Turkish War Against ISIS & PKK | Page 7 | World Defense

Turkish War Against ISIS & PKK

Sinan

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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

Lie. :) If it's true show the site of the explosion. There were explosions in Şemdinli due to PKK's IEDs. Army is not being used in the operations. Police and Gendarme forces are being used which are under the command of internal ministry not army and they don't have any kind of artillery in their inventory.
 

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“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.
What the heck is this man talking about, we are already in the ATO.

About controlling the border...it's impossible to completely control a 900 km border. If it had been possible to completely control the borders there would be no refugee crisis in Europe and no cocaine in US.
 

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You guys need to sealed the border.
 

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How peace with Turkey emboldened the PKK
Wednesday, 23 September 2015

People in Turkey jubilantly celebrated the Kurdish peace process for nearly three years, predicting that the negotiations could spawn an era of calm following three decades of conflict. They were unaware, however, that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had exploited the lull in the conflict to replenish its forces, stock up on arms and increase its military posture.

For years, critics and opposition parties asked the government to be more transparent in peace negotiations, and warned against the PKK’s increasingly visible posture in towns and cities in the southeast, where the rebel group is more active and dominant. It seems the government was aware of the situation all along. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan acknowledged in a live TV interview this month that the Kurdish rebel group had exploited the peace process to stock up on arms.

Both sides must return to peace talks, with conditions that they must be held transparently with no strings attached.

Mahir Zeynalov
Only last year, the Turkish army asked governors in three provinces for a permission to conduct military operations against PKK militants. Out of 110 demands in Sirnak, 100 in Hakkari and 80 in Tunceli, governors only allowed eight operations, revealing how the authorities tolerated the PKK activities in restive areas in southeast Turkey.

Presidential gambit
Erdogan’s primary goal to commit himself to a peace process was to have a chance to secure Kurdish support for his presidential ambitions. That tentative agreement with Kurds fell apart when Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas built his electoral campaign in early summer on a promise that his party would thwart Erdogan’s presidential bid. Erdogan’s former chief aide and current deputy prime minister Yalcin Akdogan acknowledged that the peace process was halted because Demirtas railed against Erdogan’s presidential gambit.

Shortly after the Kurdish party surged in the polls to cost the AKP its 13-year single-party rule, the fighting between the PKK and the Turkish army resumed in one of the deadliest confrontations in the recent past. More than 130 members of Turkish security services were killed. There is no credible report of the death toll on the PKK side, but Erdogan claims the number of PKK militants killed is nearly 2,000. Hundreds were killed in massive air campaign against PKK targets in northern Iraq. Washington reluctantly extended its support to Turkey’s operations against the PKK at a time when U.S. diplomats worked assiduously to get Ankara on board in the fight against the ISIS.

The PKK’s approval rate in Turkey is very low, hovering around 6 percent. More than half of Turkey’s Kurds even loathe the PKK for its continued armed campaign. The Kurdish HDP party’s surge in the June elections was possible because the party – and its charismatic leader Demirtas – distanced itself from the PKK.

To garner nationalist votes and defame Demirtas as “PKK’s pawn,” the government has significantly escalated the war following the elections and the pro-government newspapers decorated their front pages with Demirtas-bashing. It was a well-calculated strategy to strip the HDP from necessary votes in upcoming elections slated for Nov. 1. If the Kurdish party fails to pass the threshold necessary to gain parliamentary seats, the AKP could regain its parliamentary majority.

PKK’s new military tactic
In the past, the PKK usually ganged up in huge numbers to attack gendarmerie posts in the rural southeast, with armed skirmishes continuing for hours. They retreated to nurse their wounds and to avoid upcoming air support for Turkish troops. With U.S. support in drone intelligence-gathering, it was hard for the PKK to attack the troops in big numbers.

The new method of assault is roadside bombs, which have been nightmare in Iraq for years. With explosives buried underground, PKK militants could now blow up Turkish armored vehicles carrying soldiers, avoiding armed shootouts and escaping with minimal casualties, if any.

