Turkey says carried out new overnight air raids against PKK

Turkey, which launched near-simultaneous strikes against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in Iraq and Islamic State fighters in Syria last Friday, intensified its assault on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq overnight.

Turkey will not send ground troops to Syria, but the country is trying to attack the Islamic State from the air in cooperation with the United States.

Likewise, senior U.S. officials said Turkey agreed two weeks ago to let the U.S. launch airstrikes from Incirlik and elsewhere in Turkey. “Kurds have witnessed betrayal for centuries” said Axin Bro, a musician. Everyone should justify their own actions.

Since 2012, Kurdish militia forces in northern Syria and Iraq have defended their communities, later taking the fight and regularly defeating jihadists and the Syrian regime on the battlefield.

Turkish jets bombed Kurdish rebels inside Turkey on Tuesday as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation proclaimed its “strong solidarity” with the country’s fight against the Islamic State group but urged restraint in a campaign that has also targeted Kurdish separatists.

On Tuesday, Turkey said another soldier died after he was shot in the head by a Kurdish militant near the border with Iraq.

Turkey and its U.S. and European allies consider the PKK – which has Marxist origins – a terrorist organization for killing civilians in urban bombings. The PKK is affiliated with, but separate from, Syrian Kurdish fighters allied with the United States in its fight against the Islamic State group. Germany warned on Wednesday about possible attacks on Istanbul’s underground rail network and bus stops.

Indeed, Turkish government officials say that its broad anti-terror police raids launched in recent days netted more than 800 suspected PKK members; by comparison less than 150 detained were from ISIS. Despite U.S. training, Iraq’s military has been slow to take the advantage.

PKK targets inside Turkey’s borders have also been hit. The White House has denied such claims.

The operations came after a bombing last week blamed on ISIL that killed 32 mostly young Kurdish students in the Turkish town of Suruc on the border with Syria. “If there’s anything to be discussed, we can discuss it after that”, he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in a telephone call on Sunday to respect the principle of proportionality and not to give up on the Kurdish peace process. Some 31 have been charged so far, while 18 were released. A total of 142 have been charged so far, while 120 were released. RUSI’s Stephens said Ankara “backed off right away” when the Syrian Kurds accused Turkish forces of shelling them over the weekend and it was “clear the Americans sent out the message that these guys are not to be touched”. “We can see that the real focus is against the PKK”. European countries still don’t like the idea that the US and Russian Federation will decide the Middle East’s future alone and they still want to have their say in Syria’s fate. “We don’t know how many of them are effective operatives”. “The main objective is to prevent the formation of a Kurdish entity in northern Syria”.

In the latest elections on June 7, the HDP garnered 13 percent of the popular votes and won 80 seats in Turkish Parliament. The ruling party has until August. 24 to form a government before new elections are called.

CNN Turk reported that a prosecutor was opening investigations into removing the immunity of HDP chief Salahattin Demirtas, over remarks he made during elections campaigning this year about alleged AKP abuses of power.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said it is impossible for the peace process aimed at ending the conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state to move forward amid the recent increased violence. Under this global reality, it is irrelevant to ask whether or not Turkey is really fighting against ISIL or if Ankara’s aim was in fact just to hit the PKK.

The rebels have attacked a major oil pipeline from Iraq, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Wednesday, a day after they also attacked a gas pipeline from Iran. The military responded with a counter-offensive that killed one PKK rebel.