US calls for end to PKK attacks in Turkey

Iraqi Kurdish officials said Saturday six people had been killed in a pre-dawn strike by Turkish war planes on the village of Zarkel and there have been reports of civilian casualties.

Turkish security forces have detained over 1,300 individuals with suspected ties to ISIL, PKK, and leftist groups, according to a statement from the Turkish prime minister’s office.

Days later, as the government prepared airstrikes against the Islamic State group, two policemen were killed in an apparent PKK attack in a southeastern town, prompting the government to retaliate against the Kurdish rebels with airstrikes.

Soon after, Turkish warplanes began pummelling PKK camps and positions in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, engaging in an intense air campaign that has killed hundreds.

In new violence blamed on the PKK, two military vehicles were damaged in the southeastern province of Bitlis when they drove over a remote-controlled mine early Monday morning.

“We condemn this bombardment that led to the martyrdom of people from the Kurdistan region and call on Turkey not to bombard civilians again”, Massoud Barzani said in a statement.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said it was working with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to investigate claims of civilian casualties in the village of Zargala on Friday.

PKK militants who took part in the operation also launched ambushes on the roads to prevent medical teams reaching the scene before fleeing in the direction of Mount Ararat, it added.

The attack in the Dogubayazit district of the eastern Agri province is the first time Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants have been accused of staging a suicide attack in the current crisis, amid an escalating cycle of violence that appears to have no end in sight.

There has been a sharp uptick in violence in Turkey in recent weeks, with the government conducting near-daily air raids on PKK bases in northern Iraq, while PKK fighters target Turkish security forces. “The peace process between Turks and Kurds’ being threatened is not only related to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but also to hardliners in the PKK who do not want peace”, Barzani said in an interview with reporters from Germany-based Focus magazine on July 31. In nearby Diyarbakir, the spiritual capital of Turkish Kurds, fighter jets are taking off for dozens of sorties to hit PKK strongholds in northern Iraq.

For now, the US has to find a way to strike a middle approach that will satisfy both the Syrian Kurds and an ever uneasy Erdogan – or else the anti-ISIS campaign may pay a steep price for US access to a single Turkish airbase. By contrast, Turkey sees the jihadist group as a problem that can only be solved by overthrowing Assad, he said.

On Tuesday, Erdogan said the process had become impossible and urged parliament to strip politicians with links to the militants of immunity from prosecution. This threw a wrench into the US’ geopolitical cogs, which is why it’s not at all opposed to Turkey’s punishing attacks against them.