Turkey: Kurdish rebels attack police station in the south; 2 policemen, 2

“There are indications of possible attacks on subways and at bus stops in Istanbul”, the government warned.

President Barack Obama’s stepped-up partnership with Turkey in fighting the Islamic State may come at the cost of alienating another key group he’s counting on for help in the same conflict: the Kurds. He notes Turkey has so far launched three F-16s against four suspected ISIS targets.

The Kurdistan government is an ally of both the US and Turkey and the region hosts PKK bases.

Turkey has also made clear that its operations against Islamic State in Syria will not include air cover for Syrian Kurdish fighters also battling the jihadists. “We are ready to work with all politicians who want to achieve this”, he told reporters.

Hours after he spoke, the Turkish military said its F-16 fighter jets had bombed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak, which borders Iraq, in response to an attack on a group of gendarmes.

As the Turkish cabinet formally approved the use by American planes of the Incirlik airbase from which to attack Isis targets inside Syria and Iraq, it emerged that other details of the plan have also yet to be resolved – including how deep into Syria the Isis-free “safety zone” might extend and how quickly the planes will begin flying combat missions from Turkish territory.

At least twelve members of the security forces have been killed over the past week by suspected Kurdish militants.

Turkish warplanes pounded Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq on Wednesday in a new wave of strikes as part of its “antiterror” operation against militant groups. Coalition forces could start using the bases “any moment”, Bilgic said.

In 2012 Erdogan launched negotiations to try to end a PKK insurgency that has killed 40,000 people since 1984.

Western allies have said they recognize Turkey’s right to self-defense but have urged the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member not to allow peace efforts with the PKK to collapse.

Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan, who has overseen the government side of peace efforts, accused the HDP of sacrificing the process in the name of its own political ambition, saying it had been more interested in winning enough votes to enter parliament than in working to resolve the conflict.

The HDP charges that Erdogan is upset that the Kurdish party prevented the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which the president founded, from obtaining a majority in parliament after governing as a single-party since 2002.

“The HDP has destroyed the trust, has betrayed the peace process”, Akdogan told the state-run Anadolu news agency, but stopped short of declaring it definitively over. “This is a process and this process will continue with the same determination”. First the PKK should put down weapons.

“The more global emergencies, the more that voters are likely to think we need a good, strong, stable government”, says Sinan Ciddi, a visiting assistant professor at Georgetown University.

The United States distanced itself from the airstrikes against the PKK this week.

Until about 10 days ago, the talk around Turkey was whether a coalition government should be formed before early August. “He knows that if a coalition is formed whatever remains from his executive presidency dream will completely be destroyed”, said Idris Baluken, a senior HDP lawmaker. Isn’t that why they can now raid and arrest hundreds of ISIS supporters in Turkey so quickly?