Roundup: Turkey vows to keep offensive against PKK until it clears threat

As the toll on the violent confrontation between the Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants is climbing in Turkey's southeast region, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed to keep up with the security operations as long as it takes.

"We have been working day and night to successfully complete these operations as soon as possible, but there is no such thing as the deadline," Davutoglu told members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Sunday in a winter retreat in western province Afyonkarahisar.

He dismissed reports in Turkish press that were published over the weekend suggesting the government will wrap up security operations within a week.

"We define the deadline not by time, but by goals that we need to reach," Davutoglu added.

Turkey has been conducting the military operations against the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in predominantly Kurdish southeast since last summer when the PKK broke the cease-fire.

The Turkish government accused the PKK of not honoring the terms of agreement in settlement talks such as militants' departure from Turkey and laying down arms. The PKK blames the government for not delivering on pledges to grant broader rights to the Kurds.

The resumption of violence followed a period of non-conflict as part of the settlement talks the government had pursued with the PKK leadership between Dec. 2012 and July 2015.

"The Kurdish issue in Turkey has reached a new stage: war in cities," declared Gokhan Bacik, professor of international relations at Ankara-based Ipek University.

He said Kurdish groups are challenging the government in urban centers that is a sharp departure from past experience with the PKK.

"PKK activism is no longer a rural phenomenon," he warned.

The PKK has declared self-rule in a number of neighborhoods in Southeastern towns, dug trenches and barricades to prevent the security forces from getting in.

The government deployed heavy arms including tanks in several Kurdish neighborhoods and declared curfews in urban centers while conducting mop-up operations in streets, back alleys and neighborhoods.

Turkish analyst Okan Muderrisoglu said the new strategy against the PKK that was agreed at the recent cabinet meeting includes the deployment of police units in critical places as well as the prevention and rapid intervention by security forces to thwart PKK militants from infiltration.

He said the government plans to establish a permanent police station in 190 places across the country to prevent the PKK from gaining a stronghold in neighborhoods.

Turkish nationalists squarely blamed the government for failing to stem the violence.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli said on Sunday that the AKP government had tolerated the PKK during the settlement talks and prevented the security forces from cracking down on terrorism.

"Mr. Davutoglu, won't you see that our police officers are living targets and our soldiers are getting murdered treacherously?" He asked.

Turkish General Staff announced over the weekend that close to 500 PKK militants were killed in sweeping operations in the southeastern towns of Cizre and Silopi as well as in the city of Diyarbakir's Sur town.

Thousands of militants were estimated to have been killed in operations in Turkey and in Northern Iraq where the PKK commanders are based.

At least 162 civilians, caught up in the conflict, were killed since August, according to a report by the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) that published its findings on Saturday.

On Monday, academics and intellectuals from 89 countries issued a statement calling on Turkish government to restore peace in order to stop civilian deaths.

More than 260 members of the security forces have been killed in clashes with the PKK since July.

Turkey lists the PKK as a terrorist group just like the United States and the European Union. It is estimated that more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK took up arms against Turkish state in 1984. Endit