Turkey, the PKK, and U.S. Involvement: A Chronology



December 5, 2019
Turkey, the PKK, and U.S. Involvement: A Chronology
Turkey’s decades-long struggle with the Kurdistan
Turkish security forces, and civilians. After the 1991 Gulf
Workers’ Party (Kurdish acronym PKK) has fostered both
War, the PKK entrenched itself further in northern Iraq,
cooperation and contention between the United States and
prompting periodic Turkish military action.
Turkey. Since 2015, the United States has partnered with
militias that include the PKK-linked Syrian Kurdish
1984
PKK begins armed insurgency in Turkey, eliciting
People’s Protection Units (Kurdish acronym YPG) against
Turkish government response and tightened security in
the Islamic State. Turkish operations in northern Syria
southeastern Turkey.
against the YPG, including an incursion launched in the fall
of 2019, are perhaps the most prominent recent example of
1985
Turkey establishes the Village Guards, a Kurdish
how the Turkey-PKK conflict can complicate U.S. regional
paramilitary group to counter the PKK.
policy and bilateral relations with Turkey.
1987
KDP leader Barzani cuts ties with the PKK; PKK
continues to use camps in northern Iraq and receives
The PKK, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization,
permission for some limited use of Iranian territory.
represents one among many strands of organized political
and military activity in the name of Kurdish nationalism.
Turkey declares state of emergency in southeast.
For more information on Kurdish groups in the Middle
1991
After the Gulf War, an Iraqi Kurdish uprising against
East, see CRS In Focus IF10350, The Kurds in Iraq,
Saddam Hussein is brutally suppressed by Iraqi forces,
Turkey, Syria, and Iran, by Jim Zanotti and Clayton
prompting mass refugee flows to Turkey and Iran; the
Thomas.
United States and others provide relief from Turkey,
PKK Origins (1978-1983)
establish a no-fly zone to encourage refugees’ return.
The early Turkish Republic (founded in 1923) saw several
1993
Fragile two-month ceasefire breaks and conflict
Kurdish-led rebellions and uprisings, leading the Turkish
intensifies in southeastern Turkey.
state to generally repress Kurdish ethnic identity and
1994
U.S. Congress enacts legislation withholding military
political aspirations. In this context, Abdullah Ocalan (born
loans to Turkey until the executive branch submits a
about 1947 in southeastern Turkey’s Sanliurfa Province)
report on alleged human rights violations related to
and other Kurdish activists founded the PKK in Turkey in
Turkey-PKK violence.
the late 1970s as a Marxist-Leninist organization dedicated
to an independent Kurdistan. Ocalan built networks that
1997
Turkey lifts state of emergency in three provinces.
allowed PKK militants to train with Palestinian groups in
State Department designates the PKK as a Foreign
Syria and Lebanon and base operations from camps in
Terrorist Organization (FTO).
semi-autonomous Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.
Turkish forces enter northern Iraq to support Barzani
against his PKK-supported Iraqi Kurdish rivals.
1978 Abdul ah Ocalan and others establish the PKK.
1998
Facing Turkish military threats and other pressure,
1979 Ocalan arrives in Syria to lead the PKK from exile.
Syrian President Hafez al Asad expels Ocalan and closes
1980 Military coup in Turkey; general post-coup crackdown
PKK camps in line with the Adana Protocol.
on political opposition, including Kurds.
Ocalan’s Capture, 2nd Iraq War, and
1982 During the Iran-Iraq war, Iran persuades Iraqi Kurdistan
Renewed Conflict (1999-2008)
Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani to allow
the PKK to establish camps in northern Iraq.
Turkish authorities captured and imprisoned Abdullah
Ocalan in 1999, ending one phase of Turkey-PKK conflict.
PKK also establishes camps in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley
After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraq’s Kurdistan
with the support of Syria.
Regional Government (KRG) received formal autonomy. In
2004, the PKK restarted its insurgency, relying largely on
Conflict Begins, Gulf War, and Initial
the camps it had established in the 1980s in what had
U.S. Terrorist Designation (1984-1998)
become KRG-controlled areas of northern Iraq. In response,
In 1984, with Ocalan based in Syria, the PKK launched an
Turkey increased its operations in Iraq and threatened a
armed insurgency in Turkey. Using guerilla tactics, the
larger intervention until the United States began providing
PKK primarily targeted Turkish military and other state
support for Turkish operations against the PKK in Iraq.
officials in largely Kurdish-populated southeastern Turkey.
The group also sought to supplant the traditional Kurdish
1999
After seeking asylum in a number of countries,
ruling class by attacking state-aligned “collaborationists.”
Ocalan is captured in Kenya by Turkish special
The PKK insurgency reached its height in the mid-1990s;
forces; after a trial he is sentenced to death.
fighting since 1984 has killed thousands of PKK fighters,
