Turkish strikes kill and injure hundreds of PKK fighters

Another soldier was killed in an attack in neighbouring Agri province.

“At first glance, Turkey’s bombardments of the PKK are more a diversion from the war against Isis than a detriment [to it]”, said Dov Friedman, an independent Turkey and Kurdistan analyst, adding “Yet, at a fundamental level, Turkey’s bombings are destabilising to the region”.

However, against the leftist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkey flew 75 F-16 and F-4E 2020 attacks, in three waves from July 24-26, while 300 bombs were dropped in 185 sorties against approximately 400 PKK targets.

What disturbs Turkey the most is the newly-established relationship between Washington and Kurdish forces in Syria, who have proven to be one of the most effective fighting forces on the ground in relation to the war on IS.

The PKK organization was damaged on August 1 during a Turkish air operation against its camps in Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq. “The bodies waiting at the border must be allowed to enter Turkey immediately”.

For a long time, Turkey refused to let in aid and military support for the beleaguered YPD forces in Kobane.

Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan, who has overseen the Turkish government’s efforts to settle its conflict with the PKK, accused the HDP of sacrificing the process in the name of its own political ambition. “With that let me now end this public part of this meeting and I thank the representatives of the media”, Jens Stoltenberg said.

Today the city, which is home to Turkey’s largest Kurdish community, is plagued by fears of a civil war.

Alarmed at the violence, Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) leader urged the PKK on Saturday to “remove its finger from the trigger” and said the government should launch talks to restore calm.

As well as PKK targets, Turkish jets have hit Islamic State insurgent positions in neighbouring Syria. It might also be least likely to abandon the anti-Islamic State coalition over Turkish actions because of its close economic ties to Ankara and ideological opposition to the PKK.

The YPG is supported militarily by the US despite the fact that it is an offshoot of the PKK and consists mostly of its fighters.

Security forces also carried out early-morning raids in Ankara at locations police said were linked to the PKK. Weakening the PKK and its Syrian arm, the PYD, is bound to strengthen the Islamist ISIS troops across the region.

Demirtas’ HDP won 13 percent of the vote in a June 7 election which has yet to produce a coalition government.

Militants also fired rockets at a military outpost in the southeastern Mus province.

The PKK has said the airstrikes, launched virtually in parallel with Turkish strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria, rendered the peace process meaningless.