The Turkish military has dealt a serious blow to the PKK terrorist organization since 2019 with its operations under the Claw umbrella in northern Iraq along the Turkish border.
A total of 1,067 terrorists were eliminated as part of the series of Claw operations, which started in Hakurk in 2019, continued in Sinat-Haftanin, expanded to Metina and Avasin-Basyan, and most recently continued in the Zap region.
PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq, close to the Turkish border, to plot attacks in Turkey.
Terrorist nests in northern Iraq were dispersed in successive operations after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared the adoption of a new strategy in the fight against terrorism.
The first of these operations was carried out three years ago, on May 27, 2019, in the Hakurk region with the aim of destroying caves and shelters used by the terrorist PKK and targeting terrorists.
A new phase of the operation was started after the determined targets were successfully gotten under control. Terrorist nests were decimated in the Claw-2 operation, which was carried out by expanding the area of the initial operation.
Turkish soldiers eliminated 126 terrorists in Operation Claw-1 and 102 terrorists in Operation Claw-2.
After the threat to border security from Hakurk was largely eliminated, the Turkish military’s next targets were terrorist nests in the Sinat-Haftanin region.
In August 2019, the Defense Ministry announced that "Operation Claw-3 was launched in the Sinat-Haftanin region with the aim of ensuring border security and destroying the caves and shelters of terrorists."
Over 100 terrorists were killed in Operation Claw-3.
Operations expand
As Turkey’s fight against terrorism continued to ramp up, the ministry announced a new operation on June 15, 2020. As part of Operation Claw-Eagle, air operations were carried out against terrorist targets in Sinjar, Qandil, Zap, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk, areas used as bases by terrorists in northern Iraq.
Immediately after the air operation, Turkish soldiers once again launched an operation in northern Iraq to destroy terrorist targets. As part of Operation Claw-Tiger, commandos supported by the air force, fire support vehicles, ATAK helicopters, UAVs and drones were deployed to the Haftanin region. A total of 228 terrorists were killed in the operation.
On Feb. 10, 2021, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) started a new operation against terrorist targets. An intense air operation was carried out after security forces found that the terrorist PKK, suffering heavy losses in the operations, was trying to reestablish shelters in some regions in northern Iraq. Under Operation Claw Eagle-2, targets used by terrorists in the Gara region came under intense fire.
With the operation, the presence of the terrorist PKK in the region was dealt a heavy blow and 65 terrorists were killed.
As the counterterrorism operations continued, the TSK launched operations Claw-Lightening and Claw-Thunderbolt against terrorist targets in the Metina and Avasin-Basyan regions on April 23, 2021.
The ministry announced that 176 terrorists were killed in Claw-Lightening and 211 others in Claw-Thunderbolt.
This April 17, Turkish security forces launched Operation Claw-Lock in the Zap region, where terrorists fleeing from the Hakurk and Metina regions and some of the terrorist ringleaders were hiding out.
Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced that the targets determined in the first phase of the operation were captured and 57 terrorists were killed so far as part of the operations.