PKK - Page 9

On Monday, the U.S. consulate in Turkey was attacked by two female assailants, for reasons as yet unclear.

Another violent encounter between Kurdish PKK militants and Turkish police was reported on Friday, leaving two dead and 10 wounded in the town of Silopi near the Syrian border. In another sign of escalating violence, an affiliate of the PKK in Iran claimed responsibility for killing 20 Iranian soldiers in an attack on a military outpost.

Members of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey recently traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan to inspect Turkey’s airstrike against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). At the same time, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev expressed doubt Turkey has attacked the PKK camps.

The Assyrian Christian community has already suffered greatly at the hands of ISIS, driven from their homes in the Nineveh Plain to find shelter in Iraqi Kurdistan. Human rights groups have already expressed concern about the dangerous conditions in these refugee camps, including brutal temperature extremes and supply shortages. Now the Assyrians face a new menace: Turkish bombs.

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Tensions between Turkey and the Kurds continue to escalate as Kurdish militia groups who have been fighting ISIS in Syria complained of coming under fire from Turkish forces. Notably, these are Kurdish militia units not direct affiliated with the PKK—the Kurdish separatists classified as terrorists by Turkey and subjected to airstrikes by American-made Turkish F-16 jets after several recent instances of violence.

The conflict between Turkey and the Kurdish PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, continues to intensify, with reports of three more Turkish soldiers killed by mine and missile attacks from PKK militants.The U.S. State Department has called on both sides to resume peace talks.

Relatives of fallen Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) fighters in Turkey say the Turkish government is denying permission for the bodies to return to Turkish soil to be buried. A group of 12 bodies, including that of a German national fighting in Syria, have been waiting in a refrigerated truck on the Syrian border for more than one week for permission to enter Turkey.

The Turkish government has denied that it has targeted civilians in its airstrikes against the Islamic State and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Syria and Iraq. Kurdish officials in bot the PKK and Iraqi Kurdistan have condemned the deaths of civilians in Turkish attacks.

Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, is calling for the Marxist terror group the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to leave Iraq completely, as civilians have died in Turkish airstrikes targeting the group. Barzani also condemned Turkish forces for killing civilians in his territory.

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According to the Kurdish Rudaw news agency, Turkish airstrikes against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets destroyed a health clinic in the Amediye district of Duhok. The clinic is said to have serviced several nearby villages. No casualties were reported.

Turkey Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu visited Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani to discuss Turkey’s plan with the United States to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). The talks took place in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

A Turkish national whistleblower known on Twitter only under the alias Fuat Avni is claiming that the Suruç suicide bombing attributed to the Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS) was planned by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow for military action against Kurds. While the account is anonymous and provides no corroborating evidence, it has sufficient following to provoke a loud national response.

The Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, took to Twitter on Tuesday to condemn the Turkish government for participating in a “dangerous escalation” of violence against Kurdish targets in northern Iraq, after announcing they would limit their attacks to creating an “anti-ISIS” zone in the Syrian heartland.

Discussing Turkey’s recent military action in Syria and Iraq, CNN quotes Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blaming the Western world for creating ISIS by failing to remove Bashar Assad from power in Syria–a long-standing strategic objective of the Turks.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) issued a statement in “strong solidarity” with Turkey following that nation’s emergency meeting to address a new anti-terrorism campaign against the Islamic State and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has stretched out of Ankara as far as northern Iraq in less than a week.

The Turkish government announced at the end of last week that it would begin an airstrike campaign in Syria, in tandem with the United States, to create an “ISIL-free zone” in the war-torn nation, following an Islamic State bombing within Turkish territory. Turkey has rapidly expanded its operations to focus more on its Kurdish enemies than ISIS, with reports that Turkey is far outside the “ISIL-free zone” bombing Kurdish positions in Iraq.

In light of the PKK’s recent string of assassinations of police officers, it is unethical and naive to think that the US should unconditionally support any and all Kurdish entities as a counter-balance to radical Islamism.

More than 850 suspects have been arrested in anti-terrorist operations across Turkey, launched against members of the outlawed Kurdistan’s Workers Party (PKK) and Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), Daily Sabah reports.

The Syrian Kurdish YPG/YPJ–or People’s Protection Units–issued a statement on Monday condemning Turkish airstrikes on strategic Kurdish posts. The Turkish government announced a new campaign, accompanied by the United States, against the Islamic State in Syria, but the Kurds and anti-Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) Syrian militant claim they are the real targets of the campaign.

The President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, has appeared to take the side of the Turkish government regarding recently launched airstrikes against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), calling the U.S.-designated terrorist group “arrogant” and praising Turkey for taking a “positive” role in attempting peace talks with the PKK.

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On Wednesday, Kurdish militants allegedly shot two Turkish police officers, asleep in a shared residence on the Syrian border, they believed were collaborating with ISIS. The shooting has inflamed already dangerous tensions between Kurds and the Turkish government.

Contents: Riots and violence across Turkey after Monday’s suicide bombing in Suruç; PKK kills 2 Turkish police officers in retaliation for Suruç blast; Syria’s war comes to Turkey after Monday’s terror attack on Suruç; Greece’s parliament approves European lender reform demands

Despite recent gains in national elections, Kurds in Turkey are threatening strikes against the country’s dam construction sites in Kurdish territory in the southeast. A statement from the Union of Kurdistan Communities, known by the acronym KCK, said that the construction project is primarily military in nature and, therefore, violates the ceasefire the group negotiated with the government.

Turkey plans to deploy its army into northern Syria in an effort to prevent Kurds there from officially establishing their own state, reports The Daily Beast, citing both pro- and anti-government news outlets.

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As Turkey’s majority Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) scrambles to build a coalition government in the legislature, the largest minority party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has suggested pairing up with other minority parties to keep the AKP out of the ruling coalition entirely.

urkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has submitted his formal resignation in a procedural move necessary for Turkey to begin rebuilding its government after shocking election results that left the nation with no parliamentary ruling party. The majority AK Party to which Davutoğlu belongs must now attempt to form a coalition with at least one other minority party for Turkey’s Parliament to function.

Turkey’s parliamentary elections on Sunday have resulted in a fragmented legislature that has significantly weakened the power of ruling Islamist AK Party, while bringing to power a record number of Kurds, Christians, women, Yazidis, and even members of the Roma minority.

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