Two Turkish security forces killed, 24 wounded in PKK attack

Four Turkish soldiers were killed and dozens were wounded in separate PKK attacks over the weekend in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast as violence escalated.

A tractor carrying two tonnes of explosives was detonated by a suicide bomber at a military police station in Dogubeyazit district of eastern Agri province, close to Turkey’s border with Iran.

The Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq have long tolerated the presence of PKK fighters in its remote mountains, but the regional president Massud Barzani said it was time the group took its battle with Turkey elsewhere to avoid civilian casualties.

The decision by Turkey to launch airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Syria as well as to allow the US to use its bases for its missions against IS is an important (and long overdue) development in this war.

But in an opinion column published in The Washington Post, Davutoglu said Turkey was still committed to pushing forward with a peace process.

Upon the beginning of airstrikes targeting the PKK by the Turkish government, which perceives the group as among its most formidable enemies, Barzani blamed the PKK for prompting the air campaign by being “arrogant” and hurting the peace process between the group and the Turkish government.

The crusade has lifted concerns among Kurds that often Ankara’s realistic list is looking Kurdish territorial aims rather than just struggling Islamic State. He welcomed Turkey’s decision to cooperate more closely with the US-led coalition fighting the IS jihadists, but said its conflict with the PKK guerrillas was another matter.

“The sacrifice operation in revenge for the Zergele massacre was realised by our friend the martyr Andok Eris”, said the statement by the People’s Defence Force (HPG), the military wing of the PKK. That triggered a wave of attacks on Turkish officials, including the killing of two policemen, marking the end of a tenuous two-year ceasefire between the government and the PKK.

In 2013, both sides had reached a truce when Turkey vowed to grant its Kurdish minority greater rights and autonomy in exchange for a cease-fire after a three-decade insurgency that claimed more than 40,000 lives.

Separately, one soldier was also killed in Turkey’s southeastern province of Mardin when a military vehicle detonated a mine. Turkey’s overseas ministry stated on Saturday the strike on Zargala was concentrating on senior PKK commanders and accused PKK militants of utilizing civilians as human shields.

On Friday, 28 Turkish F-16s destroyed 65 targets of the PKK including shelters and arms depots, following heavy air strikes the day before when 80 Turkish aircraft hit 100 PKK targets, Anatolia said. It said the Turkish acts “will have negative consequences if they continue, and Turkey’s government will be held accountable for the results”.