Turkey takes on Kurds in evolving Qandil operation
Although Ankara seems determined to reach the PKK stronghold of Qandil in Iraq, it faces many obstacles to sustaining such an operation against Kurdish militants in the punishing mountain region.
Despite growing tension over the June 24 elections, Turkey’s agenda in recent days has been taken over by its military operation against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq’s Sidekan region.
At the moment, about 1,500 Turkish troops of a commando brigade and a light infantry brigade responsible for border security at Semdinli, along with gendarmerie and army special operations battalions, are trying to open a corridor to advance from Sidekan toward Qandil, the "headquarters" of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
In the past two weeks, about 1,500 more commandos have arrived as reinforcements, signaling Ankara’s determination to pursue this operation for another one to two months at least despite the threat of extreme weather. Nevertheless, it's too early yet to say the push is a large-scale ground operation. Major attacks on PKK targets in the Qandil region are still being carried out by F-16s using smart munitions, along with assault helicopters and armed drones. Turkey said June 15 it had killed 26 PKK members in a June 12 airstrike. Such attacks show why it would be inappropriate to define the current phase not as an air-supported ground operation, but a ground-supported air operation. As well, the 10 fatalities the Turkish army has sustained since the beginning of this operation have been from roadside bombs and long-range anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), suggesting that the PKK for the time is refraining from hot contact with Turkish troops and hasn’t yet decided to engage in major clashes.
Politicians in Ankara describe Turkey's end goal using inflammatory language such as "draining the swamp in northern Iraq" and “cutting off the snake’s head” to define wiping out the PKK’s physical presence in the Qandil region.
