Turkey’s military has initiated incursions across its shared border and has occupied significant portions of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) under the guise of combatting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has utilized the Qandil mountain range as its operational headquarters. Employing a combination of ground and aerial forces, Turkey’s operations have resulted in the death of 104 civilians and 172 injured between August 2015 and September 2023. It is essential to note that these figures are likely to be an underestimate, and the actual numbers could be significantly higher.
Note: Conflict data are sourced from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). WKI accessed ACLED data on all types of conflict events that occurred in Iraq. The WKI then filtered the data to isolate civilian casualties caused by Turkey. The accuracy of these attacks has been verified by WKI. (ACLED data available at www.acleddata.com <http://www.acleddata.com>).
Data Source: Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED); www.acleddata.com <http://www.acleddata.com>
The total number of civilian victims, encompassing both fatalities and injuries, amounts to 276 individuals. Duhok bore the highest number of victims, with Erbil and Sulaymaniyah following closely behind. It is noteworthy that out of the 46 victims in Nineveh province, 37 belong to the Yazidi Kurdish community, many of whom are survivors of the 2014 ISIS genocide.
Data Source: Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED); www.acleddata.com <http://www.acleddata.com>
Duhok province also documented the highest number of civilian fatalities, followed by Erbil, Shingal, and Sulaymaniyah.
Data Source: Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED); www.acleddata.com <http://www.acleddata.com>
Airstrikes, in particular, have been disproportionately responsible for collateral damage compared to other forms of Turkish military actions such as artillery strikes. While the vast majority of civilian casualties inflicted by Turkey in the Kurdistan Region result from airstrikes, there have also been instances of rocket and mortar strikes launched by Turkish forces, which have resulted in casualties throughout the Kurdistan Region, ranging from just over the border to as far away as 175 miles into the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) territory.
