According to Turkish media, some 10,000 members of the police and army have been deployed in Cizre and Silopi in one of the biggest operations yet against the PKK, who have erected barricades and ditches inside the towns.
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“The untargeted attacks and shelling by security forces amount to an all-out attack on the Kurdish people by a government which wants to blockade neighbourhoods”, he said in a text of parliamentary questions to the interior minister.
The clashes are the latest in months of violence following the collapse of a ceasefire between the government and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in July.
In describing the campaign on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed to transform what he called the Kurdish “ring of fire into places of peace, stability and freedom”.
Eight militants were “neutralised” after they opened fire on soldiers during the operations in Cizre on Tuesday, the army said, using its customary euphemism for killing rebels.
Police had used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters seeking to march towards the Sur district, which is now under a security lockdown.
Curfews and tight security have also been introduced in the nearby Sirnak province.
Figen Yuksekdag, the co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), accused Davutoglu and his government of “ordering a massacre” in Cizre and Silopi. Heavy clashes then erupted between soldiers and PKK terrorists in the neighborhood, during which a 45-year-old civilian woman was shot to death.
Five PKK terrorists were killed Monday in a security operation in the southeastern province of Mardin, Turkish security sources said. Two people were killed as police clashed with the crowds, a hospital official and witnesses said, as cited by Reuters.
“Russia’s military elements have been acting for some time as if there is a perceived threat from Turkey, which is an exaggerated situation and has nothing to do with reality”, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said at a briefing. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said…
The PKK launched its insurgency in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since.
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“Battle tanks destroyed roadblocks set up by PKK members in [southeastern district] Cizre”, Hurriyet reported, adding that 12 militants were killed while one security officer was wounded on Wednesday.
