Turkey: 2 policemen, 2 PKK militants killed in clash

Bahçeli earlier suggested that the MHP form a coalition with the AK Party if it agrees to prevent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan meddling in government affairs in line with constitutional limits, end the initiative to resolve the Kurdish issue through talks with the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, and prosecute the high-profile suspects in a major corruption case that erupted in December 2013.

The U.S. has said Turkey has a right to defend itself against the PKK, which Washington, like Turkey, considers a terrorist group.

The soldiers were killed when PKK members opened fire on a military convoy as it moved along a road during a counter-terror operation in the Akcay district of Sirnak province, the Turkish army said.

“

Drones, helicopter gunships and commando units have been despatched to the scene”,

it said, adding that one “terrorist” had been killed in the clashes.

The attacks came amidst escalating tensions in Turkey as the PKK has staged several offenses against Turkish security forces, with the government’s military operations targeted the PKK’s posts both in Turkey and in Iraq since last week. There were reports that some civilians were wounded north of Dohuk.

Funeral ceremonies for slain police and soldiers have now become an nearly daily event, broadcast live on national television. “Tomorrow the HDP’s 80 lawmakers will submit a request for immunity to be lifted”, he said, effectively challenging parliament to fulfill Erdogan’s threat. There was no immediate official confirmation. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said this week that his country’s air strikes are against the PKK, not the Kurds in general.

But the government declined to give any toll.

“The cabinet has signed the decree”, the official told AFP, without specifying when the authorisation was given. “Turkey is planning to stop YPG/PKK expansion in Syria by creating a safe haven and supporting rebel groups in the Aleppo countryside, and bombing the PKK in Qandil mountains is a warning to the PKK”, Jamestown Foundation analyst Wladimir van Wilgenburg said on Wednesday.

The second reason, he went on, is that Turkey wants to be “part of reshaping Syria in the post-Assad regime”, and, thirdly, Ankara seeks to attack the PKK.

Last week, a suicide bombing by an Islamic State fighter on a Kurdish town near the Syrian border left more than 30 people dead. On Monday, Syria’s main Kurdish militia and an activist group said Turkish troops shelled a Syrian village near the border, targeting Kurdish fighters.

In response to Erdogan’s allegations that the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has links to “terrorist groups”, the party’s chairman Selahattin Demirtas yesterday denied any wrongdoing and said his group faced punishment simply for its electoral success. “The primary target is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)”.

“It is just an attempt to remove the black clouds above him (Demirtas)”, said Erdogan, quoted by the Anatolia news agency. “He would run there if he found the opportunity”.

The sudden change of course in recent days has raised questions in Western capitals over whether Ankara, fearful of seeing a Kurdish state emerge on its southern border, is more interested in limiting Kurdish capabilities than in tackling IS.

Turkish police are pressing on with nationwide raids against suspected ISIL, PKK and Marxist militants across the country, with at least 1,302 people arrested so far, according to the prime minister’s office.