“Turkey is not waging war against IS but against the Kurdish people“, said Zubeyir Aydar of the Kurdish National Congress.
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Until he shifted course last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been primarily focused on opposing Syrian President Bashar Assad in the brutal Syrian civil war – putting him at odds with Obama, who has said fighting Islamic State is the priority.
The F-16 jets hit six targets in Iraq and were scrambled from an air base in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakir, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity becausfe of the sensitivity of the operations.
Turkey’s response has been to bomb PKK camps in northern Iraq and after a cross-border exchange of fire to launch air strikes against ISIL. “This is not a football game but a fight against terrorism”, a Turkish official told AFP.
A North Atlantic Treaty Organisation official said members also used the closed-door meeting to call on Turkey not to use excessive force in reaction to terror attacks, while urging it to continue peace efforts with representatives of the Kurdish minority. The PKK is affiliated with, but separate from, Syrian Kurdish fighters allied with the United States in its fight against the Islamic State group.
Many Russians fly to Turkey for summer holidays. But the current fighting has left the prospects of a settlement as far off as ever.
Braving nationalist anger, Erdogan introduced tentative reforms on Kurdish rights and in 2012 launched negotiations to try to end a PKK insurgency that has killed 40,000 people since 1984.
The parties appeared to be inching towards a final peace deal after a ceasefire was agreed on 2013. And that the military attack followed “provocations” that failed to draw a violent reaction from the Kurds.
Unable to garner Kurdish support in June’s election, the AKP’s aim of gaining an overall majority was thwarted by the Kurdish-based HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party), which passed the electoral threshold and gained 80 seats out of the parliament’s 550. “This is something that is discussed on a bilateral basis between Turkey and the United States”. The President has called the HDP a parliamentary extension of the PKK and said it has “an inorganic link” with the organization.
Domestic politics also could figure in heavily.
Chomani explained that Ankara wants to prevent the Syrian Kurds from uniting the cantons, which would create a Kurdish-controlled zone along the Turkish-Syrian border that could inspire Kurds in Turkey, who seek greater cultural and political rights.
He called parliament to strip immunity from prosecution from Kurdish lawmakers if they are linked to the militant group.
“We have committed no unforgivable crimes”.
“Our only crime is to win 13 percent of the vote”, Demirtas said, saying one of the main objectives of the campaign was to “harm” the HDP.
But Erdogan rapidly extended the campaign to include the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey and northern Iraq after the militants claimed a series of attacks on Turkish security forces in revenge for the Suruc blast.
“Any step back is out of the question”.
“We can not say that the peace process is de facto over”, said AKP spokesman Besir Atalay.
Presidential sources said all three leaders had expressed their support.
As the Turkish cabinet formally approved the use by American planes of the Incirlik airbase from which to attack Isis targets inside Syria and Iraq, it emerged that other details of the plan have also yet to be resolved – including how deep into Syria the Isis-free “safety zone” might extend and how quickly the planes will begin flying combat missions from Turkish territory. “The YPG is an ally of the U.S. but a foe or enemy of Turkey”. In contrast, police detained as many as 847 PKK suspects.
There have been more attacks since the air strikes began.
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German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday she had told her Turkish counterpart that Berlin backed Ankara in the fight against IS but had “concerns over the intervention against the PKK”. The military said the soldier later died, at least the fourth member of the security forces to be killed over the past week.
