The Turkey-PKK Conflict: Four Decades of War and the 2025 Ceasefire (1984–2025)
- Sherko Sabir
- 14 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Introduction
The conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is the longest-running armed conflict in modern Kurdish history. From the PKK’s first attacks in 1984 to the ceasefire and disarmament announcement of 2025, the insurgency has lasted over four decades, killed tens of thousands of people on all sides, displaced millions, and shaped the political landscape of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and the broader Middle East.
This article traces the major phases of the conflict: the founding of the PKK, the guerrilla war of 1984–1999, the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the peace process and its collapse, the urban warfare of 2015–2016, the cross-border operations in Iraq and Syria, and the historic ceasefire of 2025. It is written as a factual chronological account, drawing on multiple sources.
Contents
Origins: The Founding of the PKK (1978)
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK) was founded on 27 November 1978 by Abdullah Öcalan and a group of Kurdish leftist activists in the village of Fis, Diyarbakır province. The PKK combined Marxist-Leninist revolutionary ideology with Kurdish nationalist aspirations, initially calling for an independent socialist Kurdish state. It emerged from the broader Turkish left-wing student movement of the 1970s, but distinguished itself by its focus on Kurdish national identity.
The First War Phase: Guerrilla Insurgency (1984–1999)
In August 1984, the PKK launched its armed campaign with simultaneous attacks on Turkish military positions in Eruh and Semdinli in southeastern Turkey. The attacks killed two soldiers and marked the beginning of a guerrilla insurgency that would escalate through the late 1980s and 1990s. Using bases in the mountainous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, PKK fighters conducted ambushes, raids, and bombings targeting Turkish military installations, security forces, and infrastructure.
The Turkish state’s response was comprehensive and severe. Thousands of Kurdish villages were evacuated and destroyed during the 1990s in what the government described as counterinsurgency operations. State of emergency rule was imposed across southeastern Turkey. The conflict reached its peak in the mid-1990s, when the Turkish military deployed over 300,000 troops in the southeast and launched major cross-border operations into northern Iraq, including Operation Steel (1995), Operation Hammer (1997), and Operation Dawn (1997).
The Capture of Öcalan and the Ceasefire (1999–2004)
On 15 February 1999, Turkish special forces captured Abdullah Öcalan in Kenya after he had been expelled from Syria following the 1998 Adana Agreement. Öcalan was sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment when Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2002. His capture was a strategic turning point. From prison, Öcalan called for a ceasefire, which the PKK announced in 1999. The group also shifted its stated objective from full independence to greater cultural and political rights within Turkey.
Renewed Conflict and Cross-Border Operations (2004–2013)
The ceasefire collapsed in 2004, and the PKK resumed its insurgency with increased ambushes and bomb attacks. The conflict intensified between 2007 and 2012, with major clashes in the Hakkari and Semdinli regions and multiple Turkish military incursions into northern Iraq targeting PKK positions in the Qandil mountains. Turkey’s parliament authorised cross-border operations in 2007, and ground and air campaigns continued through 2008.
The Peace Process and Its Collapse (2013–2015)
In March 2013, Öcalan announced a new ceasefire and ordered PKK fighters to withdraw from Turkish soil. A formal peace process began, with delegations of Kurdish politicians visiting Öcalan in prison to negotiate terms. For two years, the conflict was significantly reduced. But the peace process collapsed in July 2015, triggered by a complex sequence of events including the Suruç bombing, Turkish airstrikes against PKK positions, and the broader geopolitical upheaval caused by the Syrian civil war and the rise of ISIS.
Urban Warfare in Kurdish Cities (2015–2016)
The collapse of the peace process led to an unprecedented phase of urban warfare. PKK-affiliated youth militias (YPS) dug trenches and erected barricades in several Kurdish cities, and the Turkish military responded with prolonged sieges and heavy weapons. The cities of Cizre, Sur (the historic district of Diyarbakır), Nusaybin, Şırnak, and Yüksekova experienced months of urban combat between late 2015 and mid-2016.
