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TURKISH SOLDIERS KILLED IN CLASHES WITH KURDISH REBELS
PanARMENIAN.Net
July 30, 2012 - 17:53 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Kurdish rebels killed two Turkish soldiers in
clashes in the country's southeast and hundreds of villagers have
fled the fighting, adding to Ankara's concerns over gains by Kurdish
groups in neighboring Syria, Reuters said.
The government of Hakkari province, near Turkey's borders with Iraq
and Iran, said the two soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded
during fighting that broke out there on Sunday, July 29.
Fighting, including bombardment with helicopters and war planes,
was still underway on the southern fringe of the town of Semdinli,
town mayor Sedat Tore said.
He said six hamlets had been evacuated and up to 1,000 people had fled.
The province is the scene of recurring fighting between Turkish forces
and fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought
a separatist insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984
and which is regarded as a terrorist group by the United States,
European Union and Turkey.
Syrian opposition forces say President Bashar al-Assad's forces
last week quit areas further west on the Turkish-Syrian border, now
reportedly controlled by members of a PKK-aligned Syrian Kurdish group.
The collapse of Syria's state security presence in a region populated
largely by Kurds has stirred Turkish anxieties about the potential
for rekindled separatist sentiment in its borders.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said last week that Turkey
could intervene in Syria in response to any attack or potential threat
deemed to emanate from there.
PanARMENIAN.Net
July 30, 2012 - 17:53 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Kurdish rebels killed two Turkish soldiers in
clashes in the country's southeast and hundreds of villagers have
fled the fighting, adding to Ankara's concerns over gains by Kurdish
groups in neighboring Syria, Reuters said.
The government of Hakkari province, near Turkey's borders with Iraq
and Iran, said the two soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded
during fighting that broke out there on Sunday, July 29.
Fighting, including bombardment with helicopters and war planes,
was still underway on the southern fringe of the town of Semdinli,
town mayor Sedat Tore said.
He said six hamlets had been evacuated and up to 1,000 people had fled.
The province is the scene of recurring fighting between Turkish forces
and fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought
a separatist insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984
and which is regarded as a terrorist group by the United States,
European Union and Turkey.
Syrian opposition forces say President Bashar al-Assad's forces
last week quit areas further west on the Turkish-Syrian border, now
reportedly controlled by members of a PKK-aligned Syrian Kurdish group.
The collapse of Syria's state security presence in a region populated
largely by Kurds has stirred Turkish anxieties about the potential
for rekindled separatist sentiment in its borders.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said last week that Turkey
could intervene in Syria in response to any attack or potential threat
deemed to emanate from there.