War in towns of Northern (Turkey) Kurdistan in 2015–2016: Origins, course and consequences
Authors:   Technical Institute (branch) of North-Eastern Federal University, Akhmedov Teub A. 
Published: May 2023

This article examines the armed struggle of Kurdish rebels in the cities of the eastern and southeastern vilayets of the Republic of Turkey after the breakdown of the truce between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in July 2015. The intention of the Kurdish patriotic revolutionary youth (sympathetic to the party and erecting barricades and digging trenches to protect their gains) to establish self-government in the cities of Northern (Turkish) Kurdistan was the beginning of an uncompromising struggle between the opposing sides. The Turkish military, by order of the authorities, decided to pacify the Kurdish minority in the country not through dialogue, but by declaring a martial law and a state of emergency. During the first months of the confrontation, Kurdish rebels established their order in certain cities of the country, and the Turkish government recognized the loss of control over them. This forced the Turkish authorities to switch from a policy of ultimatums to decisive actions by sending regular military units to the region and announcing a round-the-clock and indefinite curfew in towns with predominantly Kurdish population. The aim of this article is to assess the reasons for the Turkish authorities’ brutal crackdown against the local self-government created by the Kurdish population under the acceptance of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Turkey, and the consequences of conducting military operations in peaceful towns for the international prestige of Ankara. The author examines the armed struggle of Kurdish rebels in urban areas in the context of the war of the Turkish authorities with the military wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the Kurdistan People’s Civil Defense Units; the crimes committed by the Turkish military against civilians in the towns Sur, Silvan, Cizre, Yuksekova, Silop, Shirnak and many others in Northern (Turkish) Kurdistan between July 2015 and April 2016; and the reaction of international organizations to Turkey’s excessive and inadequate actions in the region – in particular, the intention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct an independent investigation of the civilian casualties and the categorical refusal of Ankara to meet the demands of the UN representatives. The reports published by the press agencies about the dead civilians in the basements were claimed the propaganda of a terrorist organization by the Turkish authorities. The author of the study concludes that attempts of the leaders of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party to take the armed guerrilla struggle to the towns after the breakdown of the truce in order to seize and maintain control over the medium and large settlements to force the Turkish state to peace negotiations and to resolve the long-term conflict with this tactic failed to succeed, and the Kurdish militias, under the onslaught of superior enemy forces, were forced to withdraw to their mountain bases and return to the long-standing ways of fighting.