Turkish War Against ISIS & PKK | Page 6 | World Defense

Turkish War Against ISIS & PKK

Sinan

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I'm referring to the bold part in your #69 post.
Kurdish rebel ???

Yes, it is a bad thing. Because they are trying to show it like "Turks vs Kurds"....trying build some ethnic tensions. However situation is like "Turkish state fighting against PKK Terrorism."
 

BLACKEAGLE

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Kurdish rebel ???

Yes, it is a bad thing. Because they are trying to show it like "Turks vs Kurds"....trying build some ethnic tensions. However situation is like "Turkish state fighting against PKK Terrorism."
It's used by all respected News outlets. The same source even say Huthi rebels not terrorists.
 

Sinan

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It's used by all respected News outlets. The same source even say Huthi rebels not terrorists.
What can i say.... hypocritical westerns.... they are fine as long as terror hurts someone else but not themselves.
 

BLACKEAGLE

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What can i say.... hypocritical westerns.... they are fine as long as terror hurts someone else but not themselves.
Don't expect much from the West. Turkey needs to have popular and respected media outlets to familiarize the world with it's cause. Media is as important as military power.
 

Sinan

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Don't expect much from the West. Turkey needs to have popular and respected media outlets to familiarize the world with it's cause. Media is as important as military power.
Yeah, it's important i guess...but not so much necessary. We will continue pounding PKK in and outside of our country. They can bitch and yell but no one can stop us physically.

Soft power have limitations, hard power have no limitations.
 

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ROFLROFLROFL

PKK warns Turkey will pay ‘heavy price’ for offensive


DIYARBAKIR, Turkey: A senior figure in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Friday warned that Turkey would pay “a heavy price” for its offensive against the rebels amid new deadly clashes in the Kurdish-majority southeast.

A 40-year-old man was killed when he was caught in an armed clash between Turkish forces and the PKK in the city of Diyarbakir, security sources told AFP.

Four Turkish soldiers were also killed and six more were wounded in a clash with Kurdish militants in the southeasterly Hakkari province, security sources told Reuters.

A 29-year-old man was also wounded during clashes that erupted overnight after youths linked to the outlawed PKK opened fire at police trying to clear a main road blocked by the militants.

After a series of attacks in Turkey, Ankara has launched a two-pronged offensive to bomb ISIS militants in Syria and PKK rebels in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey.

So far, the operation has focused on the Kurdish rebels, who have responded by waging a bloody campaign against the security forces.

“We are waging a battle of the wills,” the PKK’s northern Iraq-based leader Murat Karayilan said.

“We are experienced and we know very well what to do. They made a very big mistake by attacking us ... They will pay a very heavy price for that.”

According to an AFP toll, 31 members of the Turkish security forces have since died in attacks blamed on the PKK.

But Karayilan, who is often seen as the movement’s overall leader in the absence its jailed iconic chief Abdullah Ocalan, said the PKK had not “put into effect a war plan yet.”

“Our fight continues in a planned and controlled way. We are just conducting retaliatory actions,” he said.

The PKK has waged a struggle for autonomy and greater rights in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast for over 30 years that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 people took to the streets in Diyarbakir Friday to protest the escalating cycle of violence that has left a 2013 cease-fire agreed by the PKK in tatters, an AFP reporter said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday said his government would press on with its campaign against Kurdish militants, saying the operations were not “temporary.” “You shall not think they are strong ... They are doomed to fail,” Erdogan told supporters in his ancestral hometown in the Black Sea province of Rize.

More than 1,700 suspects have been arrested since late last month in police raids nationwide targeting suspected members of the PKK as well as ISIS and the Marxist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party Front (DHKP-C), state-run Anatolia news agency said.

Friday police detained at least 39 suspected terrorists in raids in several cities including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, Anatolia said.

Karayilan meanwhile distanced the PKK from the July 22 killing of two Turkish policemen in their sleep, saying it was carried out “by a group not precisely affiliated to us.” He also said the PKK’s central command did not approve of suicide bombings, such as the attack in Istanbul Monday that was claimed by Kurdish militants.

Turkey’s nationalist opposition made clear Friday it would not roll over and back a minority government, making Erdogan’s aim of taking the country to a snap election with the ruling party in control look difficult. Talks on forming a grand coalition between the AK Party and the main opposition CHP broke down on Thursday, making an autumn election almost inevitable and leaving the ruling party having to turn to the nationalist MHP for support.

The lira currency hit a record low Friday and stocks were little recovered after sharp falls the previous session. The AKP failed to hold its majority in a general election on June 7, leaving it unable to govern alone for the first time since it came to power in 2002 and plunging Turkey into uncertainty not seen since the fragile coalitions of the 1990s.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Thursday urged parliament to call for a new vote as soon as possible, apparently hoping for an agreement with the MHP that would allow his government to stay in power until the new election takes place. But the MHP said it had no interest in propping up an AKP minority administration.