On Sept. 6, the PKK detonated three roadside bombs in Daglica, killing 16 Turkish soldiers, the biggest attack on Turkish security forces since 2011, when at least 26 Turkish soldiers were killed in a night-long clash. A day later, a truck loaded with explosives was detonated in Igdir, killing at least 13 police officers. In the past two months, dozens of Turkish soldiers were killed in 27 separate bombing attacks.

The Turkish army is unable to retaliate against these attacks within Turkey. The government declared bounty for informants tipping off PKK militants and usually responded by heavily bombing PKK camps in northern Iraq.

Is peace possible?
In any negotiations to solve a military conflict, the different sides seek to gain an upper hand so that they have more say in peace talks. In this regard, the PKK’s intention to embolden its ranks could be considered rational. It is also obvious that the Turkish authorities sought to maintain the peace process by avoiding going after the PKK; but allowing the militant group to increase its presence in southeastern Turkey is a cause for concern. The majority of the Turkish people supported the peace process, because the government promised that the PKK would bury arms as a result. Quite the opposite took place.

Because the PKK’s strength comes from constant recruitment, there is no military solution to the conflict. The youth wing of the PKK is fighting the security forces in highly dense urban areas, making it very difficult for the Turkish army to retaliate without civilian casualties.

Peace talks failed because both sides had different motivations to maintain them. The government wanted to increase Erdogan’s chance for expanded presidency while the PKK sought to bolster its military presence at a time of ceasefire. Both sides must return to peace talks, with conditions that they must be held transparently with no strings attached. Support for the PKK will erode slowly if Kurds are granted necessary rights and freedoms. No rebel group could fight the establishment without a legitimate cause. The content of peace talks must be simple: PKK will commit to cease its military existence as Kurds are given their rights and freedoms.
________________
Mahir Zeynalov is a journalist with Turkish English-language daily Today's Zaman. He is also the managing editor of the Caucasus International magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @MahirZeynalov

Last Update: Wednesday, 23 September 2015 KSA 12:05 - GMT 09:05
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2015/09/23/How-the-PKK-exploited-peace-with-Turkey.html
 

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Turkish jets pound Kurdish militants in northern Iraq
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A missile-loaded Turkish Air Force warplane rises in the sky after taking off from Incirlik Air Base, in Adana, southern Turkey. (File photo: AP)

By Staff writer, Al Arabiya News
Wednesday, 23 September 2015

Turkish warplanes carried out a new barrage of cross-border airstrikes on a Kurdish militant camp in northern Iraq Wednesday, destroying munitions depots and caves, the army said.

Security sources said the jets also targeted a facility being used as an “education and logistics” hub late Tuesday.

The jets took off from an air base in Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, the sources added.

Turkish security forces have regularly targeted camps belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since the collapse of a ceasefire in July.

The attacks come after two Kurdish ministers resigned after accusing Turkey’s government of promoting a “logic of war” as they quit the cabinet on Tuesday, two months after the resumption of fighting between the army and Kurdish rebels.

EU Affairs Minister Ali Haydar Konca and Development Minister Muslum Dogan said the state’s two-month-old offensive against the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had created a “hellish” situation “especially in the Kurdish cities.”

The escalation has shattered a two-year-ceasefire which had raised hopes of an end to the PKK’s three-decade insurgency, in which over 40,000 people have been killed.

Turkish soldier killed
Meanwhile, a Turkish soldier was killed in southeastern Diyarbakir province in a new attack blamed on PKK, a security source said.

Sergeant Mehmet Ali Sarak, 25, came under fire from PKK militants with automatic rifles while on his way to his army base in the Silvan district of Diyarbakir, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Sarak, who was in civilian clothing when he was shot, died instantly, said the source, who added that an security operation was then launched to track down the assailants.

In a statement published on its website, the Turkish army confirmed the death of the soldier and denounced a “despicable attack” conducted by “traitors devoid of any humanity.”

Nearly 150 soldiers and police have been killed in attacks since July blamed on the PKK compared with more than 1,000 rebels, according to pro-government media.

