The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has withdrawn from 72 positions in northern Iraq as part of Turkey’s ongoing peace process with the group, with Turkish troops moving into the vacated areas, the Nefes daily reported on Friday, citing intelligence sources.
The report said intelligence units in the field determined that PKK members had left areas in the Gara and Metina regions of northern Iraq and moved farther south.
PKK members had withdrawn from 28 locations in and around the Metina Valley, opposite the Çukurca district of Hakkari province in southeastern Turkey, as well as from other positions in the Gara Mountain area and the Zap Valley in northern Iraq, according to the report.
The daily described Gara Mountain as one of the areas used by the group to organize attacks against Turkey in the past. In total, the report said PKK members had vacated 72 positions in northern Iraq.
The reported withdrawals come as Ankara continues to insist that the PKK’s decision to lay down its arms, announced last year as part of peace talks aimed at ending the decades-long conflict, be verified before legal steps tied to the process are taken.
Turkish troops moved into the vacated positions after the areas were cleared of weapons and explosives, according to the report.
The deployment included soldiers stationed along the border and in the Operation Claw-Lock area, where Turkey has maintained a military presence since launching a cross-border campaign against PKK positions in northern Iraq in April 2022.
Nefes said local intelligence networks as well as reconnaissance and surveillance activities had determined that PKK members had moved toward more remote parts of northern Iraq.
Their movements in the region are being monitored, the report said, adding that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was also closely following the militants who had moved further inland.
There was no immediate official statement from Turkish authorities confirming the reported withdrawals.
The current peace process began in October 2024, when Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli made an unexpected call for jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to declare an end to the group’s armed campaign.
After renewed contacts with Öcalan, he called on the PKK in February 2025 to lay down arms, and the group announced in May 2025 that it had decided to dissolve itself and end its armed campaign.
Ankara says the PKK must take verifiable steps before legal measures are introduced, while Kurdish political actors are calling for legal guarantees.
The PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, has waged an armed campaign against the Turkish state since 1984. The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people.
A parliamentary commission led by Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş approved a report in February setting out a roadmap for legal and political steps linked to the process. But no legislation has yet moved forward, and Kurdish actors have accused the government of acting slowly.