Turkey’s military has continued to conduct deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq on fighters linked to insurgent group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the two weeks since the movement’s founder Abdullah Ocalan issued a call to his followers to lay down their arms and disband, The New York Times reported on March 12.

The PKK leadership, based in the Qandil Mountains of Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, responded to the call by declaring a unilateral ceasefire on March 1. However, they demanded the release of Ocalan, incarcerated in Turkey since 1999, so that he could oversee a disarmament. Ankara has shown no sign of agreeing to such a move. Nor has it reciprocated with a ceasefire announcement of its own.

Last week, Turkish defence ministry spokesman Zeki Akturk said that Turkey’s military would “continue its fight against terrorism with determination and resolve until there is not a single terrorist left.”

Ataturk claimed Turkey had killed 26 “terrorists” in Syria and Iraq in the previous week. The PKK in its response did not discuss its casualties but said that in the period, Turkey carried out more than 800 strikes on the group’s positions in northern Iraq using fighter jets, helicopters and artillery.

Turkey applies the “terrorist” designation to the PKK as well as to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the People’s Defense Units (YPG), the Kurdish militia that dominates the ranks of the SDF.

The SDF holds sway across northeastern Syria and in parts of northern Syria. On March 11, the SDF announced an agreement to integrate into the Syrian national army under the emerging post-Assad regime government in Damascus, which is strongly supported by Turkey. This could involve the non-Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters in its ranks leaving the group, though the Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters would remain.

On March 12, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the Damascus administration’s deal with the SDF.

Earlier, a Turkish official said Ankara was "cautiously optimistic" about the deal but focused on its implementation. The SDF has "made promises before, too, so we are looking at implementation rather than at the expression of intent here," the official told Reuters.

The SDF served as the land force in the US-led destruction of the self-declared Islamic State caliphate that controlled swathes of Syria and Iraq until its downfall in 2019.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 11 hailed the integration deal announced by the SDF and Syria's interim government.

He added in a statement: “The United States reaffirms its support for a political transition [in Syria] that demonstrates credible, non-sectarian governance as the best path to avoid further conflict.

“We will continue to watch the decisions made by the interim authorities, noting with concern the recent deadly violence against minorities.”