Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets in northern Iraq Fiday

[Anthea]

US Backs Turkey In Fight Against Kurdish PKK

Turkey's attacks on the Kurdish PKK complicate its war against IS, where Kurds are one of the main forces fighting the terrorists.

Turkey has continued its airstrikes against Islamic State extremists in Syria - but has now widened its anti-terror campaign to also hit Kurdish militant targets inside Iraq.

Fighter jets hit rebel shelters and storage facilities belonging to the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK,in northern Iraq late on Saturday.

The United States has backed the actions, saying Turkey has the "right to defend itself" against attacks by the PKK.

White House spokesman Alistair Baskey condemned recent terrorist attacks by the PKK, which the US sees as a terror group, and encouraged them to renounce terrorism and resume talks with the Turkish government.

On Sunday morning it was reported that two Turkish soldiers had been killed and four others wounded in a bomb attack in southeastern Turkey which has been blamed on Kurdish rebels.

The fresh attacks come just a few days after Turkey launched assaults against Islamic State targets in Syria, as it continued its military response to a deadly wave of violence.

The PKK, which has been fighting Turkey for autonomy since 1984 and is also considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara, claimed a ceasefire in place since 2013 was now meaningless.

The group said on its website: "The truce has no meaning anymore after these intense air strikes by the occupant Turkish army."

The strike against Kurdish militants provoked protests in Turkey, Iraq and some European cities and it could also complicate the war, as the Kurds have been one of the main forces on the ground working to defeat IS.

Strikes across its borders have been accompanied by a domestic police crackdown, with nearly 600 suspected members of IS and the PKK being rounded up in raids across the country.

The escalation in military activity by Turkey comes after a suspected IS suicide bomber killed 32 people, some of them Kurds, in the border town of Suruc.

This triggered violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast, with the PKK killing two police officers, claiming it was retaliation for the suicide attack.

Many Kurds and opposition supporters accuse the regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of secretly backing IS against Kurdish fighters in Syria, a charge strongly denied by the government in Ankara.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has pledged to fight all "terrorist groups" equally and the country, previously reluctant to enter the fight, has also promised to allow the US to use its air bases.

http://news.sky.com/story/1525357/us-ba ... urdish-pkk

[Anthea]

Voice of America

US Backs Turkey Strikes Against Islamic State, PKK


Turkish soldiers, army officers and officials stand at attention next to the coffins of soldiers Mehmet Kocak and Ismail Yavuz, during a ceremony in Diyarbakir, Turkey, Sunday, July 26, 2015.

The U.S. is backing Turkey's two-pronged air offensive and artillery strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and Kurdish rebel targets in Iraq.

The move follows a week in which violence in Turkey was blamed on both organizations - who are themselves staunch rivals.

A White House spokesman said Sunday Ankara was within its rights to "take action related to terrorist targets," including when it struck a Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) town overnight Friday in northern Iraq, marking the first offensive against the outlawed Kurdish group there since a peace accord was announced in 2013.

The PKK said its peace deal with Ankara had lost all meaning after the airstrikes.

The Turkish army is blaming Kurdish rebels for a car bombing late Saturday that killed two soldiers in the Kurdish-dominated southeast amid escalating tensions between the government and the separatist group.

The Kurds are separately fighting Islamic State militants encroaching on their cities in Iraq and Syria, and has accused the Turkish government of being complicit in support of IS fighters.

Turkey joined military efforts against IS in recent days, in a long-awaited move by Western and regional coalition partners who have been bombing the extremist group since August.

On Twitter, a top U.S. official for the country's anti-Islamic State efforts dismissed a relationship between the offensives against the PKK and Islamic State rebels, known also as ISIL.

"There is no connection between these airstrikes against PKK and recent understandings to intensify U.S.-Turkey cooperation against ISIL," Brett McGurk wrote.

Washington has pushed for broader regional support against Islamic State. White House spokesman Ben Rhodes, on an official visit to Kenya with President Barack Obama, told a news conference in Nairobi on Sunday that Ankara's decision to join militarily can lead towards an "even broader and more effective effort to degrade the ISIL safe haven across northern Syria and northern Iraq."

"Turkey can play an important role in those efforts," he added.

The Pentagon reported Sunday the U.S.-led coalition continued its daily airstrikes against Islamic State, with 13 bombings in Syria focused on the northern area of Hasakah and the border city of Kobani. Another 20 strikes targeted IS positions around Iraq.

Members of Turkey's parliament are expected to gather July 29 for an extraordinary session, according to the English-language Hurriyet Daily News.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday Turkey's security operations will continue as long as necessary. "These operations are not one-point operations and will continue as long as there is a threat against Turkey," Mr. Davutoglu said. "No one should doubt our determination. We will not allow Turkey to be turned into a lawless country."

