Operation Steel ( tr, Çelik Harekâtı) was a cross-border operation by the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...

into northern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

between 20 March and 4 May 1995 against the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK). The purpose of offensive was to put a stop to the PKK cross-border raids and to crush the

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...

. The PKK was not defeated in the operation.

The battle

On March 20, 1995, some 35,000 Turkish troops launched an invasion into northern

. The effect of the attack was however relatively limited, despite high PKK casualties, as the majority of the PKK forces left the region even before the offensive begun. They had noticed the military buildup on the border and were anticipating the offensive. By April 25, Turkey pulled out 20,000 of its 35,000 troops. On May 3, after the

Kurdistan Democratic Party The Kurdistan Democratic Party ( ku, Partiya Demokrat a Kurdistanê; پارتی دیموکراتی کوردستان), usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the largest party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional Gov ...

delegation to Turkey said that they would stop PKK activities in Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey withdrew its remaining forces on May 4. The military operation strained relations between Turkey and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, as over 15,000 Iraqi Kurdish civilians were displaced by Turkish forces.

Casualties

More than 35,000 troops took part in the operation.Kurds in Turkey (page 18)
Turkey announced fatalities of a total of 64 personnel: 4 commissioned officers, 5 noncommissioned officers and 55 soldiers. Turkey also announced their total number of injured personnel at 185 personnel: 13 commissioned officers, 8 noncommissioned officers and 164 soldiers. Turkey announced the total number of militants neutralized at a total of 568, with 555 being killed and 13 being captured live or injured. The PKK claimed that they had killed 261 soldiers and that only 18 of their fighters were killed during the operation.

References

{{Turkey–Kurdistan Workers Party conflict 1995 in Turkey 1995 in Iraq Conflicts in 1995 Cross-border operations of Turkey into Iraq History of the Kurdistan Workers' Party Mass murder in 1995

The battle

Casualties

See also

References