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Turkey, the PKK, and U.S. Involvement: A Chronology
Ocalan, in prison, calls for PKK to declare a ceasefire
U.S.-YPG Cooperation and Turkish
and pul out of Turkey; PKK largely obeys.
Military Action (2015-present)
The Turkey-PKK peace process broke down in August
2001
State Department designates PKK as a Specially
2015 after IS terrorist attacks in Turkey targeting Kurds.
Designated Global Terrorist under Executive
Soon thereafter, the YPG became the main U.S. counter-IS
Order 13224.
ground force partner in Syria (as the backbone of the Syrian
2002
Ocalan’s death sentence is commuted to life
Democratic Forces, SDF), receiving U.S. training and, since
imprisonment when Turkey abolishes the death
2017, arms. Since 2018, amid debate about how to continue
penalty; Ocalan continues to exercise control over
countering the Islamic State, Turkey launched two major
the PKK, which briefly disavows violence.
incursions against the YPG in Syria, contributing to a major
State of emergency lifted in last southeast provinces.
crisis in U.S.-Turkey relations in 2019. Turkish cross-
border operations against PKK targets in northern Iraq
2003
U.S. invasion of Iraq.
continue despite concerns voiced by Iraqi government and
PYD (Democratic Union Party) is founded as PKK’s
KRG officials.
political offshoot in Syria.
2015
With U.S. and coalition support, PYD/YPG and affiliated
2004
PKK abandons ceasefire and insurgency resumes.
non-Kurdish militias (col ectively known as the SDF)
2005
Ocalan abandons call for independent Kurdish state
start reversing IS gains in northern Syria and
and calls for Kurds to pursue “democratic
establishing governing councils in areas they occupy.
confederalism” in their respective countries.
Turkey’s Kurdish nationalist political party achieves
unprecedented success in parliamentary elections.
2007
The United States helps prevent a major Turkish
cross-border intervention in Iraq by agreeing to
IS terrorist attacks target Kurds in Turkey.
share intelligence to help Turkey target PKK
Turkey-PKK clashes resume, especial y in southeastern
installations in mountainous areas of northern Iraq.
urban areas.
2008
President Bush designates the PKK as Significant
2016
Turkish authorities reestablish control in southeast but
Foreign Narcotics Trafficker.
significant human rights concerns persist.
Turkey, working with Syrian rebel partners, launches its
Peace Process and PYD/YPG Ascent in
first major ground campaign in Syria (Operation
Syria (2009-2014)
Euphrates Shield) against IS-held territory, though it
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who came
also aims to prevent further gains by SDF forces.
to office in 2003 expressing some openness to greater
2017
U.S. decides to directly arm YPG in advance of Raqqa
freedoms for expressions of Kurdish identity, initiated a
“solution process” that provided some rights for Turkish
campaign, promising it wil recover YPG arms after the
Islamic State’s defeat.
Kurds and raised hopes for a larger Turkey-PKK
settlement. The war in Syria and the rise of both the Islamic
2018
Turkish-led forces push Kurdish-led forces (different
State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) and the PKK-linked YPG added new
from those connected with the U.S. military) out of
challenges to U.S.-Turkey relations.
Afrin, Syria in Operation Olive Branch; some
counter-IS operations stop because of the diversion of
2009
Turkey declares beginning of “Solution Process.”
some SDF personnel to assist in Afrin.
State Department announces rewards for help leading
2010
Broadcasting and education in Kurdish allowed.
to the capture of three senior PKK leaders.
2011
Syria conflict begins.
2019
U.S. troops near the Turkey-Syria border are
2012
Erdogan reveals secret government talks with Ocalan.
repositioned and Turkey launches Operation Peace
Syrian regime forces withdraw from most Kurdish-
Spring to push YPG forces from the border area.
majority areas, effectively ceding control to the PYD
Turkey arranges with the United States and Russia for
and its YPG militias, which establish supremacy over
the removal of YPG forces from “safe zones.”
the Barzani-backed Kurdish National Council.
U.S.-SDF partnership continues outside of safe zones.
Turkish government begins talks with PYD leaders

(lasting until Turkey-PKK peace process breaks down in
2015) in effort to distance PYD/YPG from PKK.
Clayton Thomas, Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs
2014
YPG and PKK aid Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga in Iraq’s
Jim Zanotti, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
Sinjar against Islamic State; peshmerga gain Erdogan’s
approval to transit through Turkey to aid YPG in IS-
IF11380
besieged Syrian border town of Kobane.
U.S. air operations against the Islamic State indirectly
help anti-IS forces, including the YPG, drive IS fighters
from Kobane.


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Turkey, the PKK, and U.S. Involvement: A Chronology


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