OK... Now I’m sufficiently confused. Are these Kurds that are being targeted hostiles? Are they siding with Al Qaeda — hence the term separatists. Or are these the same Kurds that simply wished to develop their own country? Have these people proved to have been dangerous, and/or perpetrating attacks in Turkey?
Perhaps someone would be so kind as to fill me in as I’m obviously not as educated on this particular issue as I thought... Thanks in advance for any links, etc... so that I can increase my understanding.
PS —
I’m reading over the articles linked in this thread thus far now... Maybe after doing so this will become more clear to me.
“Are these Kurds that are being targeted hostiles?”
They’re are a Communist terrorist group that has been conducting operations against Turkey since the 1970s.
“Have these people proved to have been dangerous, and/or perpetrating attacks in Turkey?”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6537751.stm
““Since August 15, 1984, PKK violence has accounted for the deaths of more than 30,000 Turkish security forces and civilians,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement August 14.
The U.S. government is “calling upon the PKK to cease its terrorist acts and lay down its arms,” McCormack said.”
Yes. They're targeting the PKK, a group considered a Kurdish terrorist organization by the United States, Britain, and even the EU. Clashes with the PKK have killed tens of thousands of people in Turkey since the 1980s.
PKK has stepped up its terrorist activities after the Iraqi war, with hopes of taking over southeastern Turkey to create a Kurdish nation.
Many PKK members are based in Iraq, and have been illegaly crossing over the border into Turkey to committ terrorist acts against Turkish civilians and soldiers.