ARA News
Cizre, Turkey – A Turkish army officer was killed and three soldiers injured in renewed clashes between Turkish forces and members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Şırnak province in southeastern Turkey, local sources said on Saturday.
Local media reported the death of army officer Ali Alkan and the injury of three soldiers after PKK fighters attacked a gendarmerie outpost in Şırnak.
The attack was followed by clashes that continued until Saturday afternoon, before the PKK fighters evacuated the Beytüşşebap district of the Şırnak province.
This coincided with sorties by the Turkish air force in an attempt to trace PKK members in Şırnak.
A Turkish official told reporters in Ankara that at least 55 Turkish forces have been killed recently in a PKK-led series of attacks across Turkey.
This comes amid intensified Turkish airstrikes on PKK positions in northern Iraq that has killed more than 200 Kurdish fighters in two weeks.
Speaking to ARA News, journalist Massoud Akko said the resume of violence has eliminated all efforts of the peace project between Turkey and the PKK.
“Over thirty years of conflict the Turkish army couldn’t defeat the PKK, and the ongoing violence would lead to nowhere. Both parties have to return to the table of negotiations, because one year of negotiations is better than an hour of war,” he said.
“The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has intensified the airstrikes on the PKK in order to gain more votes in the upcoming elections. Those strikes have resulted in violent reaction by the PKK. It’s merely a political game,” Akko said.
Reporting by: Eyaz Ciziri
Source: ARA News
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source: ARA News
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