, the terrorist group's Syria wing. PUK is also behind military training for YPG members who cross into Iraq from northern Syria.
The scope of PUK and PKK cooperation further became evident with a 2023 helicopter crash. Nine people killed in the collision in Iraq's Duhok were found to be PKK members. Moreover, PUK leader Bafel Talabani sent his counterterrorism chief to the funerals of terrorists in Syria's north a week after the crash.
Ferhat Abdi Şahin, also known as Mazlum Abdi, leader of PKK's YPG wing, is also a frequent visitor to Sulaymaniyah, just as Talabani himself occasionally travels to PKK strongholds in Syria. Cemil Bayık, one of the leaders of PKK, and Şahin were invited to a convention of Kurdish political parties in Sulaymaniyah in November 2022.
As the United States did in Syria, PUK seeks international legitimacy for its collaboration with the terrorist group under the guise of a "joint fight against the terrorist group Daesh." The PKK uses the main airport of Sulaymaniyah for the shipment of weapons and other materials to Syria, with the assistance of PUK.
In PUK-governed Sulaymaniyah, the PKK ran wild with its campaign of terrorism that involved the arson of offices of political parties opposing its ideology, as well as the arson of public buildings, from libraries and banks to town halls. A "youth wing" of the PKK was also behind the burning of fields in Sulaymaniyah's rural district of Ranya in August 2023. A representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), a rival of the PUK, has called for the "prevention" of activities of the PKK following the attack, citing that PKK's youth wing sought to bring chaos and war to the region. Dilshad Reshid Mella, a senior member of The Gorran Movement, claimed that the PKK established a new unit in August 2023, and the group was also behind the assassination of a Peshmerga commander, as well as the killing of a Turkish diplomat stationed at Türkiye's consulate in Irbil in northern Iraq.
Tensions have been rising between Türkiye and PUK, one of the dominant parties in the KRG since the terrorist group PKK increased its attacks on Turkish troops.
After the PKK killed 21 Turkish soldiers in the Metina region during a single month, Ankara intensified airstrikes on PKK targets and hideouts across its border, particularly in Sulaymaniyah. The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, Britain and the European Union – is responsible for over 40,000 civilian and security personnel deaths in Türkiye during an almost four-decadelong campaign of terror. Since Turkish operations have driven its domestic presence to near extinction, the PKK has moved a large chunk of its operations to northern Iraq. Ankara maintains dozens of military bases there, and it regularly launches operations against the PKK, which operates a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Turkish border in Irbil province. However, the area is under de jure control of the KRG.
Türkiye recently accused the PUK of links to the terrorist group in the city, as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned last month the country would "not hesitate to take further measures if the PUK refuses to change its supportive stance of the PKK despite Ankara's steps toward Sulaymaniyah."
In the last few years, Ankara's intensifying operations in northern Iraq have demolished terrorist lairs in the Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara districts. Still, Baghdad has yet to recognize the PKK as a terrorist group officially and Turkish strikes remain a prickling issue between the neighbors. Turkish officials have repeatedly urged Iraq, as well as the KRG, to recognize the PKK as a terrorist group, stressing that the group, which occupies Sinjar, Makhmour, Qandil and Sulaymaniyah, threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq. Ankara has also expressed readiness to collaborate with Baghdad against both the PKK and Daesh.
Türkiye's military involvement in northern Iraq dates back over two decades, separately from its operations against the PKK and also included the war against Daesh, which controlled much of the area, in 2014 and 2015, when Ankara was an ally in the U.S.-led anti-Daesh campaign. The terrorist group has been more active in Syria after a civil war broke out more than a decade ago.
Both the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conduct cross-border operations in these regions, particularly in northern Iraq, where the PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which they carry out attacks against Türkiye.
