Turkey understated recent soldier casualties in fighting with PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan, group spox claims

A representative of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebel group has accused Turkey of understating its losses and overstating its gains in battle amid a spike in fighting between the two sides.

Turkey said last week that it had lost 12 soldiers in two days of clashes with PKK militants in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, and vowed to retaliate in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and in northern Syria. 

But PKK spokesperson Zagros Hiwa told The New Arab that the number of Turkish casualties caused by the fighting was several times higher.

"In the operations which the Kurdistan Freedom Fighters [PKK fighters] carried out in the Khakourk, Metina, and Zap regions, on the 22nd and 23rd of December, 88 Turkish soldiers were killed and many were wounded," Hiwa told The New Arab in an interview conducted over email.

"The Turkish army generally hides its casualties from the public opinion," Hiwa said of the toll given by Ankara.

While Turkish officials claim to have killed 56 PKK militants during the clashes, Hiwa said that only four fighters from the group had died.

The spokesperson claimed that the PKK had indisputable proof on the number of Turkish casualties as the Kurdish group's fighters took the ID cards of the soldiers they had killed.

Both Turkey and the PKK have been accused of inflating casualty numbers for the opposing side in an on-off war that began in 1984.

The PKK, formed in the late 1970s, seeks Kurdish autonomy in Turkey and is designated as a "terrorist organisation" by Turkey, the US, the UK, and the EU.

Since its casualties last week, Turkey has. conducted airstrikes in the Iraqi Kurdistan region as well as in northeastern Syria, an area known by Kurds as Rojava.

The Turkish strikes in northern Syria hit power stations, oil fields, refineries, hospitals, and a printing press, among other sites.

Turkey often carries out air and ground raids in Iraqi Kurdistan, striking PKK positions there.

It states that its operations in northern Syria are to target the YPG militia, which Ankara claims is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.

Operations in both areas often lead to civilian casualties. At least eight civilians were killed in Turkey's latest strikes in northeast Syria.

Through its air and ground operations, Turkey has been able to advance over 40 kilometers into northern Iraq, establishing permanent military bases - but the Turkish army has failed to make any further advances this year, Hiwa claimed.

He also called on the international community to dispatch independent fact-checking delegations to investigate claims of Turkey employing banned weapons in its conflict with the PKK.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein met with Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan earlier this month, with security, water, and intelligence cooperation high up on the agenda.

Senior security officials from both countries, among them the interior minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), attended the meetings.

In response to questions about the meetings, Hiwa claimed that Turkey weaponises its control over resources like water to coerce neighbouring countries into applying anti-Kurdish policies. In the case of Iraq, Turkey was weaponising water, he said.

While expressing support for Iraq's relations with neighbouring countries, he called on Baghdad to resist any Turkish push for such policies, including designating the PKK a terrorist organisation.

Though Iraq has on multiple occasions asked the PKK to either disarm or leave the country because their presence put the lives of Iraqi citizens at risk, Hiwa claimed that the PKK respects the country's territorial integrity.