Turkish occupation of Iraqi Kurdistan

Since 1984, Turkey has launched repeated invasions into Iraqi Kurdistan with the pretext of fighting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and establishing temporary buffer zones. When the de facto autonomous Kurdistan Region (KRI) was established in 1992, instability, allowed both the PKK to establish more camps in the region and Turkey to erect permanent military bases there and assert authority over the Iraq–Turkey border. From the early 2010s to the present, the Turkish military buildup in the region has increased significantly and constitutes, according to various observers, human rights organizations, and Iraqi politicians, a military occupation known to locals as the "forbidden zone."