On 17 April, the Turkish Government announced a new offensive against Kurdistan in Tehran. Turkey's Minister of Defence, Hulusi Akar, announced that they had just launched a military operation called Claw lock in various areas of Bashur (South Kurdistan, northern Iraq) "against terrorist targets". The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), considered terrorist by the Turkish State, intends to attack the areas controlled by the PKK guerrillas.

In particular, the argument for starting the military operation was a "large-scale attack" that was allegedly being prepared by the PKK, according to a statement by the Turkish Ministry of Defence published on 18 April. It can be read that “to neutralise the PKK/KCK and other terrorist elements, to eliminate terrorist attacks on our people and security forces in northern Iraq and to ensure security at our border, under our right to self-defence based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, the Paw-Lock operation has been launched against the terrorist points of northern Iraq.” The operation was announced by the Turkish Ministry of Defence with the following video:

Board Berelilerimiz ve Komolar?m?m?z Metina, Zap ve Ava?in-Basyan'da! ?? pic.twitter.com/H6fiMvcExL

— T.C. Millì Savunma Bakanl? ? ? (@tcsavunma) April 17, 2022

In addition to deteriorating resistance, there are readings which point out that Turkey’s operation against Kurdistan has another objective. According to the KNK (Kurdistan National Congress), for example, the “military campaign” undertaken would aim to devour the area to the Kurdish people: Occupation of various areas of the Zap region in South Kurdistan to begin the occupation of the counties of Metîna and Ava?în-Basyan. In a note issued on 20 April, the Turkish Armed Forces have been using heavy artillery, combat aircraft, drones and helicopters, and in the land offensive being carried out in parallel, the ground forces have carried this area by helicopter.”

The Catalan platform Ponent AMB Kurdistan published on April 20 on social media that during the first two days of the attack 47 air and artillery attacks were recorded, according to data published by the HPG (Popular Defense of Kurdistan, armed branch of the PKK). The platform has indicated that, in the face of the first attacks, the guerrillas have managed to prevent Turkish forces from accessing the mountainous area. However, it is underlined that “terrestrial aggression is expected to develop over the coming days”. Furthermore, the platform has recalled that Turkey is not only attacking the "Kurdistan free mountains", but is continuously attacking the border areas of Rojava (northeast Syria).

Faced with the military operation, on 19 April the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed with the Turkish ambassador in Tehran to demand that Turkey "cease its provocative actions and unacceptable violations". However, the statements by the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, collected by the television channel Al-Arabiya on the one day, closed the doors to a possible suspension: “Erdogan said that Turkey’s military operation in Syria and Iraq is going to continue, which helps its security.”

The Kurdistan War, a bellows in the shadow of the Ukrainian war

Let us stop Turkey’s imperialist war in Kurdistan! The Kurdistan Liberation Movement has issued a communiqué in which, among other things, they have stressed that the attacks against them come back in time: “Also, daily attacks on northern Syria and Rojava continue unabated.” However, he begins his writing by saying that the situation in Kurdistan is reaching a critical point and that Turkey’s attack is increasing considerably. And it is implied that one of the reasons is the context that has been created around the war in Ukraine.

The media of the war of #Ukrainian arussia the feixist règim of #Turquia conjuntament amb the KDP are, de nou, attacking the regions of the resistance to the muntanyes of #kurdistan to Bashur (Kurdistan iraquià).

Comunicat del Moviment d'Alliberament del Kurdistan. pic.twitter.com/HR0Qq9JtId

— Ponent AMB Kurdistan #Riseup4Rojava (@AzadiLleida) April 20, 2022

In the words of the Kurdistan Liberation Movement, “it has often been said that Erdogan, in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, could intensify his occupying war. Before, the war of Kurdistan took place before the whole world, without questioning it; today it is directly silenced and distracted from all caution.” In other words: With the attention of the whole world to Ukraine, Turkey can attack the Kurdish people with even more impunity.

A few days before the Warsaw operation became known, the Kobane Radio programme also talked about the collateral damage that the Ukrainian war could cause in Kurdistan. In the essay entitled Echoes of the Ukrainian war in Kurdistan (echoes of the Ukrainian war in Kurdistan), the following reading was made: "Turkey can seize the time of Russia's military weakness around the world. And in the face of a wave of rusophobia that has arisen in the present context and has not been seen since the 1980s, NATO can feel that Turkey is more necessary than ever before, so its cruelties and excesses can be accepted, as they have been so far, or even more so.”

In this regard, the KNK notes the laundering of Erdogan that is happening with the war in Ukraine: “While the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is acting as a mediator in the war in Ukraine, he wants to present himself as a pacifier (…) Once again, the real face of Erdogan is that of the attacker and the occupant, as has been demonstrated many times in Kurdistan.”

"The will and the media are within our reach, we have seen it with the solidarity of the international community with Ukraine in recent weeks. But one cannot condemn one war and silence another, nor what to say about the obvious attack of a NATO army with the massive weapons of the European countries,” the Kurdistan Liberation Movement has denounced.

Threat of civil war

The Kurdistan Liberation Movement has taken advantage of the communiqué to alert, moreover, to another aspect of the situation in which they were in. Turkey’s latest attack has reportedly been carried out with the cooperation of the KDP, the ruling party in southern Kurdistan, “which has been preparing for a long time and has now been officially launched.” It is explained that on 15 April the Prime Minister of KDP met with Erdogan and the head of the Turkish secret service at MIT, and on the day they drafted the communiqué, the military aircraft took off from the military bases of southern Kurdistan “confirming cooperation between the Turkish State and the KDP”. They point out what this can bring: “Alongside the war in Turkey, there is a Kurdish civil war that has generated concern for a long time.”