Kurdish rebels attack Turkish security forces, killing 5
Turkish warplanes on Wednesday pounded targets of PKK militants in northern Iraq, as parliament was to meet in emergency session to debate the government’s controversial campaign against Kurdish rebels and jihadists.
On Thursday, at least five ISIS militants in northern Syria approached the border and fired on a Turkish border unit, killing a soldier and wounding two others, the Turkish military said.
The spike in violence in recent days has prompted concerns that a promising peace process is falling beyond fix.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could not pass up an opportunity to bomb the Kurds on his way to attack ISIS strongholds in Syria.
Article 51 of the charter allows countries to engage in self-defense against an armed attack.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg talks during a North Atlantic Council Meeting at NATO headqu …
“All allies expressed their strong support for Turkey and we all stand together in solidarity with Turkey“.
But the response of Turkey’s authorities carries serious risks for human rights.
While defending Turkey publicly, the U.S. has been urging Turkey to be “judicious” in its retaliation against the PKK, said the U.S. officials, who weren’t authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity. One outside analyst said eliciting such support may have been why Turkey sought the unusual forum in the first place.
“The key here for the allies is not to affect the operations against IS in Syria – if they are not affected then to some extent the PKK and Turkey can work their own process out”, he said.
Last week, a suicide bombing by an Islamic State fighter on a Kurdish town near the Syrian border left more than 30 people dead.
In addition, since the bombing in Suruc, a number of Turkish policemen and soldiers have been killed in attacks attributed by Turkish media and government to the PKK.
Turkey also agreed with the United States to create an “IS-free zone” in northern Syria and dropped its previous refusal to let US aircraft use its Incirlik airbase to launch attacks on the militants.
Syria’s main Kurdish fighting force is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and maintains bases in remote parts of northern Iraq.
The warning comes as Turkey’s parliament held an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, to discuss military operations against the Kurdish rebels and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Anadolou news agency reported.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Fox said: “I don’t think it’s healthy for the coalition against Isis that the United States is carrying out some 90 per cent or more of all the air strikes”. The attack, if confirmed, appears to be a wide campaign targeting organisations linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The acting prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu will need to form a government by 28 August, but so far the coalition talks have not borne any fruit.
The developments follow a decision last week by Turkey’s leaders to allow the U.S.to launch its own strikes against the Islamic State group from its strategically located Incirlik Air Base. By getting US approval for the establishment of a buffer zone, the Turks are in effect ensuring that, even if a separatist Kurdish region is established inside Syria, the Kurds will not enjoy any territorial link with their ethnic brethren inside Turkey. Although Turkey began shelling Islamic State and Kurdish targets on the same day, the administration insists there’s no connection.