In a statement, Turkish officials described Zargali as a “terrorist training camp” and said that high-level PKK members were in the village at the time of the strike.
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“They can not stay in this position”.
But the talk among the guerrillas was not of the war with Isis, but of an older foe further north: Turkey.
Also Friday, legislators from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party said that eight Iraqi civilians were killed in a Turkish air raid in northern Iraq last week, disputing the Turkish military’s claim that the area struck was a camp used by Kurdish rebels. Hundreds of others targeted PKK bases along the Iraq-Turkey border.
Once Turkey secured active US backing for the “safe zone” plan, it showed its gratitude by unilaterally changing agenda and attacking the most effective force fighting the IS on the ground. He and his legal chamber are demanding that the PKK be taken off the list of terrorist organizations. For over a year, the battle-hardened guerrillas have fought ISIS, often being sent as mobile shock troops to where the fighting is heaviest. The Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation against Co-chair Selahattin Demirtas for his role in backing protests in October protesting the government’s refusal to help fighters in Kobani fend off the siege imposed there by Islamic State. So far, the operation has focused largely on Kurdish rebels.
The strike was carried out against an ISIS target inside Syria, though the Pentagon declined to say what that target was, or whether it was successful.
Ankara on Wednesday appointed a new army chief as Turkey wages a dual offensive against Kurdish militants and Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
Key to Ankara’s concern is the rising profile of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey considers a branch of the PKK. Turkey changed its position after the killing of a Turkish soldier in border clashes and the bombing of a border town.
“That deepening relationship between the United States and a Syrian Kurdish group that ultimately aims at creating an autonomous region in Syria really scared Turkey”, said Henri Barkey, director of the Middle East programme at the Woodrow Wilson worldwide Centre for Scholars.
Ankara launched the peace process with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012. On his arms, hands and legs are red scars from an Isis rocket attack on the front lines near the city of Kirkuk. And now the US seems to have moved to more direct support of the Turkish war against the Kurds. Syrian Kurdish fighters were eventually assisted by coalition airstrikes. Under Turkey’s electoral rules, if HDP is banned, it will lead to AKP, as the second largest party in the Kurdish areas, to get all the former HDP seats and emerge again as the dominant party in Parliament.
In two other separate incidents in Van and Agri provinces, militants killed two soldiers, bringing the death toll among Turkish security forces since July 20 to at least 21.
He said the government must halt security operations and declare itself ready for dialogue.
“A coalition may be formed or not but peace is urgent”.
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Since the fall of Mosul on June 10, 2014, Turkey has turned down several US requests to use the Incirlik air base, which hosts advanced North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military equipments, in the war against Daesh. This could mean US officials openly questioning Turkey’s attack on the PKK and highlighting how it jeopardises the mission against Islamic State – and therefore Turkish lives – rather than suggesting that the two are merely “coincidental”.
