- Title: TURKEY-KURDS/PKK CLASHES Two killed, five wounded in clashes in southeast Turkey
- Date: 18th August 2015
- Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (AUGUST 18, 2015) (REUTERS) PEOPLES' DEMOCRATIC PARTY (HDP) LEADER SELAHATTIN DEMIRTAS ANSWERING QUESTIONS REPORTERS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) HDP LEADER, SELAHATTIN DEMIRTAS, SAYING: "We hear that heavy operations have been carried out in Silvan, in the city centre, with tanks and heavy weaponry. We will assess the situation. We don't have communications with these towns. There is no internet, no electricity, no mobile reception or water. Unfortunately, the situation is grave in many towns. It is not possible to maintain peace and trust with these security policies." CAMERAMEN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) HDP LEADER, SELAHATTIN DEMIRTAS, SAYING: "As declared in our party's manifesto we support local initiatives and administrations that people can take part in. But we have never believed that this could be realised with violence, by using guns. Therefore everybody should be vigilant. I call on those, who could be entrapped. Please do not fall in these traps." CAMERAMEN FILMING
- Embargoed: 2nd September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA8W8UBUML42CDDUTHV28WY2G8Y
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
Two people, including a soldier, were killed and five wounded in clashes in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast where authorities declared curfews to open the roads blocked by militants, private Dogan news agency reported on Tuesday (August 18).
One person was killed, another one was wounded in the Silvan district of Diyarbakir where a curfew was declared on Monday night (August 17). Around 700 police and soldiers carried out an operation in the district after PKK militants planted landmines, erected barricades and dug trenches, Dogan news agency reported.
Special paramilitary forces launched another operation in Diyarbakir's Lice District "to neutralize the terrorists" and open a highway to traffic that has been closed by PKK rebels, the Turkish army said in a statement posted on their website. One soldier was killed, three others were wounded after they came under fire opened by PKK rebels, the army said. Security forces declared curfew in Lice for a second night starting at 21:00pm (18:00gmt).
Two soldiers were wounded in clashes in southeast town of Semdinli in an operation launched by Turkish soldiers to open a highway that had been closed by rebels by digging trenches and erecting barricades last Saturday (August 15). The soldiers were reinforced by helicopters, reconnaissance drones as well as ground troops, the statement said.
Fighting between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the military has broken out almost daily over the last month. The PKK has been hitting military targets after Ankara resumed air strikes on PKK camps in northern Iraq in what it calls a "synchronised war on terror".
Ankara has said its military campaign is also designed to tackle Islamic State militants in neighbouring northern Syria. However, it has so far focused on the PKK, raising suspicions among Kurds that the main aim is to check Kurdish territorial ambitions rather than to rout the Islamist insurgents.
The violence has left a peace process with the PKK, begun by President Tayyip Erdogan in 2012, in tatters. Erdogan said last month the process had become impossible, although neither side has so far declared the negotiations definitively over.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and European Union, launched its insurgency in 1984 to press for greater Kurdish rights. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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