Key Facts
- Personnel deployed
- 40,000 military personnel
- Village guards involved
- 3,000
- Duration
- Two weeks (1998)
- Primary area
- Diyarbakır, Bingöl and Bitlis triangle
- Named after
- Murat River, located in the region
Strategic Narrative Overview
Operation Murat deployed 40,000 military personnel alongside 3,000 village guards into mountainous terrain in the Diyarbakır, Bingöl, and Bitlis triangle. The two-week operation centered on the Genç district of Bingöl province, targeting PKK camps and insurgent positions in the highlands. It constituted the largest security operation Turkey had undertaken within its own borders up to that point.
01 / The Origins
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated a terrorist organization by the United States, NATO, and the EU, had maintained an armed insurgency in southeastern Turkey for years. By 1998, Turkish authorities sought to decisively disrupt PKK mountain strongholds in the Diyarbakır, Bingöl, and Bitlis triangle, a region where PKK camps had previously been destroyed, prompting the planning of a large-scale sweep operation.
03 / The Outcome
The operation concluded after approximately two weeks. The Turkish military reported prior destruction of PKK camps in the area, and Operation Murat continued pressure on PKK infrastructure in the region. The broader PKK conflict, however, remained ongoing beyond 1998, with no definitive resolution achieved by this single operation.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Side B
1 belligerent