The escalation has shattered a two-year-ceasefire which had raised hopes of an end to the PKK’s three-decade insurgency, in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.

(With Reuters and AFP)

Last Update: Wednesday, 23 September 2015 KSA 14:59 - GMT 11:59
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/23/Turkish-jets-pound-Kurdish-militant-camp-in-northern-Iraq.html
 

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Kurdish ministers quit Turkey govt in protest over conflict
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Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs Ali Haydar Konca (L) and Development Minister Muslum Dogan hold a press conference at the headquarters of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Ankara on September 22, 2015, after resigning from the interim government. (AFP)

By AFP, Ankara
Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Two Kurdish ministers accused Turkey’s government of promoting a “logic of war” as they quit the cabinet on Tuesday, two months after the resumption of fighting between the army and Kurdish rebels.

EU Affairs Minister Ali Haydar Konca and Development Minister Muslum Dogan said the state’s two-month-old offensive against the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had created a “hellish” situation “especially in the Kurdish cities”.

“A logic of war has been put into place,” Konca, who is a member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), told a press conference, describing the climate in the country as worse than under martial law in the 1990s.

Lamenting the loss of life among the “police, soldiers, guerrillas, women, children and the elderly” Konca said “both the palace (the presidency) and the (ruling party) AKP send the message that this war will be continued on a larger scale.”

The resignations were seen as dealing a further setback to the peace process and ceasefire between the government and PKK, which broke down in July after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched an “anti-terrorism” offensive against the militants.

The HDP rejects the government’s allegations that it is a front for the PKK, which has been blamed for a string of attacks that have killed dozens of soldiers and police in recent weeks, since the fighting resumed.

While enjoying some support among non-Kurds, the HDP is generally seen as defending Kurdish interests.

Konca and Dogan were brought into government after an inconclusive election in June, which led to the formation of a caretaker cabinet tasked with running the country until snap elections on November 1.

The June vote dealt a blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which failed to win a governing majority for the first time in 13 years after losing seats to the HDP.

The HDP was the biggest winner of the vote, gaining representation in parliament -- and later in government -- for the first time in the history of a pro-Kurdish party.

A statement from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s office said he had accepted their resignations and that neither would be immediately replaced, NTV channel reported.

NTV said the two ministers, who have been vocal critics of the AKP, resigned over a debate on terrorism during a weekly cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara.

Their exit leaves no opposition figures in the government as it presses a relentless campaign of airstrikes against PKK bases in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq which pro-government media say has killed over 1,000 rebels.

The military has also carried out ground operations aimed at flushing the PKK out of mainly Kurdish southeastern cities.

The army’s nine-day curfew of the mainly Kurdish city of Cizre earlier this month caused particular outrage among Kurds. The HDP claimed 23 civilians were killed in the operation. The government said up to 32 rebels died.

Last Update: Tuesday, 22 September 2015 KSA 18:53 - GMT 15:53
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/22/Two-Kurdish-ministers-quit-turkey-govt-over-logic-of-war-against-Kurdish-separatists-.html
 

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Photo of BMC Kirpi after of a roadside bomb blast By Dylan Vosman - Sep 18, 2015 0 1575 Share on Facebook Tweet on Twitter Photo of BMC Kirpi after of a roadside bomb blast. Twelve Turkish soldiers were wounded when their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb explosion in the largely Kurdish eastern province of Mus. BMC Kirpi is a Turkish made MRAP named after the hedgehog. The purpose of design and production of mine-resistant armored personnel carrier Kirpi is to serve in Turkish Armed Forces. Kirpi is designed and manufactured by BMC.

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Photo of BMC Kirpi after of a roadside bomb blast | Defence blog
 

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Turkish jets strike Kurdish militant targets
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A Turkish Air Force fighter plane flies over the Incirlik Air Base, in Adana, southern Turkey, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015. (File photo: AP)

By Reuters | Diyarbakir
Thursday, 24 September 2015

Turkish jets struck Kurdish militant targets in the southeastern province of Hakkari late on Wednesday, hitting shelters and armed posts, the army said in a statement on Thursday.

