Another 260 were killed in ground operations in southeastern Turkey, Anatolia said, quoting what it said were sources in military intelligence.
Advertisement
Of course, there is also the ideological factor, in that the Islamist AK Party identifies with Islamist rebel groups fighting against the Syrian regime. On July 22, the PKK claimed responsibility for the killing of two Turkish police officers, saying they were cooperating with Daesh.
SILOPI, Turkey-War has returned to this remote southeastern city, transforming dusty streets into a battleground as surging violence between Turkish security forces and Kurdish separatists threatens to kindle a level of urban warfare not seen for two decades.
Protests are increasing as government ministers attend funerals of Turkish soldiers who were killed by the Kurdish rebel group PKK.
The latest deaths came as two suspected gunmen on Wednesday were reported to have opened fire on guards outside the Dolmabahce Palace in central Istanbul, with no casualties reported. The four soldiers injured in the attack were still under treatment.
Turkish airstrikes on PKK strongholds in northern Iraq and southern Turkey, which began on July 24, are still ongoing.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.
According to the state-run Anatolia news agency, 771 PKK militants have been killed in the campaign, including 430 in the air strikes on their camps in northern Iraq. Allegedly after the assault, a short conflict broke out between Turkish security strengths and PKK aggressors.
Meanwhile, seven PKK militants reportedly surrendered to the authorities, bringing the number of militants from the group who have surrendered to 854 since March 21, 2013, the Şırnak Governor’s Office said in a written statement.
Neither the government nor the PKK have called an official end to the peace process, but there are concerns that much of the violence is being perpetrated by youth groups and factions which will be hard to bring back under control.
Advertisement
Turkey said the BBC had depicted “a terrorist organisation as innocent” and condemned the report as an “unacceptable” violation of United Nations and European Union resolutions that designate the PKK as a proscribed organisation.
