Turkish fighter jets bomb PKK positions for first time since start of peace bid

Fevzi Kızılkoyun Ankara

The targeting of PKK positions is the first such bombardment since the start of the Kurdish peace process at the beginning of 2013.

Turkish fighter jets have bombarded positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) following militant attacks on military outposts in southeastern Turkey, in a first since the start of the peace process.

The Turkish General Staff ordered the bombing of the PKK’s positions in the Dağlıca district the southeastern Hakkari province late Oct. 13, Hürriyet has learned. The bombarded targets had reportedly been involved in “assassination, armed incidents and attacks on security bases” after last week’s nationwide protests.

Many provinces in Turkey’s east, as well as the largest cities of the country, saw violent protests against the government’s policies over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) advance on the Syrian border town of Kobane. Some 37 people were killed and hundreds were injured in the demonstrations.

The Dağlıca military guard post had been attacked with rocket-propelled grenades by the PKK for three days, and the Turkish military airstrikes came after the last attack that took place on Oct. 13. F-16 and F-4 jets flying from Malatya and Diyarbakır bombarded PKK positions in the Dağlıca district.

The airstrike is the first broad operation against the PKK since the government initiated the peace process with Turkey’s Kurds in 2013.