“That would be a minority government. We would reject this,” MHP vice chairman Mevlut Karakaya told Reuters, saying that unless the AKP was prepared to accept nationalist conditions for a full coalition there was little point even negotiating.


PKK warns Turkey will pay ‘heavy price’ for offensive | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR
 

BLACKEAGLE

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Turkish PM sheds tear for soldier killed in ISIS gunfight
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The PM made the remarks at an event marking the 14th anniversary of his party’s establishment. (File: AP)


By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Sunday, 16 August 2015

Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu fought back tears at an event in Ankara as he spoke about a soldier recently killed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

In a video posted on Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News’s website, Davutoglu’s voice descends into a more somber tone as he begins to talk about the soldier.

“I can’t forget how the respected wife of that brave person, Yalçın Nane, welcomed us to their home without shedding any tears and telling us that - God willing - her baby will also serve the country after, God willing, he or she is born,” the PM said at an event marking the 14th anniversary of his party’s establishment.

Nane was killed during the first fire exchange between the Turkish military and ISIS militants on July 23.

“We don’t get tired even when we work day and night. But when we hear the voice of a martyred soldier’s mother or father on the phone, then everything stops at that moment,” Davutoglu said, according to Hurriyet Daily.

The following video, courtesy of Hurriyet Daily News, shows Davutoglu addressing members of his party.


Last Update: Sunday, 16 August 2015 KSA 13:52 - GMT 10:52
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/16/Turkish-PM-sheds-tear-for-soldier-killed-in-ISIS-gunfight-.html
 

BLACKEAGLE

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U.S. official: we need Turkey to defeat ISIS
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A Turkish Air Force A400M tactical transport aircraft is parked at Incirlik airbase in the southern city of Adana, Turkey, July 24, 2015. (Reuters)

Staff writer, Al Arabiya News
Saturday, 15 August 2015

A U.S. official said this week that the coalition striking Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants “can’t succeed” without Turkey, the Istanbul-based daily Hurriyet reported.

Brett McGurk, who is a deputy special envoy to the U.S.-led coalition bombing ISIS militants, said that Turkey’s support in the coalition was “critical” due to its military support, proximity to Syria and Iraq, and role in aiding refugees fleeing ISIS-held territory.The U.S. official warned that “strategic patience” would be required in the campaign.

“The fighting on the ground is being done by partners on the ground. It’s not being done by U.S. soldiers. It’s not being done by Turkish soldiers,” McGurk, who this week was in the Turkish capital Ankara to finalize a deal where the U.S. can use a Turkish airbase for raids against ISIS, told Hurriyet.

Long a reluctant partner in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, NATO member Turkey last month made a dramatic shift in policy, sending warplanes to attack the Islamist hardline group in northern Syria. Earlier this week, it opened its Incirlik air base for use in coalition air strikes.

Turkish right
But since beginning its campaign against ISIS, Turkey has since turned its attention to bombing Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants over in Iraq, a change that has reportedly frustrated some Washington officials.

Whereas the U.S. is focused on fighting ISIS militants and has partnered with Syrian Kurds to that end, Turkey’s main priority is curtailing growing Kurdish power along its southern border with Syria.

But McGurk said that Turkey “has the right” to defend itself from Kurdish militant attacks.

“The PKK was not a part or an issue that was part of the agreement against Daesh,” said McGurk, using an alternative name for ISIS. “However, the PKK is a very serious threat to our Turkish partners and therefore, when the PKK launches attacks inside Turkey, Turkey has the right to respond.”

Earlier this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey does not expect to deploy ground forces in Syria to fight ISIS option should remain on the table.

“Right now, no ground operation is envisaged, but in the future whatever is needed to fight ISIS - including ground operations - should be done. This is my personal opinion,” Cavusoglu told HaberTurk TV in an interview.

The U.S.-led coalition has launched over 6,000 bombing missions against ISIS militants since strikes began in August last year.

(With AP and Reuters)

Last Update: Sunday, 16 August 2015 KSA 00:09 - GMT 21:09
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/15/U-S-official-we-need-Turkey-to-defeat-ISIS.html
 

BLACKEAGLE

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3 soldiers killed in bomb attack in eastern Turkey
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Turkish soldiers patrol near the border with Syria, ouside the village of Elbeyli, east of the town of Kilis, southeastern Turkey, Friday, July 24, 2015. (AP)

By AP | Ankara, Turkey
Saturday, 15 August 2015

Turkey's state-run news agency says Kurdish rebels detonated a roadside bomb as a military vehicle was passing by, killing three soldiers.

