PKK attacks military outpost in Hakkari, kills 3 soldiers, injures 6

“And these are the Kurds“, Özdemir said.

Speaking in his ancestral hometown in northeast Turkey’s Rize province, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that the fight against terror would continue “unabated”, adding: “No one should test Turkey’s strength, or they will pay a heavy price”.

The Turks worry that Kurdish gains in Iraq and in Syria will encourage a revival of a Kurdish armed insurgency in Turkey in pursuit of an independent state.

Six more troops were injured and hospitalised in a blast triggered from a distance by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters, the Dogan news agency said. “While our forces killed at least three PKK militants”, Turkish army said in a statement on Sunday.

The United States has long wanted to use Turkish bases for manned airstrikes against ISIS in Syria and parts of Iraq.

Incirlik, which is one of the key Turkish air bases located outside the city of Adana, is about 90 miles from the Syrian border and ISIL strongholds in Syria.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU.

Turkish bomb disposal experts were taken aback on Friday when the controlled explosion of a vehicle bomb in the Kurdish-dominated southeast caused a massive blast that scattered debris and caused panic amongst bystanders.

Just hours ago, a man was killed when he was caught in a clash between the two sides. Turkish fighters were set to join the campaign. Turkey denied it.

Prime Minister Davutoglu said he would like elections to be organized as soon as possible. Security forces detained 1,302 people. “Basically the genocide of Kurds is happening before the world”, she said. It opened up its air bases to US-led coalition jets targeting Islamic State last month.

“Turkey wanted to move against the PKK, but it needed a hook”, an unnamed senior military official told the Wall Street Journal. But it seems like in the three weeks since then Turkey has struck the enemies of ISIS much more fiercely than it has hit ISIS. The most significant obstacle was the success of the pro-Kurdish HDP, which won 13 per cent of the vote and entered parliament for the first time. Right now, the country’s best interests would still be served by a durable coalition between the AKP and the second-largest parliamentary party, the secular CHP, the Republican People’s Party, whose roots go back to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founding father of modern Turkey. “It endangers the lives of those who actively fight against the Islamic State“, he said.

Uca urged Canada to support Kurdish fighters in Syria and pressure NATO-member Turkey to resume peace talks with the Kurds.