Turkish armoured vehicles
surround a statue of Mahsum Korkmaz -- one of the founders of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) -- as they tighten security in
Diyarbakir, on August 19, 2014 (AFP Photo/Ilyas Akengin)
Ankara (AFP) - Turkish
jets bombed targets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in southeast
Turkey, officials said Tuesday, the first strikes on the outlawed group
since a 2013 ceasefire amid growing concern about the peace process.
Turkish F-16
jets dropped bombs late Monday on PKK targets in the village of Daglica
in the Kurdish-majority Hakkari province near the border with Iraq, a
security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
In
a separate incident also Monday, Turkish attack helicopters struck at
PKK targets around the village of Geyiksuyu in the Tunceli province of
eastern Turkey following raids by the PKK.
The
fierce clashes between Islamic State (IS) insurgents and Kurdish forces
in the key Syrian town of Kobane have shaken Turkey's fragile peace
process with the PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara
and much of the international community.
Frustrated
with Turkey's lack of action to stop the IS advance in northern Syria
on fellow Kurds, Turkey's Kurdish community has taken to the streets in
several cities in the southeast over the past week, with scores killed
in deadly clashes.
President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the unrest on the "dark forces" seeking to
sabotage the delicate peace process with the PKK to end 30 years of
violence that has claimed at least 40,000 lives.
The air strikes
came one day before the October 15 deadline given by the PKK's overall
leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence in an island
prison on the sea of Marmara, for a roadmap to salvage the flagging
peace process.
But Nihat Ali
Ozcan, security analyst at Ankara-based TEPAV think tank, said while the
peace process could well be "dead in the water" one day, it would not
be over just because of these latest incidents.
"It is not an easy task to manage the peace process," he said.- 'Showing muscle' -
Turkey,
a NATO member, has tightened security on its volatile border after the
escalating fighting in Kobane sparked the exodus of 200,000 refugees.
Kurds
say they do not want Turkish troops in Kobane but want Turkey to allow
its territory to be used for passing weapons to Kurdish fighters
defending the key Syrian town, an idea Ankara has so far rejected.
One
of the PKK chiefs said on Saturday it had called all its fighters back
to Turkey, after the violent protests over the government's policy on
Syria.
Cemil Bayik, one of the
founders of the PKK, also warned that the peace process was in danger
of collapse and attacks could resume after the deadly unrest.
Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, in a speech to his ruling party lawmakers
Tuesday, made no mention of the air strikes but said the government was
still committed to making peace with the Kurds.
"The
peace process is not linked to Kobane. It's not linked to any
development that takes place outside our borders," Davutoglu said.
Ozcan said the peace process could die in time but not now.
"The PKK and the government are making moves to show muscle to each other," he said.
The
PKK had been launching gun attacks on the police station in Daglica
since Saturday because of the troubles in Kobane, security sources said.
The army has yet to release
details on the air strikes but said in a statement on Saturday that
"terrorists from the separatist terrorist organisation opened fire on
our base in the Daglica region".
"We
responded spontaneously in the toughest possible way," it said. In line
with official practice, the Turkish army never refers to the PKK by
name.
In the second incident, Turkey's security forces and
Kurdish rebels clashed in three different spots in the village of
Geyiksuyu after the PKK attempted to infiltrate into military bases,
local media reported.After the rebel withdrawal, two Kobra helicopters conducted reconnaissance flights and bombed several PKK targets, according to the reports
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