In a phone call with the Turkish leader on Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the NATO partner to use "proportionality" in responding to its internal conflict.

VOA White House correspondent Aru Pande contributed to this report from Nairobi.

http://www.voanews.com/content/us-backs ... 79132.html

[Anthea]

BBC News

Turkey calls Nato talks on IS and PKK

Turkey has called a special meeting of Nato ambassadors to discuss military operations against the Islamic State (IS) group and PKK Kurdish separatists.

The session is to take place in Brussels on Tuesday.

Turkey launched air attacks against IS militants in Syria and resumed air raids against PKK camps in northern Iraq following recent attacks.

In one attack blamed on IS, 32 people were killed in a suicide bombing near the Syrian border on 20 July.

The PKK killed Turkish police in the wake of the bombing in retaliation for what they saw as Turkey's collaboration with IS.

The raids against Kurdish separatist camps in northern Iraq in effect ended a two-year ceasefire.

Link to Full Article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33668230

[Anthea]

Turkey attacked Kurdish insurgent camps in Iraq for a second night on Sunday, security sources said, in a campaign that could end its peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)

[Anthea]

Turkey Escalates Airstrikes on Kurdish Targets in Northern Iraq

ISTANBUL — Turkey stepped up its offensive against Kurdish militias in northern Iraq early Wednesday, pounding targets in six locations from the air, officials said.

The Iraqi government condemned the airstrikes, calling them “a dangerous escalation and an assault on Iraqi sovereignty.”

Turkish officials said the airstrikes were carried out in response to a string of terrorist attacks in Turkey by militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., a separatist group that waged a 30-year insurgency against Turkish rule. The office of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a written statement that the strikes on Wednesday were against shelters, depots and caves used as hide-outs by the group. No information was released concerning casualties.

The P.K.K. reached a cease-fire agreement with the Turkish government two years ago, but that tenuous peace has fallen apart in recent weeks. The government says that the group has refused to disarm and that it has carried out a series of attacks since the parliamentary elections on June 7, when Kurdish candidates made a strong showing.

On Tuesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, said it was impossible to continue a peace process with the militants while they threatened national unity and brotherhood. He called on Parliament to deny immunity from prosecution to any lawmakers linked to terrorist groups, a remark seen as a threat to Kurdish lawmakers.

Turkey agreed last week to take a more active role in the American-led coalition’s fight against the Islamic State, the Sunni Arab militant group that has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq. But Turkey’s air campaign since then has mainly been directed at the P.K.K., and the bombing raids it began on Friday effectively ended the cease-fire.

The possibility of retaliatory attacks by the P.K.K. prompted a warning from the German Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, saying that the underground rail network and bus stops in Istanbul could be targets, Reuters reported.

Mr. Davutoglu said Turkey would keep bombing the Kurdish militants as long as the militants threatened violence. “If we have one martyr, we will continue all operations on that organization that ordered the attack,” Mr. Davutoglu told members of his ruling party in a speech on Wednesday. “We may lose one lion heart, but thousands of lions in Anatolia are on their feet.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/world ... .html?_r=0

[Anthea]

30 Turkish warplanes in new strikes against PKK in northern Iraq on Thursday: reports

ISTANBUL - Thirty Turkish war planes on Thursday carried out a new wave of bombings against targets of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the NTV and CNN-Turk channels reported.

The F-16 planes struck five locations in northern Iraq, hitting shelters, storage points, caves, and depots of the PKK in retaliation for a deadly attack that killed three Turkish troops earlier.

It has been reported that jets of the Turkish army are shelling the Metina area of the guerrilla-held Medya Defense Zones in South Kurdistan.

On the other hand, Turkish jets are also flying over Gare, Zap and Metina areas since 14:00 local time today.

The intense activity of warplanes is reported to be continuing increasingly

[Anthea]

Turkey: 5 die in latest clashes between security forces and PKK rebels

By SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Kurdish rebels raided a Turkish police station and fired on railway workers in two separate attacks that left five dead, officials said Friday, amid renewed conflict between the security forces and insurgents that has wrecked the fragile peace process.

Link to Full Article:

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articl ... d-in-clash

[Anthea]

Reuters

Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish PKK militant targets in northern Iraq: media

Turkish warplanes struck Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq on Friday, CNN Turk television reported, in Ankara's latest push against Kurdish militants.

More than 30 warplanes scrambled from the Diyarbakir air base and hit shelters, camps and ammunition depots, CNN Turk said. Turkish officials said they were aware of the reports but declined to comment on ongoing operations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/ ... 3X20150731