Coalition forces could start using the bases “any moment”, Bilgic said.
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It was July 24, just hours after Turkey announced a crackdown on the Islamic State in a major strategic shift for the nation.
“We are used to this”.
Young Kurds are distrustful and ask to see the press pass of the visitor, not willing to give up their own names. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules requiring prior authorization to speak to journalists. Both towns are close to Turkey’s borders with Syria and Iraq.
Supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attacked security forces with homemade explosives, rocket launchers and long-range rifles, set up barricades and placed mines.
The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU, is mainly based around the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq. The Kurds immediately blamed Turkey because of its complicity in aiding Isis – assistance which has been well documented. A total of 142 have been charged so far, while 120 were released. It was followed by retaliatory attacks by the outlawed PKK against Turkish troops and police across the country, including the murder of two police officers in their home in the town of Ceylanpınar, also in Şanlıurfa province. “This is a process and it will continue with the same determination”, Erdogan said, after phone calls overnight with French President Francois Hollande, the king of Saudi Arabia and the emir of Qatar.
Turkey is actually inside the anti-ISIS combat – and it’s not clear are you aware of what happens next.
The march was held as military action against the militant PKK intensifies, which some say is actually aimed at putting an end to Kurdish territorial ambitions rather than fighting ISIL.
Some 5,000 people demonstrators gathered in the centre of the city, police said, with organisers hoping that more of the region’s substantial Kurdish and Turkish populations more would join them later.
In the June 7 general election, the HDP entered the parliament for the first time by passing a ten percent electoral threshold and winning 80 seats, contributing to a redistribution of parliamentary groups that ended the single-party rule and requires the formation of a coalition government.
Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, called for the peace process to resume. The U.S. silence on the Turkish operations may hurt its burgeoning alliance with the YPG, whose fighters have proven to be the most effective ground force battling the Islamic State. “Erdogan wishes to have early elections and such a nationalist movement would help AKP to increase their votes”.
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The Suruc bombing on July 20, where over 30 civilians were killed, was the last straw for all involved sides.
