ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey has withdrawn troops from over a dozen military bases in Duhok province in a month, informed civilians and military sources in the area told Rudaw this week. Turkey has established tens of military points in the Kurdistan Region in recent years in the framework of a series of offensives it has carried out against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Twenty-seven of these bases have been set up following the launch of the so-called Operation Claw-Lock in April, Rudaw has learnt. Civilian and security sources in Duhok province told Rudaw’s Naif Ramadan on Sunday that Turkey had withdrawn 13 of its 27 military bases it had established since April. In 2020, the Turkish presidency published a map in a tweet which purportedly showed nearly 40 Turkish “military points” in the Kurdistan Region. The tweet was later deleted. The Turkish army’s presence in the Kurdistan Region has grown significantly in recent decades, particularly since the 1990s. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters on Tuesday that his army has been able to control a 302-kilometre line on the Kurdistan Region borders through its latest offensive, Claw-Lock. He added that most of Mount Zap has been controlled by Ankara. Peshkaft Rashid is from Sargale village in Amedi town. He fled his home in summer due to Turkish bombardment. Now the tensions between Turkey and the PKK have de-escalated in his village but Kurdish security forces are preventing him from returning to his village. He lives in a nearby village now. “The situation is calm and there is no problem but the security forces prevent me from returning to my village. I hope that they take my demand into consideration so that I do not lose,” he told Rudaw, adding that he is struggling to find a place to feed his livestock. He has lost about 40 sheep in the last five months due to the bombardments. A large number of villages in Duhok province have been vacated due to Turkish attacks. Ahmed Arif is a military expert. He said that Turkey’s withdrawal from these areas does not mean that it will not come back. “We know that [Iraq’s] border forces have been deployed to these areas [where Turkey has withdrawn] and Turkey will not make a return as long as there is no movement [of PKK] there,” he said. PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara has listed it as a terrorist organisation, often targeting its fighters at home and in the Kurdistan Region. Karwan Khoshnaw, a spokesperson for Iraq’s border forces, said earlier this month that the Kurdistan Region’s borders with Turkey are “calmer” now, partially contributing to freezing weather. He also said that their forces are using surveillance drones to monitor the developments on the borders, noting that “the Iraqi government has decided to send us necessary equipment.”
