MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-KURDS UPDATE Three killed in clashes as violence surges in southeast Turkey

Record ID: 144805

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-KURDS UPDATE Three killed in clashes as violence surges in southeast Turkey
  • Date: 7th August 2015
  • Summary: SILOPI, TURKEY (AUGUST 7, 2015) (REUTERS) SMOKE RISING FROM THE AREA WITH AUDIO OF EXPLOSION MORE OF BLACK SMOKE BILLOWING OUT FROM THE AREA VIEW OF TOWN WITH AUDIO OF GUNFIRE PEOPLE ON STREET BARRICADE ARMOURED POLICE VEHICLE IN NEIGHBOURHOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD WITH AUDIO OF GUNFIRE (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) PRO-KURDISH PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY (HDP) MP, FAYSAL YILDIZ, SAYING: "I
  • Embargoed: 22nd August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA3P2KU3E1TFAFIDM4NBZHBTVE
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Three people were killed in clashes between police and Kurdish militants in a town in southeastern Turkey on Friday (August 7), state authorities said, while a local MP called on security forces to withdraw to prevent the violence spiralling.
    The bloodshed marked a further surge in unrest which has swept across the mainly Kurdish region in recent weeks, undermining a ceasefire crucial to a peace process between Ankara and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.
    Sporadic gunfire rang out and smoke rose from the town of Silopi in Sirnak province, close to Turkey's borders with Iraq and Syria, Reuters TV footage showed.
    Armoured jeeps and water cannon vehicles patrolled streets as youths in jeans and t-shirts looked on behind street corners. Makeshift barricades made of bricks and sandbags were erected in side streets.
    Seven people, including two police officers, were also wounded in the clashes a statement from the provincial governor's office said.
    It said PKK militants had attacked security forces with rockets, handmade explosives and rifles at 5:30 am (0230 GMT) as police launched an operation against militants who had dug trenches and erected barricades across the town.
    It said a 17-year-old youth and a 58-year-old man were among the dead and that operations were continuing against the militants who continued protests in the area.
    Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party MP Faysal Sariyildiz told reporters the casualties were civilians and that he had seen no sign of armed militants, contrary to official accounts. He also said they don't have access to all neighbourhoods.
    He said hundreds of police backed up by armoured vehicles had tried to enter the town and had opened fire on local people.
    "The police must withdraw immediately and tension must be lowered," he said. "We are concerned that the number of dead and wounded will rise. If that happens it will spread to other cities across the country."
    Violence erupted last month, when the outlawed PKK ramped up attacks on security forces and Ankara launched reciprocal airstrikes against the militants in Turkey and northern Iraq.
    The upsurge in violence comes at a time of political uncertainty in Turkey where efforts to forge a coalition have yet to yield fruit and with a snap election a possibility.
    The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and European Union, launched its insurgency in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
    The state launched a peace process with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012.
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