The region has had de facto autonomy from the central government in Baghdad since the 1991 Gulf War, allowing Turkish Kurds to step up their attacks across the common border.

- October 1992: The Turkish army mounts a vast air and land operation against bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the region. The Turkish attack is backed by the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK) of Massoud Barzani.

- March-May 1995: Turkey launches a new air and land code-named 'steel' along the Iraqi border.

- July 1995: A more limited Turkish operation hits at PKK camps in Iraq's northern mountains.

- 1997: Turkey installs a permanent military presence of several hundred soldiers inside Iraq, along the two countries' border.

- July 1999: A Turkish court condemns the captured PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to death, although the sentence is later commuted to life imprisonment.

A few days later, Ankara sends a force of some 10,000 troops to attack PKK militants in northern Iraq.

- October 2007: After a series of attacks by Iraq-based Kurds inside Turkey, the Turkish parliament approves cross-border pursuit operations. In December, Turkey launches two new offensives into Iraqi Kurdistan.

- February 2008: A major new Turkish offensive against Kurds in the region of Zap, where PKK rebels are based.

- Thursday October 20: After a Kurdish attack kills 24 Turkish soldiers on the joint border, Ankara mounts a new air and land operation into Iraq.

The Turkish army says the Kurdish conflict on its territory has killed some 45,000 people since the PKK started large-scale attacks in 1984.

Turkish military incursions into Iraq have also resulted in thousands of deaths.