“The Turkish government and the IS have a strategic and ideological affinity for each other”.
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One soldier was killed in Van province – close to the border with Iran – after security forces responded to an attack by militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on a bus with Iranian license plates. “Kurds have witnessed betrayal for centuries” said Axin Bro, a musician.
The flare-up in violence comes at a time of political uncertainty in Turkey.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants attacked a military outpost and a police auto in southeast Turkey overnight, killing a policeman, officials and security sources said on Sunday, in further violence jeopardizing a fragile peace process.
“He is in jail, and we don’t know what he is accused of”, said the brother, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the government crackdown. Ankara has also allowed the U.S.-led coalition targeting the IS militants to use its air bases. “The fight against the PKK took the limelight, giving the impression that Turkey’s new stance against IS [Islamic State] was nothing more than a smokescreen for an all-out war against the PKK“, argues newspaper columnist Cengiz Candar. “That is why the current airstrikes have been launched against the Kurdish movement and not the ISIS“.
Of the 1,300 people the government rounded up in a nationwide anti-terror sweep, the overwhelming number has been Kurdish.
Kurdish fighters – among them the PKK – have secured significant victories against IS militants in Syria and Iraq. “[Erdogan’s] aim is to stop the Kurdish advance against them, thus advancing his aim of Turkishness in Turkey”. We all know how ISIS fighters (men and women) from various countries, including Bangladesh, used to enter Syria through Turkey to further destabilise Syria and the adjoining sub-regions, till the recent past. “We will join them if it is necessary”. Police officers Hamdi Ulaş, Kamuran Bilin and Hıdır Tamboğa were killed, while seven others, including two police officers, were injured in the clashes. “They should collaborate”.
The government has said talks can only resume once the PKK lays down its weapons.
Erdogan has been struggling since elections in June resulted in a hung parliament, when the pro-Kurdish party made huge gains in Parliament.
Ankara launched a peace process with the PKK in late 2012 and a ceasefire declared in 2013 had largely held until now.
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A soldier was also killed when Kurdish militants opened fire on a military helicopter in a separate attack in Sirnak, the military said in a statement.