Turkish security forces have regularly targeted camps belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and the European Union, since the collapse of a ceasefire in July.


Last Update: Thursday, 24 September 2015 KSA 13:03 - GMT 10:03
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/24/Turkish-jets-strike-Kurdish-militant-targets.html
 

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Girl killed, five wounded by militant rocket in Turkey
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Masked members of YDG-H, youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), sit next to their weapons in Silvan, near the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Turkey. (Reuters)

Reuters, Diyarbakir, Turkey
Monday, 28 September 2015

A 9-year-old girl was killed and five people were wounded when a rocket fired by Kurdish militants hit a house in Diyarbakir province in southeastern Turkey on Sunday, the local governor's office said.

The Kurdish insurgents had targeted an armoured police vehicle but instead struck a three-storey house in the mainly Kurdish town of Bismil, it said.

The governor's office also said two Kurdish militants were killed in the city of Diyarbakir in what appeared to be a separate incident.

Southeast Turkey has been scorched by deadly fighting between security forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) since the end of a two-year-long ceasefire in July.

At least 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK - recognised as a terrorist organisation by the United States, Turkey and the European Union - launched its insurgency for greater Kurdish autonomy in 1984.

The escalating bloodshed in the mainly Kurdish southeast has worsened political tensions ahead of a snap Nov. 1 parliamentary election, with President Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling AK Party accusing pro-Kurdish lawmakers of being PKK sympathisers.

It has also complicated the relationship between NATO member Turkey and Washington, which sees a related Kurdish militia in Syria as its chief ally in fighting Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The United States has said it does not consider the Syrian Kurdish forces to be a terrorist organisation. The issue is likely to be raised by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu who is now in the United States for a United Nations General Assembly meeting this coming week.

Turkey has also joined in the fight against ISIS, launching air strikes into northern Syria and opening its air bases to the U.S.-led coalition.

However, most of its focus has been on the PKK, raising suspicions of government critics that Ankara's real reason for joining the fight against ISIS was to crack down on the Kurdish opposition ahead of the Nov.1 election re-run.

At a dinner in New York on Friday, Davutoglu said Turkey had "broken the back of terrorist threats" with its recent operations, according to local media reports.

Last Update: Monday, 28 September 2015 KSA 01:43 - GMT 22:43
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/28/Girl-killed-five-wounded-by-militant-rocket-in-Turkey-.html
 

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Two Turkish soldiers gunned down on way to work
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An armed Turkish police officer secures a road leading to the U.S. Consulate building in Istanbul. (File photo: AP)

By Reuters | Ankara
Thursday, 1 October 2015

Two Turkish soldiers were gunned down by suspected Kurdish militants as they left for work on Thursday in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, security sources said.

More than 100 security personnel and hundreds of militants have been killed since the collapse of a ceasefire with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party in July. The renewed hostilities have left efforts to establish a long-term peace in ruins, and have sparked some of the worst recent clashes in a three decades-long insurgency.

The soldiers were killed in the town of Silvan, where security forces are trying to track down the assailants, the sources told Reuters.

Last Update: Thursday, 1 October 2015 KSA 11:01 - GMT 08:01
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/10/01/Two-Turkish-soldiers-gunned-down-on-way-to-work-security-sources.html
 

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BLACKEAGLE

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Two soldiers martyred in southeastern Turkey

Six PKK terrorists killed during ongoing operations says military

25.12.2015 Ankara Turkey, todays headlines

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SIRNAK, Turkey

Two Turkish soldiers were martyred and two others injured during operations launched against the PKK terrorist organization in southeastern Turkey on Friday.

According to a statement released by Turkish General Staff, the operations in the Cizre district of Turkey’s Sirnak province also left six PKK terrorists dead.

The PKK -- considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its armed campaign in late July.

Since then, more than 200 members of the security forces have been martyred and over 1,700 PKK terrorists killed.
Two soldiers martyred in southeastern Turkey
 
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