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Turkey vows to fight PKK until its disarmament

Xinhua, August 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Tuesday vowed to continue military operations against the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) until the disarmament of the group.

"We will persevere in our struggle until they lay down and bury their arms, and until the last terrorist leaves the country," said Erdogan at the farewell ceremony of the Chief of General Staff Necdet Ozel in Ankara.

The president accused the PKK of not comprehending the essence of the peace process aiming to end three decades of Kurdish insurgency.

The process is "frozen" he said referring to the peace talks between imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and the government in 2012.

Meanwhile, Turkish war planes carried out a new wave of air strikes against PKK targets in the southeastern province of Sirnak Tuesday, the military said in a written statement.

The aerial attack was in retaliation to PKK militants who opened fire with long-barreled weapons against a military post. The armed forces retaliated, said the military.

Turkish war planes have been bombing PKK targets for over two weeks in their strongholds in the mountains of northern Iraq as well as southeastern Turkey.

Tensions between the PKK and Turkish security forces is on the rise following a tumultuous week which began with an Islamic State (IS) suicide bombing July 20, killing 32 individuals and injuring 104 activists in the town of Suruc in the Sanliurfa province bordering Syria.

The People's Defense Forces (HPG), affiliated with the PKK, claimed responsibility for killing two police officers in retaliation to the Suruc bombing, insinuating that the officers were linked to IS.

According to a statement by the Turkish prime minister's office, Turkish security forces have detained over 1,300 individuals with suspected ties to IS, PKK and leftist groups, whilst the military unleashed several airstrikes on PKK posts in northern Iraq.

Approximately 40,000 individuals have been killed since 1984, when the armed group launched its very first attack. Endit