Turkish military offensive kills 110 Kurdish militants in six days: security sources

Turkish security forces evacuated some 500 residents in several towns in the country’s Kurdish southeast, as clashes continued on Tuesday and the military said it had killed two more rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and lost one soldier. The government has responded by cracking down with operations in border towns such as Cizre and Silopi.

“The Turkish government should rein in its security forces, immediately stop the abusive and disproportionate use of force, and investigate the deaths and injuries caused by its operations”, said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at HRW.

Meanwhile, protests took place Sunday in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, the de facto capital and largest city in the Kurdish southeast, as protesters demanded an end to the military operations.

HRW’s own report, which documented just a “sample” of the military curfews against Kurdish towns, documented 15 civilian deaths, and also lent credence to local groups which put the overall toll from crackdowns since July at over 100 civilians.

According to the police sources, a group of people protesting Turkish army’s anti-PKK operations in the Sur district of Diyarbakir, wanted to march to six neighborhoods that are under curfew. It said those actions, and those of the government security forces, prevent medical personnel from reaching those who have been wounded.

A two-year ceasefire between the PKK and Ankara fell apart in July, shattering peace talks and reviving a conflict that has afflicted Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast for three decades, killing more than 40,000 people.

Hundreds of security forces, PKK militants and civilians have since been killed as the prospect for a political solution look increasingly grim.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-leader of the HDP, told a news conference that the campaign was targeting locals who were presented as “terrorists”.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu condemned what he said was “an attempt to unleash a civil war”.

Turkish police killed two women in a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday on a cell of suspected militants in Istanbul, media reports said. Turkey and Russia have been at odds since Ankara downed a Russian jet last month saying it violated its airspace.