Title: Civilian Casualties of Turkish Military Operations in Northern Iraq (2015 - 2021)
Publisher: End Cross-border Bombing Campaign
Release date: 2022.

The increasing harm that the Turkish Military’s cross-border operations in northern Iraq are causing to the civilian population is an issue of concern. It requires joint actions to be taken on local, regional, and international levels.
This report presents new comprehensive findings of research conducted by members of non-governmental organisations documenting civilian harm and working in peacebuilding and protection of human rights. The report highlights the numbers and identities of civilians and non-belligerents who were killed and wounded due to Turkish Military actions within the territory administered by the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Iraqi governorate of Ninewa. The report analyses the contexts of the incidents leading to civilian harm and explores other impacts: the destruction of villages, homes, health clinics, farmlands, and civilian livelihoods.

The report covers the timeframe starting from 1 August 2015, when the first civilians were killed and wounded by multiple Turkish airstrikes inside a village of Zergali following the collapse of the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), up until the end of 2021.

On 17 April 2022, a new military operation was launched by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) codenamed Claw-Lock within the territory of Iraqi Kurdistan. Claw-Lock follows a certain pattern of operations that the TAF has conducted in northern Iraq since 2018. The operations consist of large-scale aerial bombardments that were followed by the deployment of special forces on mountain ranges in elevated areas up to 12-15 km south of the Turkish border, where observation posts and bases were built. As a result, the civilian population living and producing income in the adjacent valleys have been shelled by artillery fire and forced into displacement or life under Turkish military control.[1]