Operation Hammer (1997)

Operation Hammer (1997)
	Part of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict and Iraqi Kurdish Civil War
Date	12 May – 7 July 1997
Location	Iraqi Kurdistan
Result	Turkish and KDP victory Operational success;
Belligerents
Turkey; Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)	Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK); Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
Commanders and leaders
Altay Tokat	Abdullah Öcalan
Strength
30,000–50,000 soldiers; 10,000 village guards	5,000–6,000 PKK fighters
Casualties and losses
Turkey:; 114 killed, 338 wounded; 1 AH-1W Super Cobra ; KDP:; ~200 killed; Total: 314 killed	PKK:; 2,730 killed, 415 captured

Operation Hammer (Turkish: Çekiç Harekâtı) was the largest cross-border operation done in the history of Turkish Armed Forces into northern Iraq between 12 May and 7 July 1997 against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The operation's objectives were to destroy PKK units in northern Iraq, to strengthen Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party in its ongoing Civil War with Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the hope that the KDP would prevent further PKK raids into Turkey, and to counter Iranian influence in the region as Turkey accused Iran of supporting the PKK, and over 2,000 Iranian forces had entered Iraqi Kurdistan that year to aid the PUK.