Media outlets reported on Saturday that Turkish fighter jets airdropped leaflets written in Kurdish in mountainous areas of northern Iraq where PKK terrorists are hiding, urging them to heed the call of their jailed leader and lay down arms.
PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned on an island near Istanbul, has called upon the group to lay down arms and dissolve as part of the terror-free Türkiye initiative in February. The initiative, launched by government ally Devlet Bahçeli last year, is expected to conclude with a “congress” by the terrorist group, where it may formally end decades of violence that killed thousands in Türkiye.
Northern Iraq is home to Qandil, a mountain where the PKK’s senior leadership is in hiding. It is also the venue of several Turkish counterterrorism operations, including ground operations and airstrikes. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently announced that the PKK was largely neutralized within Türkiye and they were working to eradicate it at its source, referring to Iraq as well as Syria, where the group’s offshoot, the YPG, still retains a so-called autonomous enclave near the Turkish border.
Leaflets, reportedly airdropped on Friday, targeted the Asos mountain and nearby areas known for PKK activity. They contain quotes by surrendered PKK members urging others to join them, according to the media reports. A rough translation of a leaflet circulated online refers to Öcalan’s call and contains statements of “Delal, Jihad, Devrim Serhad, Shevger,” purportedly surrendered terrorists who detail how the Turkish state offered them protection and remind fellow terrorists of Öcalan’s call. “Listen to your comrades and entrust yourself to the forgiving state. Come out of your caves and, before it is too late, choose to live in peace with your loved ones,” the leaflet says.
The PKK has killed thousands since the 1980s across Türkiye, and despite counterterrorism campaigns, it has remained a major terrorism threat for years. It expanded into Iraq and Syria, though its main target has been Türkiye, where attacks claimed the lives of civilians and members of security forces alike.
Speaking in a video call to a ceremony for prospective commandos joining the army in an elite military training base in the western province of Isparta last Thursday, President Erdoğan stated that security forces’ operations helped them to fully “neutralize” the presence of the group in Türkiye and its ability to carry out major terrorist attacks. “Our cross-border operations also brought us to a point where we are close to eradicating terrorism at its source,” he said.
Erdoğan stated that as the People’s Alliance, formed with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) of Devlet Bahçeli and the government, they were taking steps “reinforcing our brotherhood” to realize the goal of a terror-free Türkiye. The PKK, claiming to fight for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Türkiye, long exploited the country’s disadvantaged Kurdish community to recruit members. Türkiye has sought to improve the rights of the community in the past two decades to deal a blow to the PKK’s influence in the region.
“When we achieved our terror-free Türkiye goal, when we completely ended this terrorism threat that sucked the life out of our country for 40 years, exploited our resources and pitted brother against brother, we will turn a new page and achieve a milestone in the Century of Türkiye,” Erdoğan said. He was referring to the ambitious goals of development for Türkiye by the government unveiled ahead of the centenary of the Republic of Türkiye in 2023.
Also, last Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense announced that two PKK members turned themselves in to the security forces at the Habur border crossing with Iraq after fleeing the group while troops in the “Claw-Lock operation zone” in northern Iraq destroyed shelters containing weapons and munitions belonging to the PKK.
Families of PKK members, particularly children who were brainwashed to join the group, also continue their sit-in strike in southeastern Türkiye’s Diyarbakır, calling their sons and daughters to surrender and benefit from leniency in counterterrorism laws. The “Diyarbakır Mothers,” as they are colloquially known, are a group of demonstrators who, since 2019, have been involved in a protest against a political party linked to the group they accuse of helping the PKK to recruit Kurdish youth.