Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council on Monday decided to dissolve three political parties due to their affiliation to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), ordering the closure of all their offices and seizure of all their assets.

The Judicial authority’s decree, upon the request of Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qassem al-Araji, ordered the dissolution of the Yazidi Democratic Freedom party, the Democratic al-Nidhal Front party, and the Kurdistan Free Society party.

The court order obtained by The New Region said that the parties are affiliated to the “banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party” and “conducted illegal activities inside Iraq”.

The Iraqi Prime Minister last month directed all state institutions to officially rebrand the PKK as the “banned PKK” in all affairs of state.

After a high-level delegation from the Turkish government visited Baghdad in March, Baghdad announced that they have officially categorized the PKK as a threat to its security and classified it as a banned group in the country.

The PKK is an armed group that has fought for increased Kurdish rights in Turkey for decades, the group, designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara, uses mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region as shelter and often engages in direct armed conflict with Turkey.

The group have for years adopted increased influence in disputed areas, specifically in the Yazidi heartland of Sinjar, preventing the Sinjar agreement between Erbil and Baghdad to be fully implemented.

The Border Forces Command of Iraq's Ministry of Interior in June announced the implementation of measures to reduce the presence of the PKK elements along the Iraqi-Iranian border, alongside a broader plan to secure the Iraqi-Turkish border.

Turkey has for years launched several rounds of an operation dubbed Claw Operation against positions of the PKK in the Kurdistan Region. The latest in the series of operations was launched in April 2022, dubbed Operation Claw Lock, which aims to end the group’s presence in the region.

Turkish officials have previously claimed that they aim to end the current operation this summer, with Erdogan in March claiming that they are close to permanently “resolving” the PKK presence on the Turkey-Iraq border.