Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has outlined plans for an imminent military campaign against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, vowing to permanently end the Kurdish guerrillas by the summer.

Erdoğan, in an announcement following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, highlighted the near completion of a security perimeter along the Turkish-Iraqi border, which aims to permanently secure Turkey’s southern border by the coming summer.

“We are determined to eliminate the threat on our borders with Iraq and ensure the security of our nation,” he said.

The president also reiterated Turkey’s ambition to establish a security corridor 30-40 kilometres into Syrian territory. This strategy is part of Turkey’s broader efforts to counter perceived threats from Kurdish groups operating along its southern borders.

“Our preparations are ready to disrupt the plans of those who are trying to undermine Turkey by establishing a terrorist entity on our borders,” Erdoğan said.

Turkey regularly carries out air strikes in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region and has established several military bases on Iraqi soil to support its controversial cross-border offensives.

Turkey’s intensified military operations against Kurdish guerrilla forces in the Zap, Metina (Metîna) and Avashin (Avaşîn) areas of northern Iraq have been ongoing since April 2022 and in recent weeks resulted in significant losses for the Turkish military.

“We are making preparations that will unsettle those who think they can undermine Turkey with a ‘Terroristan’ on its southern borders,” Erdoğan said, employing a play on words reminiscent of Kurdistan.

Coinciding with Erdoğan’s remarks, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is due to meet his US counterpart Antony Blinken on Thursday as part of a two-day visit to the United States. The agenda for Fidan’s visit includes discussions on defence industry cooperation and progress on Turkey’s purchase of F-16 fighter jets.

Turkish media also reported that Fidan would convey Turkey’s expectations of the US in the fight against the PKK and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Analysts say Turkey is planning to turn its military actions into a long-term occupation of Kurdish regions in Iraq.

A series of recent high-level meetings between Turkish, Iraqi and Kurdistan Region officials have led to speculation about a possible new military campaign against the PKK guerrillas and Turkey’s alleged attempts to mobilise Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to join forces in a military campaign against PKK forces entrenched in various regions.

Observers argue that Turkey’s military operations in northern Iraq are not achieving the desired results and that it therefore needs local allies with whom it can actively cooperate in its war against the PKK.

Turkey has repeatedly claimed that it has achieved successful results in its long-running cross-border operations against the PKK and that the organisation is on the verge of collapse.

Former Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said in April last year that there were 86 PKK members left in Iraqi Kurdistan and claimed that the PKK would completely disappear on 29 October 2023.

During the budget negotiations for 2022, Soylu also claimed that the number of PKK guerrillas had fallen below 160 thanks to Turkey’s operations. In November 2021 he said, “The PKK is about to be erased from Turkey’s memory.