Turkey: 8 Kurdish rebels killed in clash in southeast

Turkish security forces have killed 23 fighters of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in two days, Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency reported Thursday.

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) released a written statement on Thursday announcing that eight members of the security forces have been injured and 25 PKK terrorists killed during the ongoing operations in Silopi and Cizre.

On Monday (Tuesday NZT), two men were shot dead in Diyarbakir, while security forces have killed six militants in the province of Mardin since Friday.

Since July, official figures suggest more than 200 members of the security forces have been martyred and over 1,700 PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq, including airstrikes.

The two towns, in Şırnak province near the border with Syria and Iraq, have become central targets for the latest anti-PKK operations in which Turkey’s media says 10,000 police and troops, backed by tanks, are taking part.

The protesters had assembled to voice opposition to the curfew imposed in the city’s Sur district for nearly two weeks.

Sur is the scene of frequent clashes between security forces and Kurdish youths. “We will conduct this struggle in a powerful way and continue to do so”.

However, Figen Yuksekdag from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) criticized Davutoglu’s remarks and accused the government of “ordering a massacre” in Silopi and Cizre. Elsewhere in the city, militants threw handmade explosives under an armoured police truck, triggering a brief clash between police and fleeing assailants.

According to the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, a total of 52 curfews have been imposed since mid-August in 17 districts in southeastern and eastern Turkey, affecting some 13 million people.

The group stressed that the conflict between Ankara and the PKK was also compromising efforts against the Islamic State group as Turkey is refusing to collaborate the PKK and its ally in Syria, the YPG, which have both proven to be the most valuable force against the extremist group.

Peace talks between its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and the state ground to a halt early this year.

The PKK launched a formal insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, initially fighting for Kurdish independence although it now presses more for greater autonomy and rights for the country’s largest ethnic minority.