SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — Information on the reported seizure of two Turkish spies by members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) near the city of Sulaimaniyah on Aug. 3 is scarce, as Turkey stays silent and the PKK and the Iraqi Kurds refrain from divulging details about what happened.
Iraqi Kurdistan has been a battlefield between the PKK and Turkey since the early 1990s. The PKK has used the rugged mountains of northern Iraq as a hideout since the early 1980s and has clashed several times with various other Kurdish groups including the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) over territory and influence. Staging several cross-border operations since the mid-1990s, Turkey has developed limited special operations capabilities and independent intelligence activities on the ground in the Kurdistan region.
