Turkish counter-terrorism forces in July 2024 detained 13 suspects for allegedly occurring in viral videos depicting them playing songs, and dancing while vocalising slogans in support of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a designated terrorist organisation by Ankara.
Turkish state media Anadolu Agency noted that security forces in Istanbul launched social media videos depicting a woman playing “PKK anthems” in her car, and another video of young people chanting slogans in consent of the detained PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. According to Anadolu, the Turkish counterterrorism teams projected simultaneous operations at 24 sites across 7 districts, imprisoning 13 suspects and seizing “digital material.”
This comes days after a parallel incident in the southern Mersin province, where security forces captured 10 people for chanting sayings in support of Ocalan. Turkish police apprehended six women in Siirt province for jigging in a video to a song that glorifies PKK fighters. The women were shown sporting traditional Kurdish clothes in the video.
The PKK is a Kurdish body that has waged an armed rebellion against the Turkish state for decades in the fight for greater Kurdish rights and is designated a terrorist association by Ankara. Conflicts between Turkish forces and the PKK fighters have strengthened recently in the Kurdistan Region. This escalation in aggression is a part of Turkey’s stated objective to eradicate the Kurdish party along its southern border.
In March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Ankara is close to completing a location that will “permanently resolve” the security problems along its boundary with the Kurdistan Region and Iraq by summer.
Turkey has deployed a large number of corps in Duhok province since mid-June. Turkey persists in playing an active role in global measures to prevent violent extremism and counter-terrorism. As one of the Co-Chairs of the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, Turkey actively donates to the efforts of this global platform and GCTF-inspired Hedayah Center, which sought to address violent extremism.
Erdogan stated that Ankara would get retribution for one of their soldiers who was killed in Duhok, and all their casualties in the region: “We are avenging all these losses. They are bearing a very heavy price and will persist to do so.” But Ankara’s relentless military walkouts and the deployment of ground corps also have stoked fear in the villagers of Duhok province’s mountainous regions who fear displacement from their villages as artillery shells and constant gunfire prompt panic.
Turkey has undertaken more than 1,000 seizures in the Kurdistan Region and Nineveh province so far in 2024, according to conflict monitor Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) data.
