TURKEY: Kurdish guerrillas kill at least 24 Turkish soldiers in attacks on military posts in southeastern Turkey

Record ID: 353371

  • Title: TURKEY: Kurdish guerrillas kill at least 24 Turkish soldiers in attacks on military posts in southeastern Turkey
  • Date: 20th October 2011
  • Summary: CUKURCA, TURKEY (OCTOBER 19, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (NIGHTSHOTS) TRACER BULLETS, AUDIO OF GUNFIRE IN BACKGROUND CUKURCA, TURKEY (OCTOBER 19, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (DAYSHOTS) VARIOUS OF MILITARY HELICOPTERS FLYING ABOVE THE MOUNTAINS
  • Embargoed: 4th November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA603XP7E63Y0JW07A3HUUJT571
  • Story Text: Kurdish guerrillas killed 26 Turkish soldiers in attacks on military posts in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday (October 19), security sources told Reuters, in the worst single death toll for Turkish security forces in years.
    Turkish commandos crossed the border into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels following the attacks, in which 16 soldiers were also wounded, military sources told Reuters.
    The sources said there were intermittent clashes between the troops, who advanced some 3-4 km into Iraqi territory, and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in the border area near Cukurca in Hakkari province.
    Turkish military helicopters flew above the clash zone on the border, military sources said.
    Turkish media reported Turkish warplanes, which have launched retaliatory air strikes on Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq in past attacks, had taken off from a military base in the city of Diyarbakir.
    Underlying the gravity of the situation, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a planned trip to Kazakhstan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu suspended a planned trip to Serbia on Wednesday.
    President Abdullah Gul said: "Those who have caused this pain will suffer twice, those who think they can shake our country with these attacks, those who think we will give in, will see that our revenge for these attacks will be great, they will suffer twice." He added that military commanders were travelling to the area.
    The violence took place when militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) opened fire on military outposts in Cukurca and Yuksekova districts in Hakkari province on the border with Iraq, the sources said.
    Earlier, the sources said 21 soldiers had been killed but later raised the toll. Turkey's armed forces could not be immediately reached for comment. The PKK did not immediately claim responsibility for the attacks.
    Kurdish rebels seeking an independent Kurdish homeland took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have died in the conflict. They have bases in northern Iraq from which they cross the border to attack Turkish targets.
    The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
    The attacks came after the jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, had warned that resuming peace talks depended on Turkey if they "open the door".
    Ocalan sent the message though his brother after a meeting in his cell on a prison island south of Istanbul, a PKK statement released on Tuesday (October 18) said.
    "At this stage, the key is in the hands of state authorities, not ours. Negotiations will continue and everything could change in the coming process if they open the door," Ocalan said in his first message in months.
    Erdogan's AK Party government has passed cultural and political reforms favouring ethnic Kurds aimed at ending a violence fed by Kurdish grievances. Breaking a long-held taboo, Erdogan's government held secret talks with Ocalan.
    But following escalating violence from PKK rebels that have killed more than 50 Turkish security personnel since July the government has taken a hard line.
    The attacks came amid tensions with neighbouring Iran over the site of NATO anti-missile radar in Turkey and over the strong position Turkey has taken against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.
    In the past week, Turkish media have carried reports that Iran had captured the second in command of the PKK, Murat Karayilan, only to release him after Turkish airstrikes on the base where the militant commander had been.
    And on Tuesday, Turkish media reported that websites in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq were saying the authorities there had begun evacuating villages close to PKK camps, whipping up speculation that it was a pre-emptive move to avoid civilian casualties in the event of a Turkish ground incursion.
    Iran has also been battling Kurdish militants on its border with Iraq, and Kurds in Syria hold longstanding grievances against Assad. But while the three countries all have problems with their Kurdish minorities, there is some history of using Kurdish militants to create mischief, particularly within Turkey's borders.
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