The toll was devastating for all sides. Approximately 200 civilians were killed and over 10,000 displaced during the eight months of peak urban fighting. Entire neighbourhoods were destroyed, including much of the historic Sur district. The experiment with urban warfare was widely regarded as a strategic failure for the PKK, which subsequently returned to its traditional rural guerrilla tactics. For the civilian population of these Kurdish cities, the destruction was immense.
Cross-Border Wars in Syria and Iraq (2018–2025)
From 2018 onward, Turkey expanded its military operations beyond southeastern Turkey into Syria and Iraq. Operation Olive Branch (2018) targeted the YPG-controlled region of Afrin in northwestern Syria, while Operation Peace Spring (2019) attacked SDF-held territory in northeastern Syria. Both operations displaced Kurdish populations and placed significant areas of Syrian Kurdistan under Turkish and Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) control.
In northern Iraq, the Turkish military launched a series of operations under the Operation Claw banner from 2019 onward, targeting PKK positions in the Qandil mountains, Metina, Zap, and Avasin-Basyan. Operation Claw-Lock (2022) extended Turkish military control deeper into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. These operations were conducted with varying degrees of cooperation and tension with the KRG.
The 2025 Ceasefire and Disarmament
On 27 February 2025, following a visit by a delegation of Kurdish politicians to his prison island, Abdullah Öcalan issued a public call for the PKK to lay down its arms and dissolve, stating that the armed struggle had become obsolete. On 1 March 2025, the PKK declared a ceasefire. On 12 May 2025, the PKK formally announced its intention to disarm and dissolve.
The announcement raised the possibility of ending a conflict that had lasted over four decades and killed tens of thousands of people. Significant questions remain about whether Turkey will offer democratic concessions, whether Öcalan will be released to lead a disarmament process, how the dissolution will affect Kurdish factions in Syria, and whether Turkey will end its military operations in Iraq. The ceasefire represents the most significant step toward ending the Turkey-PKK conflict since its beginning in 1984.
Key Events and Timeline
1978 — PKK founded by Abdullah Öcalan in Diyarbakır province
August 1984 — PKK launches armed campaign with attacks at Eruh and Semdinli
1995 — Operation Steel: Turkish incursion into northern Iraq with 35,000 troops
15 February 1999 — Öcalan captured in Kenya; PKK declares ceasefire
2004 — Ceasefire collapses; PKK resumes insurgency
March 2013 — Öcalan announces new ceasefire; peace process begins
July 2015 — Peace process collapses; urban warfare erupts in Cizre, Sur, Nusaybin, Şırnak, and Yüksekova
2018 — Operation Olive Branch: Turkey invades Afrin, Syria
2019 — Operation Peace Spring in northeastern Syria; Operation Claw series begins in northern Iraq
27 February 2025 — Öcalan calls on PKK to disarm; PKK declares ceasefire on 1 March
12 May 2025 — PKK announces intention to disarm and dissolve
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the PKK?
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is a Kurdish political and militant organisation founded in 1978 by Abdullah Öcalan. It waged an armed insurgency against the Turkish state from 1984 to 2025. Initially seeking an independent Kurdish state, it later shifted its goals to greater cultural and political autonomy within Turkey. It is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the EU, the UK, and the US.
Has the Turkey-PKK conflict ended?
In early 2025, the PKK’s imprisoned leader Öcalan called for disarmament, and the PKK declared a ceasefire and announced its intention to dissolve. Whether this leads to a permanent end to the conflict depends on ongoing negotiations, potential democratic concessions from Turkey, and the broader regional situation in Syria and Iraq.
References and Further Reading
Council on Foreign Relations — Conflict Between Turkey and Armed Kurdish Groups, Global Conflict Tracker
CSIS — Examining Extremism: Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), 2023
The National — Timeline: PKK’s Four-Decade Insurgency in Turkey, 2025
Congressional Research Service — Turkey, the PKK, and U.S. Involvement: Chronology
Al Jazeera — Timeline: PKK Conflict with Turkey
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