Posted on 12/19/2015 10:08:36 PM PST by Mariner
Diyarbakir, Turkey (dpa) - Teargas wafts over the police checkpoint, as helicopters clatter over the roofs of Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey. Shots can be heard as the security forces battle fighters of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
A 24-hour curfew has been in force in much of the Old City since December 2, with only a brief interruption.
Earlier this year, the Turkish government and the PKK were engaged in peace talks, but now conditions characteristic of a civil war prevail in much of south-eastern Turkey, where hundreds have been killed since July.
Fighters from the PKK's youth wing, the YDG-H, dig trenches, erect barricades and battle the security forces.
Apart from Sur - Diyarbakir's Old City that was made a World Heritage Site in the summer - curfews have been in force in four other areas over the past week.
According to army sources, dozens of PKK guerrillas have been killed. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has pledged to combat the PKK "district by district, house by house and street by street."
(Excerpt) Read more at dpa-international.com ...
Although some jihadis are Kurds. A complicated world is the ME.
OH NO! Not a World Heritage site! Oh the hugh manatee!
Are you saying there are Kurdish groups that align with Al Nusra and ISIS?
Or, that there are some wayward Kurds that joined those groups?
That's a big deal to me, and many others.
Google Mullah Krekar and Ansar al-Islam.
These particular Kurds are in fact Marxist. They are talking about the PKK, after all.
MSN.com reported this morning that Turkey is withdrawing all its troops from Syria and Iraq.
Apparently they are needed closer to home?
They have been fighting for decades.
I wonder how much “Humanitarian Aid” Russia will start giving the Kurds.
By way of Qatar for 3,000 of them - return to Turkey time ... after the “common enemy” is defeated ...
“These particular Kurds are in fact Marxist. They are talking about the PKK, after all.”
There is a small AF radar station (Princirlik) about 10 miles from Diyarbakir. I was stationed there in 1979, the PKK and Turks were fighting way back then. Yes, I believe the PKK has Marxist roots.
One night the PKK machine gunned the front gate of Princirlik killing a Turkish guard (Turks provided perimeter security). Next day the Turkish Army brought out tanks and wiped out a nearby “Bedouin style” camp. Not sure if they were the culprits or just someone to be made an example of, but there were no more attacks on the base.
There was a Turkish Army base on the edge of Diyarbakir with a gallows prominently placed near the road. Saw a soldier hanging there for 3 days straight before they cut him down.
The Turkish Army of 1979 was not sophisticated, nor did it have the most modern equipment, but made up for it in sheer brutality. I think a war between Russia and Turkey would likely be a very bloody slugfest.
PKK is designated as a terrorist group.
A shipment of anti-tank weapons to the Kurds would come in handy about now. Putin can cause Erdogan another headache by supplying the Kurds weaponry.
If the Kurds drive out ISIS from the areas, they can stop ISIS's flow of oil to Turkey, and hit Erogan in the wallet while crippling ISIS funding.
Turkey has not helped Nato or the US when they didn’t allow the US access through Turkey in the Iraq war and hope Russia punishes them
In Turkey it is simple.
ErDOGan is an Islamist Dictator. And he supports ISIS. And he is best buds with Obama.
Kurds are not Islamist. They are largely Muslim, but protected Christians and Yadzi’s in Iraq and Syria. FACT.
I don’t blame the Kurds for wanting to be free from Despotism.
“PKK is designated as a terrorist group. “
Designated by who? And was it because Turkey is in NATO?
Bingo, We have a Winner.
ErDOGan is a slimy evil b_tard and Obama’s best buddy.
In Syria they are called freedom fighters. In Turkey they are called terrorists. Just depends upon your point of view.
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