PKK commander 'neutralised' in Iraq, Turkish intelligence claims

Turkey claims to have “neutralised” Kurdish militant commander Celal Kaya during an operation in Iraq's Sulaymaniyah, Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported on Wednesday.

Turkish authorities believe Kaya was behind the assassination of Turkish diplomat Osman Kose, who was killed in Erbil in 2019. Anadolu said Kaya is a commander in the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), operating as an intelligence officer in Iraq.

The word “neutralised” could mean he was captured, wounded or killed, two local Kurdish officials told The National on Tuesday, without elaborating.

Last October, Turkey killed two PKK commanders in an air strike on Mount Azmar, which overlooks Sulaymaniyah city. Last month, another air strike killed a man on a motorbike in the Shabajer region of Sulaymaniyah, authorities said, while in May, an air strike in Sinjar, which lies in federal Iraq, killed three militants.

Tensions over Kurdish fighters

Sulaymaniyah is one of four governorates in the Kurdistan region, administered by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Nearby Erbil, the seat of power in the Kurdistan region, is run by the PUK's rival in government, the Kurdish Democratic Party.

A string of assassinations of PKK-linked figures in Sulaymaniyah by Turkish drone strikes, as well as attempted killings of Syrian Democratic Forces – Kurdish fighters backed by the US, has led to a bitter row between both Kurdish parties. Turkey, the US and EU consider the PKK to be terrorist groups. In April, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed that a drone strike near Sulaymaniyah International Airport was a failed attempt to kill its commander, Mazloum Abdi.

The KDP accuse the PUK of harbouring militants, bringing conflict to the region. In protest at what it says is the presence of Kurdish militants in Sulaymaniyah, Turkey has banned flights to and from Sulaymaniyah International Airport.

Countless attacks and military offensives have also been launched by the Turkish military in Erbil and Dohuk in the Kurdistan region, creating tensions between the KDP and the PKK, who are based in Turkey and have fought a decades-long war to create an autonomous region there.

The KDP has historically enjoyed good trade and diplomatic relations with Ankara, while the PUK has historically enjoyed closer relations to Iran.

In 2019, Turkish authorities said they killed PKK senior commander Erdogan Unal, in an operation in Iraq's Qandil mountains. They believed Unal was also one of the instigators behind Kose's killing.

The PUK could not be immediately reached for a comment.

“Turkish intelligence has developed exceptional capabilities to carry out surgical strides on wanted individuals in recent years,” Serhat Suha Cubukcuoglu, senior researcher with the Trends Research and Advisory think tank, told The National.

Turkey categorises actions abroad such as the operation in Sulaymaniyah as part of its “legal pursuit” of suspects who committed crimes against Turkish officials, he said.

“In Iraq, they're in close co-operation with Kurdish officials and receive tacit approval of such operations, although I doubt they inform them ahead of time.”

Although Kaya is not believed to be the person who shot Kose in an Erbil restaurant in 2019, he did “collect intelligence about Turkish units in northern Iraq” before they were attacked, Mr Cubukcuoglu said.

“Both Celal Kaya and Erdogan Unal were members of the 'intelligence committee' in the PKK.”