Anadolu Agency said six other soldiers were wounded in the attack on a highway between the eastern provinces of Bingol and Erzurum. The agency said the bomb was planted by the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The attack was the latest amid a sharp escalation of violence between Turkey's security forces and the PKK and the collapse of a two-year peace process with the rebels. Dozens of people, mostly soldiers, have died since July in the renewed violence.

Turkish warplanes have raided PKK targets in Iraq and in southeast Turkey in tandem with airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria since late July.

Last Update: Saturday, 15 August 2015 KSA 21:33 - GMT 18:33
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/15/3-soldiers-killed-in-bomb-attack-in-eastern-Turkey.html
 

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SIS video calls on Turks to join fight against 'traitor' Erdogan
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An ISIS video message released on Twitter on Monday shows a Turkish-speaking fighter. (Screenshot)

By The Associated Press | Ankara
Tuesday, 18 August 2015

ISIS militants have called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a traitor for allowing the U.S. to use air bases for strikes against the group, and urged Muslims in Turkey to support the extremist group and fight the "crusaders, atheists and tyrants."

An ISIS video message released on Twitter on Monday shows a Turkish-speaking fighter, flanked by two others, accusing Erdogan of permitting the U.S. to "bombard the people of Islam."

Six F-16 fighter jets arrived at a Turkish air base last week and began flying missions against the ISIS group over Syria.

The Associated Press couldn't independently verify the footage, but it was shared widely by ISIS supporter on social media and resembled other propaganda distributed by the extremists.

Last Update: Tuesday, 18 August 2015 KSA 13:00 - GMT 10:00
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/18/ISIS-calls-Turks-to-join-fight-against-traitor-Erdogan.html
 

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Eight soldiers killed, Istanbul palace attacked as Turkish unrest mounts
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Turkish policemen secure the area after a shooting incident near the entrance to Dolmabahce palace in Istanbul. (Reuters)

By Reuters | Istanbul and Diyarbakir
Wednesday, 19 August 2015

Gunmen have opened fire on Turkish police outside an Istanbul palace and eight soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in the southeast on Wednesday, heightening a sense of crisis as the country’s political leaders struggle to form a new government.

The Istanbul governor’s office said two members of a “terrorist group” armed with hand grenades and an automatic rifle were caught after attacking the Dolmabahce palace, popular with tourists and home to the prime minister’s Istanbul offices.

There were no reports of casualties or an immediate claim of responsibility for the attack at Dolmabahce palace. The building has been targeted before by leftist militants.

Militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) meanwhile killed eight soldiers with a roadside bomb in the southeastern province of Siirt, the military said, intensifying a conflict there after the breakdown of a two-year ceasefire last month.

“War on terror”
The unrest in the NATO member state comes weeks after it declared a “war on terror”, opening up its air bases to the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, launching air strikes on Kurdish militants, and detaining more than 2,500 suspected members of radical Kurdish, far-leftist and Islamist groups.

The latest attacks also come a day after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu gave up on efforts to form a new government after weeks of coalition talks with the opposition failed, paving the way for a new election potentially within months.

"Because of the failure to form a government, we have to seek a solution with the will of the people ... so we are heading rapidly towards an election again," President Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech.

Davutoglu was in the capital Ankara as reports of the shooting emerged and did not interrupt a speech he was giving live on television.

Turkey has been on heightened state alert since launching what Davutoglu described a
“synchronised war on terror” in July, exposing it to reprisals from ISIS sympathizers, Kurdish militants and leftist radicals alike.

Last Update: Wednesday, 19 August 2015 KSA 18:55 - GMT 15:55
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/19/Eight-soldiers-killed-Istanbul-palace-attacked-as-Turkish-unrest-mounts.html
 

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Turkish artillery fires Kurds in Semdinli

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Turkish military start operations in the Kurdish city of Semdinli

Artillery fires opened from a military battalion in a village of Semdinli hit the civilian area, as a result of which one woman was wounded.

Turkish troops from the military battalion in Tekeli (Gare) village in Hakkari’s Semdinli district opened mortar fires on the surrounding areas Sunday afternoon.

The mortar shells hit the civilian area in the village, which left a woman by the name of Sevgi Dayan wounded by shell fragments. Dayan was taken to Şemdinli State Hospital by the villagers.

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Turkish artillery fires Kurds in Semdinli | Defence blog
 

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U.S. says Turkey must do more to fight ISIS
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Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Turkey should now add its own warplanes to the “air tasking order.” (AP)

AFP, Washington
Friday, 21 August 2015

Turkey should play a full part in the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group and take better control of its border with Syria, the U.S. defense secretary said Thursday.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Turkey had agreed in principle to join the anti-ISIS coalition but should now add its own warplanes to the “air tasking order,” the military structure coordinating strikes.

