The attack, which took place on Thursday, is the latest in the surge in violence after a fragile two-year ceasefire between PKK and the Turkish government broke last week.
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ANKARA, July 31 (Reuters) – Turkey looks increasingly likely to face an early election as its air strikes against Kurdish militants in Iraq and Islamic State in Syria stir nationalist sentiment and coalition talks make little apparent progress.
Meanwhile, Turkey has also been cracking down on the Islamic State group. The decision came after a suicide bombing blamed on IS killed 32 people and militants fired on Turkish troops, killing a soldier.
Turkey’s assaults on the PKK have so far been much heavier than its strikes against Islamic State, fuelling Kurdish suspicions that its real agenda is keeping Kurdish political and territorial ambitions in check, something the government denies. About a week later, Syrian-Kurdish forces, backed by the U.S., pushed ISIS out of the strategic border town of Tel Abyad, striking a major blow to their operations.
Despite the government aggression against the PKK in the name of national security, Turkish citizens consider the IS group to be a bigger threat to the country and believe northern Syria should be in the hands of Syria’s Democratic Union Party (PYD) – an offshoot of the PKK.
“What’s more, when there are those who tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea to get into Europe, the attitude they have or the groundwork they lay is such that these people end up drowning in the sea”, he added. Police teams raided the house and three PKK members were killed in a clash between police and those staying in the house, Doğan said quoting official sources.
During a visit to Indonesia, the president said Turkey had suffered “significant losses” in its battle against terrorists but was determined to keep up the fight, pointing to military operations launched by Ankara in the last few days.
Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Ming said after the presidential talks that both China and Turkey-which borders Syria and Iraq-are victims of terrorism, and will continue to cooperate on defense.
Demirtas, a charismatic former human rights lawyer, led the HDP into a parliamentary election in June at which it seized enough seats to deprive the AK Party, founded by Erdogan, of a working majority for the first time in more than a decade.
The PKK, considered a terror organization by Turkey and its western allies, launched its armed campaign for autonomy in Turkey’s southeast in 1984.
“We know all too well that the tens of thousands killed in Turkey in the 30 years of war won’t be forgotten so quickly”.
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The Kurds declared a cease-fire in 2013 as part of the peace efforts, but halted a planned withdrawal of fighters from Turkish territory, accusing the government of not keeping promises.
