SUMMARY

PKK (Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan; Kurdistan Workers’ Party) which had been fighting the Government of Turkey since the early 1980s used bases inside Iraqi territory in order to avoid, or at least decrease the risk, of attacks. In October 1992 the Qazzaz, which is the Kurdish parliament where PUK was one of the major parties, had decided to take action against PKK’s use of the Kurdish region in Iraq as a springboard for their attacks. A 24-hour warning was issued before action was taken and in the clashes that ensued several people died.

The underlying reason for the clashes between PUK and PKK, both in 1992 and later in 2000, seems to be a wish from the PUK side to safeguard their territory from PKK influence. In 2000 PUK issued a statement that the attacks started off as an attempt of “defending out area from PKK infiltration”.

The non-state conflict between PKK and PUK is first included in UCDP data in 1992. In October of that year violent clashes between the two groups had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.