SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — While Turkey is trying to involve the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in its cross-border military operations in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region to expel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerillas from their strongholds in the Qandil Mountains, both the PKK and the KDP say they are open to dialogue for resolving their issues peacefully.
The PKK is a leftist Kurdish political party formed in the late 1970s by Abdullah Ocalan (now imprisoned by Turkey) to gain autonomy for the Kurdish people in southeastern Turkey. In 1984, the PKK launched an armed resistance against Turkish military forces. The party is considered to be a terrorist organization by Ankara, Washington and the West.