ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s defense minister on Tuesday claimed that their army has “secured” the key Zap area of the Kurdistan Region from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters following intensive operations in the rugged terrain since June.
Speaking to the Turkish parliament’s plan and budget committee, Defense Minister Yasar Guler said that the Turkish army “neutralized” 2,564 members of the PKK since the beginning of 2024 - a term used by Ankara to denote adversaries captured, wounded, or killed.
“Finally, thanks to the great devotion and effort of our heroic soldiers, the lock has been closed on Zap,” Guler added, referring to Operation Claw-Lock against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region.
The PKK has yet to comment on the developments.
Turkey's claim suggests that the Turkish army has closed one of the last remaining routes for the PKK to move from the Kurdistan Region into Turkey.
The defense minister vowed to continue the army’s activities in the region.
In April 2022, Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock with the goal of targeting PKK positions in Metina, Zap, Avashin, and Basyan areas in northern Duhok province. The operation, according to Ankara, aims to remove the PKK from the bordering areas and cut off its access to mainland Turkey.
Turkey began intensifying its decades-long war against the PKK, especially in Duhok province, in mid-June after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly said he would launch a new offensive during the summer. Ankara has deployed hundreds of troops to the province.
Erdogan said in March that Ankara is close to completing a zone that will “permanently resolve” the security issues along their border with the Kurdistan Region and Iraq by the summer.
Erdogan also called on everyone in the region to respect Ankara’s security strategy, “Otherwise, they will be the cause of the tensions that will arise,” he said.
At least 344 civilians have been killed by Turkish military operations in the Kurdistan Region since they began over three decades ago, according to an August report by the US-based conflict monitor Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT).
