PKK’s latest terror campaign might be the end of Kurdish gains

Once I stated that Turkish State have lost Kurds after the closure of DTP. Kurdish opening etc progressed slowly but there had been gains. 30 years ago, you could not utter the word “Kurdish” publicly in this country. Now there is a state TV channel in Kurdish. I don’t claim these are enough but such a thorny issue cannot be solved easily. And Kurdish national consciousness has been gaining ground, more and more public spaces for Kurdishness appeared in the last year. However, organized Kurdish response to politics is to step up terroristic activities. Unfortunately not only the guerilla movement but its political dimension, many leaders of BDP explicitly support terrorist activities. Latest wave of attacks are unbearable. It is highly possible that the Turkish State may start an anti-terror campaign in unprecedented scales with an unforeseen popular support…

Istanbul blast rocks bus carrying soldiers

Reuters

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – An explosion rocked a bus carrying military personnel in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul on Tuesday, killing three people a day after…

Turkey to take additional measures to fight PKK

Turkey will take additional short and medium-term measures to fight the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) as the PKK recently increased attacks targeting the military units in Turkey, an official statement said Monday. The statement after a high-level security summit chaired by Turkish President Abdullah Gul said, “It has been expressed during the summit that the structure of intelligence

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul (R) prays during the funeral of Turkish soldier Huseyin Koksal in Ankara June 20, 2010. Fighting on Saturday, which marked a fresh escalation in the 26-year-old insurgency, killed 11 soldiers and 12 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas in the southeastern province of Hakkari, near the border with Iraq. Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday Kurdish militants would “drown in their own blood” as he led political and army chiefs in paying respects to troops killed in a clash with the rebels.? Read more REUTERS/Stringer

Kurdish Military Organizations

Kurdish guerrillas launched an attack on Turkish troops in southeast Turkey overnight. The attack marked a fresh escalation of conflict in the region and military reinforcements were sent to the scene of the attack at Semdinli in Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq. There has been an increase in separatist violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast in recent weeks, as warmer weather brings increased infiltration of PKK rebels from the mountains of northern Iraq, where several thousand of them are based. On July 2, 2010 the PKK have scrapped a year-old unilateral ceasefire and resumed attacks against Turkish forces. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK launched its armed insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey.

11 Soldiers died in PKK Attack

Why is the army so unsuccessful?

EMRE USLU – Analyzing the TSK?s failure against the PKK

Turks, Kurds and the high price of peace

Last week, in a short piece I wrote about Bloody Sunday, I promised to follow up by outlining the key terms of the peace settlement that brought an end to the violent campaign of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and most other terrorist groups in Northern Ireland.

My purpose here is to illustrate three crucial facts in relation to Turkey?s Kurdish question. First, that profound transformation in these conflicts is possible. Second, that such transformation requires political skills, leadership and perseverance over not just years but decades. And third, that people in Turkey are far from ready for the kind of compromises that a lasting settlement in the southeast is likely to involve.

Erdogan defiant after Kurdish rebels kill 12

Scenes from the politicized judiciary

PKK terrorism and mistakes

Terror and values hierarchy

ABDULLAH BOZKURT – PKK terror hurts US, EU and Israel too

LALE KEMAL – Turkey at turning point on terror

A nation that is a NATO member and a candidate for European Union membership cannot have a more than 26-year-long fight against terror costing the lives of about 50,000 people.

Hundreds of Turkish people march in Istanbul as they chant slogans against PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) during a protest on June 20. The United States supports Turkey’s struggle against separatist Kurdish rebels and is ready to “urgently” consider any new request for help from Ankara, the US ambassador to Turkey said Monday.? Read more » (AFP/File/Bulent Kilic)