Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his ruling AK party's supporters in the Black Sea city of Rize, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 15, 2021 (Turkish Presidency, via AP).
Turkish forces withdrew from the Mount Gara region of Duhok province early Sunday morning, ending Operation Eagle Claw 2, and claiming victory over the Kurdish PKK militia there after four days of intense bombardment and ground combat. Although the Turkish defense ministry claimed to have killed 48 PKK militia members, including two commanders, it withdrew without establishing a base near Gara, leaving the area under Kurdish control. The PKK disputes the Turkish casualty figures.
The operation ended as the Turkish government announced it had recovered the bodies of thirteen of its “citizens” held by the PKK in a cave near Gara. The hostages were likely the target of Eagle Claw 2, with sources inside Turkey claiming that the military was acting on “very good” intelligence regarding their location, having reached the cave where they were being held on the third day of the operation. The bodies were allegedly found with bullet wounds to the head and shoulders, suggesting that the Turks were summarily executed. The PKK denies any execution, instead claiming the thirteen were killed in a Turkish bombing raid. Both the PKK and sources inside Turkey confirmed that most of the victims were Turkish police officers who had been kidnapped in Turkey after the renewal of hostilities between Turkish President Erdogan’s government and the PKK in 2015-16. At least two of the victims were identified as senior Turkish intelligence officers, as well as some as members of the Turkish military who may have been operating inside Iraqi Kurdistan when they were captured. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu promised to avenge the thirteen dead, threatening to capture PKK leaders in Iraq and “cut them into a thousand pieces.” The Turkish government has been vowing to rescue PKK hostages since 2017. Turkish warplanes conducted at least four airstrikes in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Duhok Province on Monday, several hundred kilometers north of Mout Gara, near the Turkish border. The Turkish air force has sustained an ongoing air campaign, ostensibly targeting the PKK inside of Kurdistan, while also killing Kurdish civilians and destroying their property in the mountainous northern region.
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US State Department spokesman Ned Price condemned the killings before reaffirming that the Biden Administration will “stand with our NATO Ally Turkey.” Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the US statement as “a farce,” claiming on Monday in a speech to his supporters that the United States enables “terrorist” organizations such as the PKK and the Kurdish-led PYD militia in Northeast Syria. The PYD makes up the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian conglomerate which was primarily responsible for defeating ISIS in Syria between 2014-2019. The US ambassador to Turkey was summoned by the Turkish government on Monday morning to receive the Turkish president’s rebuke “in the strongest possible terms.”
Also Monday, The Turkish ministry of interior also announced the arrests of at least 718 people inside Turkey by security forces for alleged collaboration with the PKK. Most of the suspects are Kurds, including leaders in the pro-Kurdish HDP political party. Erdogan’s government has been gradually purging the HDP from the Turkish parliament and municipal governments after the liberal party made gains across Turkey in 2017 elections. The charge of “ties to terrorism” has been the most common pretext for the disenfranchisement and detainment of Turkish Kurds.
We are thankful that Operation Eagle Claw 2 has ended and that Turkish forces have withdrawn, although we are saddened by the news of both Turkish and Kurdish casualties. FAI field teams in Duhok province have resumed normal clinical operations in the area since the departure of Turkish forces, in coordination with the Kurdistan ministry of health. We would ask our global Maranatha family to continue in intercession for our field teams, as well as the local communities whom they serve. We pray for a divine hedge of protection around Kurdish civilians and their defenders. We pray that the failure of the Turkish operation would halt the advance of the Turkish military inside Kurdistan, and that diplomatic and economic pressure from the US, NATO and European nations would blunt Turkish oppression of Kurds inside Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
Maranatha
