The violence has accompanied increasing domestic pressure on HDP politicians.
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“The EU acknowledges that Turkey has the right to prevent and react to any form of terrorism, which must be unequivocally condemned”, he said, without citing the PKK or any Kurdish group by name.
“What is most important is to break the current cycle of violence”.
“Our (PKK) fighters, leaders of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the Turkish government’s officials failed to administer and commit themselves to the peace negotiations”, Ocalan wrote from his prison on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara, calling for an immediate ceasefire. “Our only crime was winning 13 percent of vote”, HDP chairman Selahattin Demirtas told party members in parliament. According to the reports, Iran promised the PYD that they would receive whatever support the regime gets plus autonomy if they accept to fight on the side of the regime.
The upsurge in clashes comes at a time of political uncertainty in Turkey, where efforts to forge a coalition government after an inconclusive June election have yet to yield fruit and with a snap election emerging as a possibility.
The settlement process has since stalled amidst mutual suspicion on both sides.
He said the government must halt security operations and declare itself ready for dialogue. In March 2013, its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan called a ceasefire.
“At first glance, Turkey’s bombardments of the PKK are more a diversion from the war against Isis than a detriment [to it]”, said Dov Friedman, an independent Turkey and Kurdistan analyst, adding “Yet, at a fundamental level, Turkey’s bombings are destabilising to the region”. So effective, that there have been calls in the US to remove the PKK from the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. After all, it is abundantly clear that Turkey is heavily focused on the Kurdish question and not the containment and eradication of ISIS.
“People look to us for morale and strength”, Demirtas told the Financial Times this week.
They accuse the AKP government of fueling the violence with a heavy-handed security approach in order to whip up nationalist fervor – a charge denied by officials. Security sources said at least seven other soldiers were wounded in the attack, which came as the helicopter took off. Akdogan said the state would continue to talk with Ocalan. Ankara exercised its influence on the Syrian opposition to keep out the PYD, working instead with the Kurdish National Council, founded by the support of Iraqi Kurd leader Masoud Barzani.
The crisis, which was attributed to ISIL, was sparked by the July 20 suicide bombing on Kurdish and Turkish activists in the town of Suruc, killing 33 people. The idea that Kurds are getting more relevant in the regional scene has terrified Turkey.
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One of the attackers was killed during the bombing, while two others and a police officer died in a subsequent firefight, the Istanbul governor’s office said.
