Turkish air strikes on PKK rebels as country mourns

[Anthea]

BBC News

The Turkish air force has pounded Kurdish militants a day after a deadly bomb attack on a rally for peace in the capital Ankara.

Planes attacked Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in both the south-east and over the border in northern Iraq.

Saturday's twin bombing in Ankara killed at least 95 people, making it the deadliest such attack in years.

Security sources say they suspect the so-called Islamic State (IS) group was behind the attack.

The air force struck after the government rejected a new ceasefire announced by the PKK on Saturday.

Turkey was already tense before Saturday's attack, with a snap general election looming on 1 November.

The governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority in June after gains by the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP), which was involved in Saturday's rally.

Anthea: It is time Kurds declared

INDEPENDENCE

[Anthea]

Bloomberg

Turkey’s military said it killed dozens of Kurdish separatists hours after explosions in Ankara left at least 95 people dead, marking an escalation in violence ahead of parliamentary elections in November.

Thirty-Five PKK members were killed when fighter jets targeted their bases in northern Iraq, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Sunday. Another 14 militants died in airstrikes in Turkey’s largely Kurdish Diyarbakir province, the military said in a statement. The strikes came after pro-Kurdish newspapers said the group had declared a unilateral cease-fire in the southeast.

The violence leaves Turkey in the throes of deepening domestic unrest and the spillover from a worsening war in neighboring Syria. Authorities have said the carnage in Ankara, for which no one claimed responsibility, could be the work of Islamic State militants who are battling allies of the PKK in Syria. The attack on a largely Kurdish march calling for peace undermines chances of a halt in violence before the Nov. 1 vote.

“The attack appears likely to exacerbate the already deep cleavages in an already dangerously divided society,” said Wolfango Piccoli, managing director at a London-based political risk consultancy.

Violence flared after the country’s inconclusive general elections in June ended the single-party rule of the AKP, the party co-founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The pro-Kurdish HDP party won enough votes to enter the assembly for the first time. The unrest has undermined investor confidence in the economy, making the lira the second-worst performing currency in emerging markets this year.

July Bombing

Turkey started bombing PKK targets in Iraq in July after dozens of activists, mostly Kurds, were killed in a suicide bombing in the town of Suruc. The attack, which was blamed on a militant with ties to Islamic State, also triggered Turkish attacks on the al-Qaeda breakaway group.

Turkish security forces arrested 50 Islamic State suspects in a raid against the group in five provinces after a lengthy period of surveillance, T24 news website reported on Sunday, citing a police statement.

Deeper involvement in Syria exposes Turkey to a conflict that has already drawn in regional and global powers. Russia began a bombing campaign this month to shore up President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader Ankara is bent on ousting.

Yet Erdogan’s critics have accused the president of using the fight against Islamic State as a cover for his crackdown on the Kurds to help the AKP regain a parliamentary majority. That would in turn enable him to amend the constitution to shift the center of power from parliament to his office.

‘Toxic Mix’

“Turkey is now facing a toxic mix of political polarization, government instability, mounting domestic and external security challenges, economic slowdown and questionable macro-economic policy while being held hostage by Erdogan’s interests and agenda,” Piccoli said.

The PKK, which has been locked in an armed struggle with Turkish authorities for about 30 years, is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.

Selahattin Demirtas, HDP’s co-chair, said supporters should respond to the violence at the ballot box.

"We shall not act out of revenge or hatred; we say violence should not beget more violence," he said, speaking at a memorial event in Ankara on Sunday. "But we will seek to hold people accountable. Nov. 1 is the first step in that," he said.

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