Turkey's latest attack on PKK militant in Iraqi Kurdistan meant as show of strength

Turkey’s latest hit job on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) operatives in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region marks a troubling turn for the militant group, as it continues to bleed fighters in the Turkish military’s ongoing offensive across its southeastern borders.

The victim, Yasin Bulut, who went by the codename Shukri Sarhat, was gunned down by an alleged Turkish intelligence asset on Friday in Sulaimaniyah, the second-largest city in the Iraqi Kurdish enclave that is governed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The PUK has traditionally been more friendly to the PKK than its rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq (KDP). The KDP holds sway further north in Erbil and in the large mountain ranges skirting Turkey, across which the PKK roams.

But the ground has shifted in Sulaimaniyah following a power grab in August by Qubad Talabani, deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and his brother Bafel targeting their charismatic cousin Lahur. The latter’s businesses were seized and inner circle ousted from top security posts in the province. The bloodless coup is part of a broader struggle to succeed the late Jalal Talabani, the PUK’s founder and the first elected president of Iraq following the toppling of Saddam Hussain. Bafel and Qubad are his sons, which gives them an edge.

Lahur makes no secret of his sympathy for the PKK, which is increasingly shared by local Kurds, and offered condolences at a special marquee set up in honor of Bulut to receive mourners. Lahur is in turn highly popular among the PKK’s base, particularly for his role in helping to cement the alliance between the PKK’s Syrian arm and the United States to fight the Islamic State. His harsh criticism of the KDP’s tight relations with Turkey adds to his appeal. Lahur called Bulut’s slaying “a great catastrophe.”