“They need to join the ATO and they need to work more on controlling their border. And we've made that clear,” he told reporters.

“Their leadership has indicated that this needs to be done. It’s overdue, because it’s a year into the campaign, but they’re indicating some considerable effort now.”

Turkey agreed last month to step up its involvement in the war raging across its southern border in Syria and to allow U.S. planes to launch strikes from a Turkish base.

But its involvement in the battle against ISIS group has so far been limited and it appears to be concentrating on its recently revived war with Kurdish separatist militants.

Carter said ISIS is still able to bring fighters and supplies over the Turkish border and into Syria.

“We need them also as a neighbor to this conflict zone, as a long-time NATO ally and a responsible member of the anti-ISIL coalition, to control the border,” he said, using another acronym for ISIS.

“I don’t think they’re dragging their feet,” Carter said, adding that allowing U.S. strikes to be launched from Turkish air fields was “important, but not enough.”

Last Update: Friday, 21 August 2015 KSA 07:49 - GMT 04:49
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/21/U-S-says-Turkey-must-do-more-to-fight-ISIS.html
 

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Turkey accuses BBC of making propaganda for ‘terrorist’ PKK
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Trukey accused the BBC of airing “written and visual propaganda of the PKK terrorist organization.” (File: Reuters)

By AFP | Istanbul
Saturday, 22 August 2015

Turkey on Friday accused the BBC of making propaganda for the “terrorist” Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) over a report on the outlawed group’s female fighters in northern Iraq.

The BBC responded by saying its report had offered a “unique insight” into the motivations of the PKK’s fighters and had also stated clearly that the group is considered a “terrorist organization” by Turkey.

The report, published Thursday on the BBC website, followed female fighters on a PKK training camp in northern Iraq as they prepared to fight against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants.

“Giving such coverage... amounts to an open support for terrorism,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement, condemning the report as “unacceptable.”

It accused the BBC of airing “written and visual propaganda of the PKK terrorist organization.”

The ministry accused the BBC of depicting the PKK as “innocent,” noting it is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the United States.

Ankara in late July launched a dual anti-terror offensive against ISIS militants in Syria and the PKK in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey following a series of deadly attacks.

But the campaign has overwhelmingly focused on the Kurdish militants, who have ripped up a 2013 ceasefire to launch daily attacks against the Turkish security forces.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Kurdish militia the People’s Protection Units (YPG) -- which Turkey says are an offshoot of the PKK -- have been battling ISIS militant, winning plaudits from the West.

A BBC spokesperson told AFP the broadcaster’s coverage of Turkey’s current security crisis had “included extensive coverage of attacks perpetrated by the PKK.”

“This report offers a unique insight into understanding what motivated these women to join the PKK to fight the ISIS, including some who had escaped ISIS, and makes it clear that the PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the Turkish government.”

The controversy comes amid growing concern over press freedoms in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in particular over the numbers of journalists facing legal proceedings on accusations of insulting its leaders.

Officials have regularly expressed anger over Western reporting for allegedly ignoring the suffering caused by the PKK’s three-decade armed struggle which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The Turkish foreign ministry called on the BBC to “adopt the same editorial guidelines” as it did towards the Irish Republican Army (IRA) when it carried out attacks against police in Northern Ireland.

Last Update: Saturday, 22 August 2015 KSA 00:10 - GMT 21:10
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/media/television-and-radio/2015/08/22/Turkey-accuses-BBC-of-making-propaganda-for-terrorist-PKK.html
 

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Turkish soldiers killed after convoy hit explosives
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The explosion occurred near the town of Semdinli in Hakkari province, which borders the Iraqi border, in the mainly Kurdish southeast. (File photo: AP)

By Reuters | Turkey
Monday, 24 August 2015

Two Turkish soldiers were killed and three wounded on Monday when the vehicle they were travelling in hit explosives buried in the road, the latest attack following the collapse of a ceasefire with Kurdish militants, security sources said.

The explosion occurred near the town of Semdinli in Hakkari province, which borders the Iraqi border, in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

Turkey has launched more than 400 air strikes against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, where the armed group is based, and in southeast Turkey since late July, in what it says is a response to attacks on police officers and soldiers.

Ankara blames the autonomy-seeking PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, for the deaths of 40,000 people, mainly Kurdish, since it took up arms in 1984.

Last Update: Monday, 24 August 2015 KSA 10:44 - GMT 07:44
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/24/Two-soldiers-killed-after-convoy-hits-explosives-in-Turkey.html
 
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